I won’t link to all the posts that go behind the link I’m about to include. The back story is simple: John Piper tweeted some biblical verses after the Oklahoma tornadoes. Rachel Held Evans sprung quickly to criticize Piper and his theology. Evans later apologized, sort of, for going off half cocked.
All that leads to this helpful post by Derek Oullette that is based in the above scenario, but I commend it to my fellow bloggers for the observations it makes about Christian blogging.
Richard Hall, a Methodist minister in Wales and one of the first Methobloggers I started following regularly, has an excellent reminder about the dangers of “evil speaking” sparked by reading Christians being unChristian in blog comments on another blog.
Some of the most active blog posts I’ve ever had were back in 2011 when former United Methodist pastor Chad Holtz was making UM news for his preaching and writing about Rob Bell, hell, and his addiction to pornography. Here is the post that got the most attention in comments.
I was greatly encouraged earlier this year when I saw that Chad had been brought to his knees and lifted back up again by Christ.
Now I add to that by learning — via a comment on this blog — that he is writing again. Actually, he and his wife, Amy, have been writing on a shared blog since July 2012. The blog is now on my blogroll. (Amy’s posts about how she has endured Chad’s betrayal of their marriage and found her own healing through it all are powerful reading. Here’s a link to one she wrote in October, but a scroll back into the summer is worth the time, especially if you know people who are living through similar things.)
Derek Oullette explains in a very long post that includes a new video by Rob Bell why he has closed his blog. The gist of it is this:
The Christian blogosphere is a disgrace to Jesus and the Gospel. We are a laughing stock to the world. And we are all to blame. I am. You are. We need to stop passing the buck to the people we disagree with. We need to stop point our weapons at each other start finding creative ways to overcome our differences so that we can shine the Gospel into this enormous online world.
He closes with this:
If there’s one petition we need to get out there, it’s a petition to all of the Christian bloggers out there and all of the Christian tweeters out there and all of the Christian Facebook users, Googlers, Mac lovers, Youtubers out there: Together we need to actively, intentionally, contribute to a positive image of the Kingdom of God online.
A set of 15 quotes from film-critic Roger Ebert on writing got me thinking about the meaning and purpose of this blog. He wrote:
[I]n many ways I used journalism to stay at one remove from my convictions: I wouldn’t risk arrest but would bravely report about those who did. My life has followed that pattern. I observe and describe at a prudent reserve.
As a former journalist, I know what he is saying here, and I wonder if it is true of my blogging. Is writing a way of staying one step out of full commitment to the real challenges in the church? Or is it my best way of contributing? Or is it something else entirely?
EDITOR’S NOTE: Although the initial stories made reference to Holtz being fired or removed from his pulpit, that was not the case. The headline of this post repeats that error. (3/27/2011)
United Methodist blogger and former pastor Chad Holtz was removed from his appointment this week. The news stories make it all about Rob Bell, but at least some of the coverage suggests deeper issues.
Chad, for his part, wrote his advice to pastors who want to keep their jobs.
1. Don’t blog or Facebook.
2. If you ignore #1, at least do so anonymously.
3. If you ignore #1 and #2, be sure your stuff is fluff. Write about daisies, the weather, your kids t-ball game, vacation plans, car repairs, and dinner recipes.
4. If you ignore #1, 2, and 3 and choose instead to write about matters of faith, be sure your ideas, thoughts, opinions and questions match the ideas, thoughts, opinions and questions of your congregation.
5. If you ignore #1, 2, 3, and 4 you can join me in a job hunt. And, if you are not completely disillusioned, help me plant a church where advice like this will not only be unnecessary, but absurd.
His list screams of hurt and damage. I hope he finds healing. As I read through is recent blog posts, I do see where some members of his congregation who hold traditional beliefs about hell would react poorly.
Holtz writes more about the causes of his removal on Rachel Held Evan’s blog here.
His story and his posts open up interesting questions about how pastors should blog.
