Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

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Why I write Attempts at Honesty

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Labor of LoveWe have gotten a decent amount of traffic so it appears that people are getting something out of reading these posts. With new readers discovering the blog all the time, I felt that it was necessary to articulate some thoughts about why I keep up the blog and some items that are not reasons that I do it.

First let me list some items that are not reasons why I keep up Attempts at Honesty:

  1. I do not write this blog to make money. The only real advertisement that is on the blog is for Covenant Eyes, and any revenue from that ad goes directly to my blog host, Davis Services Group, to offset the cost of hosting this blog.
  2. I do not write this blog because I am an authority on any aspect of Christian living. I’m fumbling through my Christian walk just like everyone else.
  3. I do not write this blog because I want to create controversy or disharmony. If anyone is to be offended by what I write, I hope that I have accurately reflected what Scripture says and it is Scripture by which they are offended.
  4. I do not write this blog because I have lots of time on my hands and little else to do.

Here are some reasons I do maintain the blog:

  1. I have a sense of calling to be used by God to point to the Cross and bring people into deeper relationship with Jesus Christ.
  2. I find that writing is a good way for me to work out my thoughts about the various issues and Scriptural observations.
  3. These posts are a good reminder to me of lessons that I’ve learned and constantly need to keep in mind. In many of these posts, I am preaching to myself and letting others listen in.
  4. I want to encourage others who feel that they don’t measure up to the standard that their church seems to promote. The one central truth is that none of us measure up on our own. The only holiness we have is given to us by Jesus (2 Cor. 5:21).
  5. I want to be encouraged by the responses of people (whether they agree or disagree) and provide a place of dialog so that we all can come to a better understanding of The Truth.
  6. I want to provide a forum for others who are interested in giving blogging a try to see if it something that they would like to pursue. If you are interested in doing this, see the guest post guidelines.

The bottom line is that Attempts at Honesty has been a labor of love to which I am committed as time allows.

After reading this, if you have any thoughts or feedback, I’d love to hear it.

Keep pressing on (Phil. 3:14) . . .

A Real Sense of Community

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CommunityA few days ago I read a story about a man with 100,000 Twitter followers who took his own life. I know nothing about his history or the reasons behind the suicide. But I am struck by sadness that none of the 100,000 “friends” was close enough to prevent this tragedy.

I often hear that social media is intended to build a sense of community. I suppose it does to a limited extent. I read certain blogs and have some knowledge of the writers. We can comment on each other’s blogs. In a very limited fashion, we could call that community.

Yet isn’t a real community supposed to prevent tragedies like suicide? Shouldn’t a following of 100,000 people have at least a few that would be close enough to know when something is terribly wrong?

Because of my interest in blogging and the church, I find articles which present social media as a platform for church growth. But as this tragedy illustrates, social media connection may not equate to real growth.

The church is a community and fellowship of the redeemed. We are a bunch of imperfect people who are brought into relationship with each other because of our individual relationships with Jesus Christ. We bring dysfunction and ignorance and God uses the community to work these problems out of us.

Social media can be a tool to build community, but let’s not think that a large on-line following is a real community. We still need to worship together, break bread together, study together, perhaps even argue with each other if we want to be a real community. Real community can be a messy business because there are times when each of us is a mess.

The church should be a place where flawed people feel accepted and air their struggles. Each member should feel valued and have a sense that the community suffers when one member is suffering. We should know each other well enough to know when something is wrong.

This type of community may not prevent tragedies like the suicide mentioned above, but it should minimize their occurrence. Real community provides real help to those who seek it.

Let’s focus on being a real community and not be satisfied with a sham based on follower counts.

It Ain’t About the Numbers – 6 Thoughts Toward Staying on Track

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NumbersI have found that in having an on-line presence, it is easy to get caught up in a numbers game. How many followers do I have? How may hits have there been on the blog? What is my blog ranking?

In our connected world, we have what seems like an infinite supply of data at our disposal. There are scores and rankings for every aspect of social media and the blogosphere.

With all the information available, it is easy to get overwhelmed and become distracted from the original purpose for having an on-line presence. Not only can I become overwhelmed and distracted, I can waste a lot of time comparing myself with others.

My purpose in having an on-line presence is to encourage people to begin and then deepen their relationship with God. To stay true to that purpose, I came up with 6 reminders to keep me from being consumed by an unprofitable focus on numbers.

  1. I am not doing this to build a personal following. I am doing this to bring honor to Jesus Christ. See 1 Corinthians 10:31.
  2. When I compare myself to others, I am distracted from my mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ, not disciples of me. See Matthew 28:19-20
  3. I am called to please God and be in obedience to him and not be concerned with pleasing men. See 1 Thessalonians 2:4. By seeking to please men, I may compromise what God wants me to write.
  4. I must focus on providing worthwhile content rather than trying to manipulate people into a response. See 1 Corinthians 2:2-5
  5. I must be animated by a love of God and a genuine agape love of other people. Without that love, I’m just making noise. See 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. My efforts must be for the benefit of others and not for my own.
  6. My goal is to bring people into spiritual maturity, but maturity is hard to quantify. The numbers don’t tell the whole story.

Rather than being distracted by the numbers, I need to be still before God (Psalm 46:10) and listen for his voice in the midst of the noise around me.

What do you think? Care to add to the list?

5 Reasons why I moved to self-hosted WordPress Blog

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FiveIf you are reading this you found my new blog home. I’ve moved from WordPress.com to an external hosting service and thought I’d share the reasons why.

  1. Javascript – There are widgets that I’d like to add to my blog that contain Javascript that WordPress.com does not allow. This reduces the capabilities of my blog to interface with other sites.
  2. Search Engine Optimization – None of the SEO plugins for WordPress work with the WordPress.com web site. I’d like to optimize my blog for search engines to drive more traffic.
  3. Domain name control – I can control the domain name and can move to another hosting service if that becomes necessary.
  4. I get to work with the fantastic people at Davis Services Group who are now hosting my blog. I highly recommend using them if you are considering moving to a self-hosted blog.
  5. Overall control – WordPress.com or blogger.com are great ways to start blogging, but with a self-hosted blog, you are only limited by technical feasibility and not by policy decisions.

Feel free to comment about other advantages that I’ve not thought of. I’d also appreciate feedback on the usability of this blog and any suggestions for improvement.

-Mark

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