Blogdom of God endorsement and suggestions.....

Belief Seeking Understanding: is glowing in his enthusiasm about the effect the Blogdom of God has had on his traffic... "I've had more visits this past week than in the previous 10 weeks"

He also makes some great suggestions about how it might be possible to promote the Blogdom of God further. These are all great ideas, and I commend them to you with the one qualification- that no one should feel under any obligation to do any of these things. If you like his idea of highlighting a blog of the week, why not contact him and agree a day that you will highlight a Blog of your own choice in a post of your own on your blog- that way we might have lots of Blogs of the week posts, and lots of nice encouraging posts about each other.

For me my blog of the blogdom this week would have to be Patriot Paradox. He chose to lay aside an alliance he was already in to join the Blogdom- which I really didnt expect him to do. I really hope that this new alliance works for him- he deserves many more readers. He has a fantastic blog which I always enjoy reading. There are few bloggers that I read every word they write, but when he appears in the aggregator I will almost always do just that. He also runs the King of the Blogs tornament and is helping out with a new email discussion list for Bloggers. How do you do it Nick Queen?

What Michael Howard believes

These values all sound very reasonable and possibly very American. Michael Howard believes for example "it is natural for men and women to want health, wealth and happiness for their families and themselves "

Who knows, he may even give Tony Blair a run for his money in the next election.

An obvious interpretation?

A while ago one of my favorite bloggers had a dream At the time he was not sure if the dream was frightening or reassuring. Euan seems to have gone with it being reassuring. I must say that I was more with the frightening side myself. I am sure Euan would appreciate any other interpretations- I offered him mine by private email.

The evangelicals are coming.....

The Observer | Review | The sleek shall inherit the Church: "there are two trends at play inside the Church of England. While the congregations of many traditional places of worship are static or in decline, those at evangelical churches are growing faster than Russian vine on a south-facing wall. "

How to Save the World:

"Why you never get anything important done":

Annual Weblog Awards

Vote now for the blogs that you think are the best. (There you are, I can't get fairer than that can I?) And why not especially nominate a blog or two in the UK section- I have included a list of UK Blog sites further down this page.

Can the people be trusted?

A democratic revolution?:
"It was trailed as a 'unique chance to rewrite the law of the land'. Listeners to BBC Radio 4's Today programme were asked to suggest a piece of legislation to improve life in Britain, with the promise that an MP would then attempt to get it onto the statute books.
But yesterday, 26,000 votes later, the winning proposal was denounced as a 'ludicrous, brutal, unworkable blood-stained piece of legislation' - by Stephen Pound, the very MP whose job it is to try to push it through Parliament."

Are You A Blogaholic?

Are You A Blogaholic?: I scored 52/100 and was told "You are a dedicated weblogger. You post frequently because you enjoy weblogging a lot, yet you still manage to have a social life. You're the best kind of weblogger. Way to go!"

The Blessing of singleness

Unquenchable Songs and Endless Praise appears to have a great blog that I found thanks to a post on Irene's site- I love this:

"You know what's irksome sometimes? When people introduce themselves as being single. I don't know why it bothers me at times, but I find that it has been used in such a diminutive way. Whenever I hear it being said, it always comes with a sense of incompleteness and dissatisfaction. The idea that people have where they are seeking for their 'other half' bothers me. People should regard themselves as whole and complete, with or without a significant other. Yet I find that the idea of singleness among Christians my age is treated as a temporary stage or heaven forbid, a curse, because they are 'missing their other half'! Being single isn't looked upon favorably anymore and seems to be mentioned more out of desperation than joyfulness. When these people mention that they're single, they do so out of contempt for where they are right now."

I remember my single days well. Looking back on them they were good times. Being married has been great also, but I do feel that we need to learn to appreciate whatever stage of life we are in, and to realise that for some people marriage is not the state they will be most complete in. We can be single and complete, or rather some of us can.

Do it yourself Aggregator

I just want to put one thing straight, as I am aware that there has been some confusion. I am not a highly technical person. I did not create the programming behind the Blogdom of God aggregator. I just set it up on Server.com - the Web-Based RSS News Aggregator.

It is so easy to set up your own webpage to aggregate the blogs YOU like that perhaps every blog should have one! Once complete, they can also be submitted to google, which seems to read them and no doubt their links help with popularity indexes run by this and other search engines. So, if you are in the blogdom and don't have your own aggregator why not set one up for your own reading pleasure and make sure you submit it to google if you want google to read it.

Passion by Mel Gibson

Passion Review by Mark Roberts who has been lucky enough to see the film- joining the pope and Billy Graham on my list of people I am envious of for having seen this. Don't they want a UK blogger to review it???

UK Blogs

There are a growing number of UK Blogs beginning to challenge the supremacy of US Blogs. There are a number of ways of finding these and keeping up with them. There is list of updated UK Weblogs which is also mirrored here

There is also a UK Blogs Aggregator which is a great way of previewing what UK bloggers are writing about.

There is also a rather cool site London Bloggers, which locates London bloggers by their nearest train or tube station!

Finally, there is a list of UK God Blogs which was one half of my inspiration for the Blogdom of God the other half being of course Blgos4God which is so famous it doesnt need a link from me!

A mile wide and an inch deep?

The American relaxed approach to Christian theology is aptly demonstrated by this quote: "'During the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth, religion prospered while theology slowly went bankrupt.' "

Are we getting safer?

Following the Iraq inspired climbdown by Ghadaffi, it seems breakthrough may be catching as North Korea grants the US a nuclear inspection

Daniel Bedingfield hurt in a car crash.....

....but not too badly fortunately he will be fine. It would be a tragedy if those vocal cords got injured just yet.

Sloth a deadly sin....

The times on sin continues with this on sloth-

To the medieval theologians, however, sloth was more than simply lazing around. It was the self-indulgent desire for ease, ignoring God’s known will. Thomas Aquinas defined sloth as “sluggishness of the mind which neglects to being good”, and said it drew man away from good deeds. A slothful person, the moralists concluded, was not only morally deficient, but knowingly perpetrated evil by failing to make the effort to do good.

After abortion

After abortion: "The Top Ten After Abortion stories of 2003."

The Lord of the Rings - Return of the King

Having allowed my whole family to watch the new Lord of the Rings film I asked Henry, What did you learn from the Lord of the rings?

Henry's answer- 'Not to go out on my own'

Well, I guess thats one function of letting kids see depictions of evil! Of course the other is to instill in them the age old story of the fight of good versus evil.

Many seem to learn more expicitly Christian messages from the film, such as for example Nick: "Does Lord of the Rings reflect Christian values? I think so. I see the One Ring reflecting our sin, and Frodo's role as the Ring-Bearer one that each of us have to endure."

I think we can go down this road too much however, and interestingly Rick quotes Tolkein himself about what he meant by the story "'The prime motive was the desire of a tale-teller to try his hand at a really long story that would hold the attention of readers, amuse them, delight them, and at times maybe excite them or deeply move them . . . . As for any inner meaning or ‘message’, it has in the intention of the author none. It is neither allegorical nor topical.'"

Of course, today the very concept of evil itself is being undermined, and when Bush spoke of an axis of evil he was ridiculed by many. If evil is an exclusively Christian concept then the Lord of the Rings clearly illustrates it. That is not to say that the story doesnt excelently illustrate many christian values, but lets not make it too much like a Christian parable, because it clearly wasn't intended to be that.

Stories do shape us however, and I for one am much happier about the way the Lord of the Rings with its clear demarcation between good and evil will shape me and my family than I am say Harry Potter which from what I understand tends to blur the boudaries somewhat.

Lust

The Times on sin continues

Such is the peculiar status of lust in our society that one could be forgiven for thinking that it had been transformed into a cardinal virtue rather than a deadly sin. Contemporary culture is saturated with lust in the most banal of ways. So pervasive is this most shapely of sins that it is difficult to think of a sphere in which lasciviousness does not make its presence felt. Sex sells and everybody, it seems, is selling sex.

As a consequence, the word “lust” tends to turn up in phrases where its pejorative sense is all but lost, such as “wander lust” and “lust for life”. Used in this fashion, wantonness acquires a positive spin, a feeling of spiritedness and energy — a flame that burns bright before burning itself out. Lazily we conflate concupiscence with sex and become defenders of both.

Yet lust does not merely describe a state of erotic rapture, but a desire so compulsive that one or both participants objectifies the other, using their body as a means to a bathetic end. Sex in this context is a curiously isolating experience, rendering lovers stripped of their humanity, reduced to a beguiling assembly of limbs.

The traditional punishment for this craving for the pulse of flesh on flesh was to be enveloped in fire and brimstone where once one had been enveloped in one's lover's arms.

Few of us now believe that such a fate awaits the lustful. But still there is a pervasive opinion that sex works best when it means something, even if this is more attributable to D.H. Lawrence than the teachings of the Church. Bumper sticker belief though it be, it would be naïve to underestimate the social value that this conviction concerning the immanence of intercourse carries. And yet the converse also applies: where sex fails, we are convinced that it must mean something.

For many people affection is synonymous with sexual success. That we have a right to pleasure has become a modern truism, but often it is a right invoked with no sense of responsibility.

With the possible exception of gluttony, lust is accepted as the friendly face of the deadly sin line-up — a soft sin, its perpetrators roguish at worst. Even Gregory the Great considered it least problematic. Yet lust is not a victimless sin.

It is a painful paradox that a vice that children are uniquely free of should so often make children its victims, as families topple where marriages fall apart. The causes of such personal tragedies are impossible to explain to the young because there is no rational cause. Swinburne argued that “love is more cruel than lust”, but he was notoriously unreliable on these subjects.

With the exception of a Christmas knees up or midnight new year lunge, the festive season is not a time when lust comes to the fore. A superabundance of relatives and seasonal nervous exhaustion see to that.

And yet this interlude between Christmas and the start of the new year is a period that could be used for a little Lenten-style introspection; a time to contemplate a resolution to pursue not licentiousness, but self-control in every aspect of one’s life. And with it should come the lesson that those around us are to be valued for qualities other than the brightness of their smile and allure of their physique.

Counting blessings combats holiday blues, studies show

Being grateful is good for you. 'What are you greatful for?' asks mamamusings

Where to start? Thank you God for my lovely wife Andrée Warnock (who was born Andree Hamer) who puts up with far more than any woman should have to, and who is the best person I have met in the whole world. Also, for four wonderful kids who love me to death and make me so proud (Henry singing at the church party and Joel shuffling along the furniture both did me in!!

For extended family, for friends- esp Ant who I beat at chess yesterday! For my new job which no longer feels new, and especially for some of the great people I work with- the marketeers, my long suffering secretary, my boss (who is by far the best boss I have ever had!), and all the others.

For my home, my food, my church, in fact for everything. I have two many blessings to count.
Also, these last few months for blogging!

Thanks to The Obvious? for pointing this out.

The return of the blogger

Well I am back, and back with a vengance.

Like many bloggers, I have found that this blog has become such an integral part of my life that putting it down was actually quite hard. I even found myself reading my favorite blogs once or twice. But it seemed important to take a step back, enjoy the family and spend a bit less time in front of the screen.

Blogging is a great way to think out loud and to learn from others blogs, and from their reactions to you. I have been very grateful to be part of this revolution, and as those from Jubilee Church who read this blog have discovered, my sermons there have definitely benefited from this blog and the internet as a whole. In fact this is a great outlet for the odd ideas that are floating around my head and for the quotes I find in books and websites I read. This is kind of like a primeaval soup out of which my sermons and even 'real' face to face conversations arise.

A blog is also an opportunity to reflect, contemplate and record stories you never want to forget. What an interesting resource they are likely to make future historians too. But since the majority of blog readers are those who already blog, I don't need to pursuade my readers that they are great do I?

Controversy over the Blogdom of God

There have been a couple of voices speaking out against the Blogdom of God.  The most notable and fair of these has been IreneQ. It is time for me to answer her and one or two others.

Firstly, on the point of blogs being too aggressively Christian, I think that some blogs written by Christians will be and indeed should be more explicitly Christian than others. This, like much in the blogosphere, is surely a matter of personal choice.

Joshua Claybourn is an excellent example in my mind of an eminently Christian blog that is not at first sight obviously Christian. He blogs about politics and the news, only to an insider is this clearly from a Christian point of view. I love it. He is also very successful and not afraid to state on his blog that he is the 200^th most cited writer on the internet. Shameless self promotion? I don’t think so. He also links to a wide variety of blogs some Christian some not, without distinguishing between them.

The evangelical outpost on the other hand, is more explicitly Christian, with the very name giving the game away.  For myself, I am somewhere in between as are many of us.

Oddly then, if The Blogdom of God was really about producing an evangelical ghetto, Joshua has joined the alliance, but the evangelical outpost has chosen not to. To me this shows that the blogdom of God is not about an exclusive clubbing together of Christian blogs, it is rather a way for some blogs that happen to be written by Christians to send some of their traffic to others of like mind. Whether to join or not is a decision for the owners of blogs to make and not anyone else.

Clearly, not everyone wants more traffic, but is it wrong that some of us do?  Is it wrong that many of us want our Christian blogs to be read by other Christians and non-Christians alike?   Are over 60 Christian bloggers shameless self-promoters for joining the blogdom, when 900 who have joined blogs4god  are not? Indeed, Irene is a moderator over blogs4God, so it seems hard for me to understand her criticism of this new idea.

The desire for us to link to each other more in some way did not just come from me.  Not everyone believes with Irene that we are in danger of creating an evangelical link farm.   The statistical facts seem to be, at least in terms of the blogs that have thus far joined the Blogdom of God, that we are all much better at attracting traffic than we are at directing it to each other in links.  Now that may or may not be a bad thing depending on your point of view.   I happen to believe that a few more links between God blogs wouldn't be a bad thing. If you agree you can join the blogdom if you want, if not you don’t have to. 

Can You Hear Me Now?:  stated about the blogdom of God "I have mixed thoughts about the proposal for creating an association of God Bloggers out here. It's a good thing in that if someone is seeking information about religion they would find a large resource in one place but it also is a means for someone who doesn't want to hear anything about Jesus or religion to side step and avoid one large group of Bloggers. ".

In actual fact Christian bloggers, especially ones like Joshua will be linked to from many different places.  Just because a blog is listed on the Blogdom of God does not mean that it will not be listed elsewhere.  So by clubbing together we do pass each others traffic around, but in fact we do something else as well.

Search engines and Google in particular work on a kind of democracy.  This has been demonstrated well by the practice of Google bombing which I brought up not to advocate ‘cheating’ this search engine but rather to make readers aware of how seriously Google takes blog links. Every link placed for any website acts like a vote for that website. This will make the site more likely to be found when searching for relevant keywords. 

What is less well known is that any link which also includes keywords acts as a vote for that website to be linked with those keywords. Ironically enough, Irene herself seems to have benefited from this, probably simply by the fact she has a link to great blogs pointing to a page on her own site she now has 11^th position on a google search for ‘Great blogs’.  Try it now. In fact the very act of me posting this message on my blog may have put her up a little- I hope so!  Is it so wrong for me to suggest to those that think Blogs4God (a site which I have less affiliation with than Irene) lists many great blogs might want to tell their readers and the search engines this fact? (Incidently, when I last checked Blogs4God’s ranking for the google search great blogs was somewhere under 100).

To those who say we should stay out of this link business altogether, I ask one question ‘Do you vote in your county’s elections?’.   I hope the answer is yes although we believe that God chooses our rulers.  It is not wrong to act responsibly and pay our part as net citizens in voting (by links) for the sites we like to read.  I do not believe we should rather sit and wait to see what readers God sends our way. Of course you can play your part  in this process without being in the Blogdom of God, and I mine by being in it.  

On a broader issue, mainstream Christian belief has always held that when God decides that something is going to happen, he also decides how he wants it to happen, and that almost always includes a role for man in fulfilling his purpose.  Someone told William Carey that God didn’t need his help to evangelise India.  I am glad he didn’t listen, aren’t you?

So lets keep blogging on in peace and goodwill towards one another, OK?

Trying to take a holiday

I am going to try and take a blog holiday and reflect over the next couple of days. Lets see how long I last! I have been reflecting on my own blog and picking out what I think some of the highlights have been since the end of April when I started. If you are mad enough to miss me whilst I am away then you can always browse my highlights list or better still visit some of the Blogdom of God-

Joshua Claybourn  HughHewitt.com Catholic and Enjoying It  Real Live Preacher   RelapsedCatholic   Patriot Paradox  King of Fools Clarity amidst Chaos  sophoristically speaking connexions Dappled Things   Certus Veritas   Earthly Passions   Wanderings of a Post Modern Pilgrim Antioch Road  Broken Masterpieces  ChristWeb The Blogdom of God  Tim Samoff // Weblog   Vessel of Honour  Reverend Mike's House of Homiletic Hash  Upward way TheConnexion Collected Miscellany   Mr. Pete's Pages   Damascus Road   New Covenant  N.B. Chesed St. Stephen's Musings  Belief Seeking Understanding  Mark Roberts   Fallible   Dappled Things   Totem to Temple I like Shiny things   In the Shadow of Mt. Hollywood    My four walls      Anxiety Closet bloggerphil nextlevel   Hugh Hewitt Inspired Blogs    Coffee Swirls    central power Christian media The Wilderness     Available Light   Wanderings of a Post-Modern Pilgrim   David dave