{"id":10563,"date":"2013-08-19T09:50:34","date_gmt":"2013-08-19T14:50:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theamericanjesus.net\/?p=10563"},"modified":"2013-08-19T09:50:34","modified_gmt":"2013-08-19T14:50:34","slug":"how-not-to-comment-on-a-christian-blog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2013\/08\/how-not-to-comment-on-a-christian-blog\/","title":{"rendered":"How NOT To Comment On A Christian Blog"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"20130816-111101.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This is part two of a post I shared on Friday<\/a> about how not to comment on a blog.<\/p>\n

Since Christian blogging is a crazy beast of its own, I\u2019ve come up with some specific guidelines for how not <\/em>to look like a complete jerk or crazy person while commenting on a Christian blog.<\/p>\n

And I made sure to come up 7 tips, cause you know, Bible numbers and stuff.<\/p>\n

Anyway, here they are, once again in no particular order.
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n

Post a thousand Bible verses you think prove your point and nothing else.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

You own a copy of Where To Find It in the Bible<\/a><\/em>\"\". Congratulations. I\u2019m happy for you that you can copy and paste every possible verse on a given subject out of there and share it on my blog.<\/p>\n

You know what that doesn\u2019t make you?<\/p>\n

Right.<\/p>\n

Proof-texting a bunch of Bible verses isn\u2019t the definitive evidence you think it is. Why? Because I can just as easily rip a verse out of context and justify genocide. But nobody thinks the Bible says genocide is ok because at some level we all understand the Bible needs to be read in context.<\/p>\n

Ok maybe not all of us.<\/p>\n

But do yourself a favor. If you want to quote Bible verses, pick a passage, maybe two, and explain why you think it\u2019s relevant to your argument.<\/p>\n

Because if you just leave a laundry list of Bible verses as your comment, I\u2019m gonna respond the same way I do to Hitler accusations.<\/p>\n

You will be ignored immediately.<\/p>\n

And forever.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jesus juke everything.<\/h3>\n

Jon Acuff famously and ingeniously coined the phrase \u201cJesus juke.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

In his words,<\/p>\n

Like a football player juking you at the last second and going a different direction, the Jesus Juke is when someone takes what is clearly a joke filled conversation and completely reverses direction into something serious and holy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Contrary to popular belief it is not sinful for Christians to have fun and\/or make jokes. In fact, some of us like to do both quite often.<\/p>\n

If joy and happiness are not your thing, that\u2019s fine.<\/p>\n

But, please, for the sake of everything that is good and holy in the world, please let the rest of us enjoy life and don\u2019t turn every single conversation into a super serious talk about sin and salvation or a guilt trip about how we should be serving the hungry in Somalia instead of making jokes about\u2026..well, whatever we\u2019re making jokes about.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not saying you have to join in on the fun.<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

But do know that every time you Jesus juke a conversation an angel loses its wings.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rip someone apart, condemn them to hell, then offer prayer and blessings that they\u2019ll come to see the truth\u2026by which you mean agree with you.<\/h3>\n

You think I\u2019m wrong. No problem, you\u2019re free to disagree.<\/p>\n

But you know what won\u2019t get me to agree with you or even be interested in seeing things from your perspective?<\/p>\n

Telling me I\u2019m going to hell for not affirming your understanding of atonement metaphysics, then feigning grace by offering judgmental \u201cprayer\u201d that God will force me to see things your way.<\/p>\n

You know what that sort of approach makes you?<\/p>\n

A pharisee.<\/p>\n

Literally, I\u2019m not using accusatory hyperbole here.<\/p>\n

Being the Biblical expert you are I\u2019m sure you\u2019ll recall Jesus\u2019 parable in Luke 18 about the pharisee and the tax collector praying. How did the pharisee pray?<\/p>\n

Like this\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cGod I thank you that I am not like other people \u2013 robbers, evil doers, adulterers \u2013 or even like this tax collector.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Put a little Eugene Peterson spin on that<\/a>\"\" and what do you have? Half of the critical comments that appear on Christian blogs.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s ok to disagree and to disagree vehemently.<\/p>\n

But don\u2019t try to dress up your hate with false piety.<\/p>\n

After all, you know what they say about putting lipstick on a pig\u2026.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s really weird. Why in the world would you put lipstick on a pig??<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Criticize a post for not covering every possible theological angle and nuance.<\/h3>\n

Have I ever come across a comment that explicitly said \u201cWhy didn\u2019t this post cover everything?\u201d<\/p>\n

No, of course not.<\/p>\n

But have I come across angry comments that criticized the post for not covering every single possible theological angle and nuance, particularly the one angle the commenter feels is more important than all the others?<\/p>\n

All. The. Time.<\/p>\n

Do we bloggers appreciate when other views and angles are brought to the conversations we start?<\/p>\n

Absolutely!<\/p>\n

But blog posts by their very nature are not intended to cover everything about a given subject, nor can they or they would cease to become blog posts.<\/p>\n

Please, share your perspective and add to the conversation. Seriously. But don\u2019t lecture the blogger about what you think they missed or what you think they should have covered.<\/p>\n

Bloggers often know more than you think they do. But they have to make tough decisions about what can or cannot cover in a post without it turning into a 5,000 monstrosity that no one wants to read.<\/p>\n

And as we all know, blogging is all about traffic and if nobody reads your post because it\u2019s insanely long, then you won\u2019t get any blog traffic and if you don\u2019t get any blogging traffic nobody will know who you are and then Kent Shaffer won\u2019t rank you in his Top 200<\/a> and then what\u2019s the point of even blogging?!<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve gotta have priorities people!!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Defend a pastor for saying or doing something egregiously un-Christian.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Yeah, I know he\u2019s your boy.<\/p>\n

And yeah, I know he\u2019s probably said and done some wonderful things in life.<\/p>\n

But that really terrible, hateful, insensitive, bigoted, un-Christlike thing he said?<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t have to defend.<\/p>\n

In fact, you shouldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t have to turn your back on him either, but burying your head in the sand, or, worse, renarrating his hate speech as something good and righteous in the face of a \u201cgodless world\u201d does neither of you any favors.<\/p>\n

If you really love that pastor and really think he\u2019s doing great things, then helping him stay on that path by calling his attention to those moments when he\u2019s strayed off of it will do all of us a lot of good.<\/p>\n

Jesus went so far as to tell Peter he was acting like Satan<\/em><\/strong> when Peter put his foot in his mouth.<\/p>\n

So, if you have to tell your favorite pastor \u201cYo, bro, yeah maybe don\u2019t say those sorts of things anymore. You\u2019re kinda embarrassing Jesus.\u201d and you\u2019re feeling kinda awkward about it just think to yourself\u2026.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m being nicer than Jesus!!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shame fellow Christians for criticizing other Christians and imply that criticism is a sin.
\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Criticism of other Christians is not a sin.<\/p>\n

People disagree. Even Christians. That\u2019s ok. You do it too. In fact, when you\u2019re yelling at us bloggers for criticizing others Christians you know what you\u2019re doing?<\/p>\n

Criticizing other Christians.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s ok. You know who else criticized other people of faith?<\/p>\n

A lot.<\/p>\n

I mean so much they wrote 4 books about.<\/p>\n

Jesus.<\/p>\n

Do people go overboard and turn their criticism into hateful attacks? Absolutely. But once again, allow me the honor of welcoming you to adulthood where people disagree with each other and let each other know it.<\/p>\n

When you try to shame and silence other believers for voicing their dissent, you\u2019re not holding them accountable. You\u2019re being a theological fascist.<\/p>\n

You know who else silenced dissent and rebuked those who asked questions and criticized authority?<\/p>\n

Hitler.<\/p>\n

See?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s kinda irrational and not very fun being compared to the Nazis isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Call someone a liberal or a heretic when you really mean \u201cnot a Calvinist.\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n

This may come as a shock to your system, but there are literally millions of Christians in the world who love Jesus, are orthodox in their beliefs, and yet are not Calvinists.<\/p>\n

In fact, and you may want to sit down for this, some of them are even conservatives.<\/p>\n

I know, I know.<\/p>\n

It sounds like crazy talk.<\/p>\n

But you know what sounds even crazier?<\/p>\n

Denouncing people as godless liberal heretics because they don\u2019t affirm the five points of Calvinism and the five fundamentals.<\/p>\n

If theology is your way or the highway, then in the words of the wise Twitter sage @plstepp<\/a>, I would humbly suggest you grow a hermeneutic.
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n

Well, that\u2019s my list. If you\u2019re a Christian blogger or just an avid Christian blog reader, what would you add to the list? Let me know in (where else?) the comments section.<\/em>
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n

Grace and peace,<\/p>\n

Zack Hunt<\/p>\n

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