why i blog

I thought that this would be a good question to answer now that I've been a-blogin' for a little over 6 months now.

The purpose of my blogging:

There is a dual intentional purpose for why I blog what I blog. The first reason is actually why I began blogging. In late 2004 I was asked by my pastor to be a regular teacher in our Sunday school program teaching adults in their 20's & 30's. So, in January 2005 I began regularly teaching this class on a rotating basis with a (now) good friend of mine and a man who is a great encouragement and a solid brother in the LORD. Our class has so many different people that are in different stages of life (some married, some married with kids, some college students, some non-college-student young adults, etc) and we wanted to figure out how best to minister to all of the people in our class, so I thought that a Sunday School blog would be a great and easily accessible vehicle for interaction and focus on eternally relevant issues.

The second (and maybe a little more selfish) goal of mine was to help me with my Bible study and personal devotions. What I mean is that I tend to learn more and study better/harder if I have some sort of a deadline or "due date" for something. I not only devote more time to studying but I tend to stay focused when there is a tangible goal. I didn't (and still don't) want to have my individual quiet time and personal study to be mostly devoted to studying for Sunday School, so I wanted and needed this outlet to encourage more depth in my personal study. Consequently, many of my blog entries have been revolving around and dealing with the various lessons and texts that we have studied in Sunday school, but many others are the direct result of my personal Bible study.

The content of my blog:

Whether you regularly read my blog or you may have just now stumbled upon it and have quickly perused the current topics, you will (I hope) be able to see a fairly consistent pattern.

• subjects dealing with scripture passages and concepts (theologies/doctrines) and their implications
• prevalence of Bible citations to show where my thoughts have their foundation
• a serious and sober tone (normally)
• fairly long individual entries

I feel that a little explanation of why these are the characteristics of my entries is necessary. The nature of what I study, think about, and consequently write about is of such eternal magnitude and divine implications, I feel unable to write short comments while still being thorough and accurate. It can be done. However, I do not believe that I have the ability to condense the thoughts that I have about any specific topic that I choose to deal with here into a compact 8 or 9 sentence coherent composition.

I strive very hard to be accurate with any assertion or assessment that I make regarding any biblical text, theology, or doctrine. Since this is the case, I cannot stress enough my desire to be challenged or corrected if a reader feels that I misstate something or just get it completely wrong. If you don’t feel comfortable leaving a public note, then please e-mail me with your concern. If I am shown (in scripture) my error, I will make my mistake known and attempt to correct it. It is so important, that I place a high degree of esteem on men or women who question me on biblical grounds about something that I say or hold to.