Desiring God's Advice on Reading Blogs / Better Blog Reading

I found this article by Abraham Piper , Better Blog Reading, on the Desiring God Blog and thought that it dovetailed nicely with the recent conversation regarding reading the Bible, Blogs, and other Books. In the article he lists some good suggestions on how to manage one's blog reading.

Read the Bible first.
It is important to read what God is saying in the morning before reading what bloggers or news reporters have to say.

Don't read trash.
A first step toward using the internet wisely is to cut out any material that is sin. Some of this will be obvious—like porn. Others will be less objective and we need to judge for ourselves whether a particular website helps us in our walk with Christ or not.

Read books too.
One goal of mine is to try to keep the DG Blog valuable for you as a reader--and most other bloggers would say the same thing about their blogs--but every blogger worth taking seriously would tell you that if you had to choose between the internet and books, you should choose books. We will miss out on too much of what is true and beautiful if our reading time is monopolized by the computer. Most of us don't have to choose between the two. Since we use both, we should make sure that we maintain a balance, so that reading blogs does not cause us to marginalize books.

Use RSS.
Perhaps you are hesitant to use a feedreader because you'd have to learn how, and that feels like it would require too much of a commitment to blogs. In fact, if you do not use one, you are probably spending more time reading blogs than if you did.

Feel free to add and delete subscriptions often.
I regularly remind myself that subscriptions to blogs are not commitments. They can be added and deleted as often or as rarely as I want. This means I often add blogs to my feedreader—it only needs to have one good post to convince me to see if it is regularly good. Similarly, if a blog is not helpful often enough to make scanning it worthwhile, I delete it without a second thought. I have found that this easy-come-easy-go mentality to blog subscription ensures that I find what is helpful for me and don't waste my time with what isn't.

Scan an article first, then read it more thoroughly if it seems worthwhile.
Even in the short list of blogs I have come to trust, I don't have time to carefully read all the content. I have found it helpful to scan an article before I commit to it. I rely on titles, headers, introductions, conclusions, and topic sentences to inform me whether it would be valuable for me to read the whole thing. Thankfully, good articles generally convey quite a bit of content when I scan them, so even if I don't have time to read them fully, they are still valuable.

Be quick to listen, slow to comment.
The comments section beneath a blog post is meant to further the discussion that the post began. If commenters keep this goal in mind, comments can be very helpful. I try to do my part by asking myself whether I am making a contribution to the discussion with my comment. I don't mean anything fancy--just something that is encouraging, clarifying, or maybe just pleasant. Often I discover that my goal is not to contribute but to correct, or worse, criticize. In these cases, I delete the comment and stay out of the fray.

Another good rule is, if you wouldn't say it to someone in person, don't say it on a blog either. Of course, this isn't a perfect rule, since some of us are mean in person too. Maybe better would just be: Be kind and be positive.

Thanks for the sage advice Mr. Piper.

Jonathan Edwards' Resolution #5:

Resolved, never to lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can.

May my free moments be spent glorifying the Triune God.

RC

Thank You ESV Blog

I would like to thank the folks at the ESV Blog for mentioning me. I would also like to thank Doug Smith at Gazing at Glory for giving me the idea for "Bible Before Blogdom." I hope that the outcome that he and I hoped to achieve, bloggers reading their Bibles more, will come to fruition.

RC

What Makes a Good Blog?

When one first endeavors to generate a blog it is probably a good idea to figure out the motivation for starting the blog. One's motivation may be to get noticed, to generate profit, or to get a message out in the public square. In general starting a blog is an exercise in narcissism. That is it takes a certain amount of pride to think that what one has to say is important or interesting enough that others will want to read it. This blog is a Christian blog. I have for my motivation a desire to share the gospel with others and to provide a place on the internet where others can come and have genuine fellowship. I have to admit there is an element of desire for the adulation of others, however, my motivation should be to glorify and honor God. I hope that I will succeed in this endeavor and I fully expect that you the readers, as Christian brothers and sisters, will bring it to my attention when I fall short of this goal.


This blog takes the answer to the first question posed by the Westminster Shorter Catechism seriously:

Q. 1. What is the chief end of man?

A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.


Proof Texts:

To Glorify God:
Psalm 86. Bow down thine ear, O LORD, hear me: for I am poor and needy. Preserve my soul; for I am holy: O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee. Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry unto thee daily. Rejoice the soul of thy servant: for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. Give ear, O LORD, unto my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications. In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me. Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto thy works. All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name. For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone. Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name. I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore. For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell. O God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul; and have not set thee before them. But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth. O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me; give thy strength unto thy servant, and save the son of thine handmaid. Show me a token for good; that they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed: because thou, LORD, hast holpen me, and comforted me. Isaiah 60:21. Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. Romans 11:36. For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen. 1 Corinthians 6:20, 31. For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.... Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Revelation 4:11. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

To enjoy God forever:
Psalm 16:5-11. The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage. I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons. I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. Psalm 144:15. Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD. Isaiah 12:2. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. Luke 2:10. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. Philippians 4:4. Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. Revelation 21:3-4. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

The Westminster Confession of Faith, the longer and shorter Catechism along with other historic church documents can be found at:

http://www.reformed.org/documents/index.html


May I bring glory to God in all that I do.

RC