Ah, that\u2019s the question.\u00a0 Ages ago my blog went goofy.\u00a0 When it finally came back, my comments boxes weren\u2019t working.\u00a0 I tried to figure out the problem, and finally \u2013 with some help \u2013 found that it was actually a simple solution.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Still, I decided to leave them off.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because early on, I had several folks stop by and throw their comments in the boxes.\u00a0 Most were nice.\u00a0 A couple were naughty.\u00a0 Some were just downright mean.\u00a0 And it came to pass that one particular day, when I was in a pissed off mood anyway, I told a fellow who enjoyed coming by and pointing out how stupid us Christian types were to knock it off.\u00a0 Disagree all you like, but at least hang around and debate, say something constructive, something.\u00a0 To his\/her credit, he decided to move on.\u00a0 After that, the number of comments dropped.\u00a0 As if saying \u2018hey, I want constructive and respectful debate here\u2019 was a red flag for some of my readers.<\/p>\n
It was also at that time that the great Lila Rose Disaster of 2011 was occurring.\u00a0 This is when Catholics asked the question \u2018can we tell lies in order to achieve good ends.\u2019\u00a0 I can see the problem with that.\u00a0 And I saw the problem with a Catholic based organization founded on deception.\u00a0 But oh, the arguments.\u00a0 I read things about Lila Rose, other Catholics, even Corrie ten Boom, that made my hair curl.\u00a0 All by Catholics.\u00a0 It was\u00a0embarrassing.\u00a0 I was ashamed to be part of any Catholic discussions at that point, and vowed to keep the comments off for good.<\/p>\n
But there is a problem.\u00a0 As a pastor, I never used \u2018the bully pulpit\u2019 to advance my agendas.\u00a0 I even resisted discussing controversial topics except for casual forums where the congregation was free to speak out.\u00a0 I understand that there are times when you stand up and proclaim \u2018thus saith the Lord\u2019, but it\u2019s also nice to hear other views and allow other ideas to be tossed about.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
I can be opinionated at times.\u00a0 I\u2019m no great writer, I admit.\u00a0 But I can throw out opinions.\u00a0 I sometimes wonder if it\u2019s fair for me to say this or that without a visiting reader having a chance to reply.\u00a0 I noticed this a week or so ago when a blog I used to visit put up a generic dig at Christianity. I knew the fellow wasn\u2019t Christian, but he usually left the faith things out of it, or opened up his blog to comments when he didn\u2019t.\u00a0 But this time he made the dig, and purposefully removed the comments section.\u00a0 Somehow I felt it was unfair that he would unload like that and not allow those who disagreed a voice.<\/p>\n
So I\u2019m kicking it around now, especially as I\u2019ve gotten back into the whole blogging world.\u00a0 Not saying I\u2019ll bring them back.\u00a0 I\u2019ve seen some pretty scary stuff in comments sections.\u00a0 And I don\u2019t want to just ban, ban, ban anyone who says things I think are over the line.\u00a0 Then folks just don\u2019t bother because they aren\u2019t sure what will bring the crushing gauntlet of eradication from the blogger.\u00a0 So I\u2019m kicking it around.\u00a0 I might bring them back.\u00a0 We\u2019ll see.\u00a0 Just FYI.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ah, that\u2019s the question.\u00a0 Ages ago my blog went goofy.\u00a0 When it finally came back, my comments boxes weren\u2019t working.\u00a0 I tried to figure out the problem, and finally \u2013 with some help \u2013 found that it was actually a simple solution.\u00a0 Still, I decided to leave them off.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because early on, I had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n