11.06.05

what would jesus blog

Posted in faith at 6:30 pm by

First off, welcome to all of you who’re coming here via the ColinMcEnroe Blog Class. If anything strikes your collective fancies…feel free to chime in! I’m honored to have y’all around.

Steve, over at his blog, made what I believe to be a really good point. I know, I know, all I’ve been citing lately is Steve Chastain this, and Steve Chastain that. You’re thinking, “Brandon, if you keep this up, people will start to wonder.” *wink, wink, nudge, nudge*. Well, I don’t care. Steve’s had some pretty good thoughts of late, so I’m springboarding, dammit.

Anywho, Steve was reflecting on what Jesus would or wouldn’t do. Here’s a brief excerpt:

First, if those of us who are outside of church and are thinking we can make it on our own without sincere face-to-face connections with other Christ-followers… we are wrong. We just can’t. Christ was our example as he gathered around him those who he could share his life with, encourage, challenge and then they learned together what it meant to to do the second part, which is…

As a church, those in leadership better get serious real quick about sharing how vital it is to build relationships and be friends with those who don’t go to church. And I don’t mean to become their friends with an agenda or a means to an end to get them to your church functions. Pastors need to ask themselves how many friends they have, real friends, that aren’t Christ-followers and don’t attend their churches. To be succinct, how many “pagans” or “notorious sinners” do we have as our friends?

So as those of us here begin to ask the question “now what”, I am a certain of one thing… we need to be involved with the things Jesus would be involved with… and one thing I know, Jesus wouldn’t blog.

Now, there are a number of things I would probably disagree with here; however, I think we’re all pretty tired of disagreeing. It just gets old. So, I’m not going to disagree–at least not directly.

I’m going on the record as saying this: If we’re asking the question “What Would Jesus Do?”, we’re asking the wrong question. As far as I’m concerned I think we should have a big fucking bracelet burning ceremony. We can torch as many of those infernal things as we can get our grubby little hands on. Maybe we can roast some marshmallows over the gigantic open fire.

Here’s my point. When we objectify a phrase or slogan like WWJD, we miss the point. Why is it the wrong question? Well, because Jesus would probably be off healing the sick, and helping the poor, loving the unloveable, and hanging with the outcasts. I mean, seriously. The guy was a loser!

You’re never going to end up driving a Hummer pulling shit like Jesus pulled. Always talking about doing nice things for people, and loving ALL people. There’s no friggin’ way we’re supposed to be doing that. Who’d tell all the gays they’re going to hell, who’d be there to ensure that our taxes were constantly being lowered so that I could drive an ‘ever bigger’ SUV?

[/satire]

Less satrically, though, Steve’s right. Jesus probably wouldn’t blog. But that doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t. It shouldn’t be the ONLY thing I do (and it’s not) but frankly, I wholeheartedly believe that I should blog so Jesus doesn’t have to. Fundamentally, my question should be how should I be doing what I do so that I behave how Jesus would behave. The question is not what Jesus would do, but rather how is it he would have me behave based on gifts.

My answer to this second question, though, is more telling, I think. How would Jesus blog? Jesus would seek not to have a blog that gave all the answers. (He was kind of slippery when it came to easy answers.) He also wouldn’t have a blog that appealed to only Christians, or Jews, or Hindus, or atheists, or whatever…he’d be inclusive, and he’d foster a place where dialogue and discourse was valued.

So, while I agree with Steve, Jesus probably wouldn’t blog. I do think that we can see certain sorts of ways that Jesus would behave in an online community. I don’t think that the blog is the be all end all medium of spiritual choice…but it is a good one. And, one worth thinking about.

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what would jesus blog

Posted in faith at 6:30 pm by

First off, welcome to all of you who’re coming here via the ColinMcEnroe Blog Class. If anything strikes your collective fancies…feel free to chime in! I’m honored to have y’all around.

Steve, over at his blog, made what I believe to be a really good point. I know, I know, all I’ve been citing lately is Steve Chastain this, and Steve Chastain that. You’re thinking, “Brandon, if you keep this up, people will start to wonder.” *wink, wink, nudge, nudge*. Well, I don’t care. Steve’s had some pretty good thoughts of late, so I’m springboarding, dammit.

Anywho, Steve was reflecting on what Jesus would or wouldn’t do. Here’s a brief excerpt:

First, if those of us who are outside of church and are thinking we can make it on our own without sincere face-to-face connections with other Christ-followers… we are wrong. We just can’t. Christ was our example as he gathered around him those who he could share his life with, encourage, challenge and then they learned together what it meant to to do the second part, which is…

As a church, those in leadership better get serious real quick about sharing how vital it is to build relationships and be friends with those who don’t go to church. And I don’t mean to become their friends with an agenda or a means to an end to get them to your church functions. Pastors need to ask themselves how many friends they have, real friends, that aren’t Christ-followers and don’t attend their churches. To be succinct, how many “pagans” or “notorious sinners” do we have as our friends?

So as those of us here begin to ask the question “now what”, I am a certain of one thing… we need to be involved with the things Jesus would be involved with… and one thing I know, Jesus wouldn’t blog.

Now, there are a number of things I would probably disagree with here; however, I think we’re all pretty tired of disagreeing. It just gets old. So, I’m not going to disagree–at least not directly.

I’m going on the record as saying this: If we’re asking the question “What Would Jesus Do?”, we’re asking the wrong question. As far as I’m concerned I think we should have a big fucking bracelet burning ceremony. We can torch as many of those infernal things as we can get our grubby little hands on. Maybe we can roast some marshmallows over the gigantic open fire.

Here’s my point. When we objectify a phrase or slogan like WWJD, we miss the point. Why is it the wrong question? Well, because Jesus would probably be off healing the sick, and helping the poor, loving the unloveable, and hanging with the outcasts. I mean, seriously. The guy was a loser!

You’re never going to end up driving a Hummer pulling shit like Jesus pulled. Always talking about doing nice things for people, and loving ALL people. There’s no friggin’ way we’re supposed to be doing that. Who’d tell all the gays they’re going to hell, who’d be there to ensure that our taxes were constantly being lowered so that I could drive an ‘ever bigger’ SUV?

[/satire]

Less satrically, though, Steve’s right. Jesus probably wouldn’t blog. But that doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t. It shouldn’t be the ONLY thing I do (and it’s not) but frankly, I wholeheartedly believe that I should blog so Jesus doesn’t have to. Fundamentally, my question should be how should I be doing what I do so that I behave how Jesus would behave. The question is not what Jesus would do, but rather how is it he would have me behave based on gifts.

My answer to this second question, though, is more telling, I think. How would Jesus blog? Jesus would seek not to have a blog that gave all the answers. (He was kind of slippery when it came to easy answers.) He also wouldn’t have a blog that appealed to only Christians, or Jews, or Hindus, or atheists, or whatever…he’d be inclusive, and he’d foster a place where dialogue and discourse was valued.

So, while I agree with Steve, Jesus probably wouldn’t blog. I do think that we can see certain sorts of ways that Jesus would behave in an online community. I don’t think that the blog is the be all end all medium of spiritual choice…but it is a good one. And, one worth thinking about.

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Trackback URL »

http://www.badchristian.com/2005/11/06/what_would_jesus_blog/trackback/