This Is the End, Beautiful Friend

This is my final post on GodBlogCon05, and the title reflects lyrics from one of my favorite groups, “The Doors.” And I might add that the Biola cafeteria plan was quite elaborate.

I will close with some comments on Josh Claybourn’s breakout session and then some final reflections on the convention. His session was very well-organized and he clearly put a good amount of time into covering several key areas in a limited amount of time while allowing maximum time for discussion. He was willing to take on what he called liberal and conservative myths regarding faith and politics. He included as a liberal myth that “the job of government is to reform everything” and that “faith and politics should be completely separate.” I didn’t disagree with Josh but did point out changes that have occurred over time, such as the fact that during the civil rights struggle and the Vietnam War, it was often conservatives who insisted that faith and politics be separate. Somewhere in the mix, I shared that 1972 Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern, a fellow United Methodist, was a frequent quoter of Scripture during his campaigns. (I actually brought a McGovern campaign button to give Josh as a souvenir, but forgot to present it to him.)

Josh listed as conservative myths that the “job of government is to keep everything the same” and that the “value of faith lies in its social results.” I would add as a conservative myth the view that liberal evangelicals don’t accept the Bible as authoritative. We simply see authority as allowing for Scripture to sometimes be seen as truth told in myth. Or, we may contextualize Paul’s writings beyond what conservatives can accept. Or we may see hyperbole in text for expression of a principle where conservatives see an absolute applicatio. The fact that I view the Book of Revelation as allegory or metaphor doesn’t mean that I think it is untrue or lacking authority. Indeed, I consider Revelation one of the most powerful and prophetic books on the nature of judgment and hope , but do not believe it contains evidence of historical things to happen.

Interestingly, while I find Josh to be far more conservative than many Republicans, he strikes me as actually significantly less partisan. There is a modern misunderstanding of what it means to be partisan. Today, if you are unwilling to compromise, you are labeled partisan, even if your stance is due to principles. However, the true meaning of partisanship is putting party above one’s ideals, not refusing to compromise on ideals. Now at a practical level, it is not necessarily unprincipled to work with the other side and settle for legislation you can live with. To me, those who insist that Harriet Miers must be confirmed or opposed simply because President Bush nominated her are the true partisans.

To his credit, he opined that our ultimate citizenship is in heaven. I agree with the understanding that our citizenship is in God’s kingdom, which begins in this life and culminates in the new heaven and new earth.

During discussion time, Hugh Hewitt explained unreasonable exposure to legal liability under libel laws (my terminology, not his) as the reason he doesn’t allow comments on his blog. I haven’t practiced law since 1988 and my field was oil and gas law, but I wonder if Hugh’s concerns aren’t exaggerated nevertheless.

Josh closed his session with recommendations for how to have a succesful blog (beyond the obvious of well-written, thoughtful posts): heavy emphasis on marketing, site design, seeking out bigger blogs, developing an ethos, and sharing what makes you unique.

The biggest weakness of his presentation? He failed to mention that you should seek out intelligent, loyal commenters such as Joel Thomas. And since we all need constructive criticism regarding our blogging, let me give Josh some regarding his “farewell address” on his old blog, joshclaybourn.com. I think there is too much “me” and not enough “we” in his sign-off. True, Josh is the one who labored writing the posts, monitoring comments, filtering spam, and otherwise maintaining the site. However, I think he could give his readers, particularly his commenters, more credit for the success of his blog.

Many God bloggers, including myself, want to transform the world in at least some way. Great! The challenge is to do it with a sense of humility and respect for the dignity and worth of others. I stand convicted many times over. In a post on his old blog that I’m not going to bother to look up, Josh made the claim that absolute truth is knowable. I agree to the extent that 1) some truths may not have yet been fully revealed by God and 2) no one individual can know all absolute truth. I’ve received many an e-mail claiming that I am leading people to the gates of hell because of my views on homosexuality. Maybe I’m wrong on the issue, but if social conservatives are wrong in their approach to economic justice, couldn’t a similar charge be brought against them?

John Calvin added a lot to Christianity, even as I disagree with Calvinist theology that grew up around him. However, in Calvin’s zeal to promote his brand of God’s grace, he became responsible for the deaths of several of his critics. I don’t see Christian bloggers killing each other literally, but if we aren’t careful,

John Wesley had love for the poor, a commitment to social justice, and a zeal for witnessing, but he could also be petty and narrow-minded. He once excluded someone from receiving Communion out of nothing but pure spite. He also clearly neglected the needs of his wife, not by design or by cheating on her, but at some level couldn’t translate a sense of God’s grace to his own marriage, that very same grace that he could write of so well and eloquently. Wesley also claimed as his own some materials written by others.

Martin Luther was anti-Semitic. He also contributed, at least indirectly to the deaths of thousands of innocent peasants.

My point is that if such great religious leaders had such serious flaws, we bloggers ought to be careful of being too full of ourselves. There is often the confusion of righteousness of a cause with personal righteousness that in reality is self-righteousness. Been there, done that.

My recommendations for GodBlogCon06:

*More Arminian thinkers: Donald Sensing, Shane Raynor, Beth Quick, Dean Snyder, Will Willimon, etc.
*More liberal evangelicals.
*More female panelists: La Shawn Barber would be great, even as she often gets under my skin.
*Bloggers from other countries: Richard Hall, Catez Stevens, Bene Diction (this might require asking
American bloggers to kick in a few extra dollars to pay for the added expense of foreign travel).
*Many of the invited speakers didn’t put prominent, consistent links to GodBlogCon on their own blogs or even
write frequently to encourage attendance. Why not?
*The design for the GodBlogCon website was not very attractive or inviting. Did anyone ask Dean Peters to help design something better? (Dean and I have traded more than a few insults over the past couple of years, but he clearly has some talents in that area. )
*Double and triple-check to see that all space assigned for breakout sessions is actually available. One that I attended lost about 15 minutes of time because there was to be a class and we needed to move. (But yes, every gathering has such glitches.)

I’ve heard and understand the arguments that anyone was free to attend the convention. However, initially, there seemed some uncertainty as to what “historical” or “traditional” Christianity meant as a guide to attendance. In the beginning, I wondered whether my views on homosexuality would bar my attendance. Did traditional mean viewing the Bible as “inerrant”? Did traditional mean accepting the majority view that women shouldn’t be pastors? In the end, much of the confusion was cleared up, but some damage had already been done.

On the other hand, there may have been some premature sniping from “my” side. First conventions are often established by networking and it is somewhat natural that Christian bloggers might be best connected to their theological and political soulmates. People were asked if they want to facilitate or lead breakout sessions and it does seem that few liberals responded in the affirmative. As well, I can’t say I put a whole lot of effort myself into recruiting liberal evangelical bloggers. I could rationalize that I just guest blog, but I could have done more. My overall grade for the convention: a solid B (an A for hospitality); for my own efforts to promote or facilitate it: C-. For Josh’s breakout session: A+.

I e-mailed one blogger that if I didn’t like GodBlogCon I was sure that I could find a good beer or Margarita in the L.A. area. Well, I did like the convention, but I still had that beer (Corona) and a small Margarita during the beginning of a three-hour layover in Las Vegas. For those Christians who choose not to drink, I salute you; for others, all things in moderation, and don’t drive a motor vehicle while under the influence.

(Cross-posted at Connexions, the site of British Methodist pastor Richard Hall, for whom I guest blog.)