Offending Blog

My friend Brant Hansen commented:

Gulp -- I'm hoping it wasn't MY blog. I guess since I know you, that disqualifies me.

Blogs are tough because the truth chunks have to be so dang small. I'll bet you do no small amount of editing to keep your comments brief, like I do.

For me, that means being frequently misunderstood, which is better, I guess than no communication. But barely.

It actually was your blog. One person was talking about desiring intelligent sermons, but usually getting Powerpoint slides and a video clip. Are my sermons automatically dumbed down because I want to help people follow the point? It seemed like an inane argument.

Another criticized you for reading Catholic authors, but couldn't believe that you, an intelligent, well grounded believer, couldn't make the distinction between a deep, wonderful observation about something you believe to be true and a doctrine obviously contrary to your evangelical beliefs. I myself am a huge fan of Kreeft. He has opened up a lot of philosophy to me, and I especially love Christianity for Modern Pagans, which dialogues with Pascal.

Without knowing that I was reading their comments, they picked up some of my truth chunks, said, "How worthless," and tossed them aside. It feels like someone comes into your house, looks at a picture of your kid, and says, "That's one ugly kid" without considering the likelihood that it is probably your child. But see, that is too strong. They aren't in my house. They are in your house. And they don't know I'm listening. And I am too sensitive. Likely, it is a sign of my self-centeredness that I take such things as a personal offense. It says more about me than it does them.

I felt that if I would have entered the discussion, my offense would have been evident and the conversation, which you were dialoguing with quite well, would have ended. At least that has been my experience, despite my best efforts and best editing. So, I am eager to learn the art of journey conversation.

Overall, I have no problem with the discussion going on at your blog. My problem is I don't know how to enter that conversation and keep the journey going in the right direction.