A Solipsistic Post

Since the Muses have not visited Jeremy, Garet, nor I in the past week and blessed us with blog-worthy nuggets of wisdom, I thought I should take some time to talk about...us.

First item: That's me in the photo above with my best non-sentient friend, Predator A. She has a 45' wingspan, and I am currently doing design work on her big sister, Predator B (65' wingspan). It is indeed a cool gig for an aerospace engineer to have, especially knowing that these airplanes have recently been busy reducing Al Qaeda operatives to a fine, ashen powder with their Hellfire missiles. I finally got a snapshot of me next to a fully-assembled aircraft after working for the company for a year and a half now, and thought that our readers might be curious about what this particular God-blogger does for his day job. So there is a little peak behind the curtain for y'all. Which brings me to...

Second item: Blogging anonymity. I've never understood why someone who is in Christ would need or want to avoiding taking responsibility and ownership for the things they say in the name of Christ. Do they not want to be held accountable to their elders for any potential false teachings, vitriol, slander, or blasphemous binary code they spread to a worldwide audience? There are good reasons for us to be men and take responsibility for our words, in whatever forum:

Many Christians appear to believe blogs and discussion forums are morality-free zones. Suddenly, because we're not speaking face to face, we're freed from Biblical standards of conduct. Thus internet anonymity is no longer a trap only for Christian men dealing with lust. Lack of accountability also has led participants on Christian blogs and discussion boards to sin in tragic ways.

Also see the Top Ten Weblog Design Mistakes on anonymity. BTW, we are chronic violators of Rule #7. D'oh!

This is why I don't hesitate to post (duly unclassified!) photos of me at work. There happens to be a dashing picture of me under my profile, along with my (real) full name and e-mail address. If I have neglected Christian charity in my online dealings, and, for instance, said that your mother wears army boots, you can contact my elders at the United Reformed Church of Ontario, CA. Have I been disseminating suspect theology, displaying a trace sympathy for infralapsarianism, or worse - Amyraldianism? Then Pastor Kaloostian would be interested to know, and would promptly open a can of pastoral rebuke on me. Am I in sin for looking at that photo of Keira Knightley more than once, and causing brethren to stumble by posting it on my blog? Fine. But I'll appeal that matter all the way to synod if I must!

Look, I'm not afraid of getting physically attacked by a mob of Calvinists who recognize my face at the next Reformed conference: "hey, that's the guy who rejects the traditional interpretation of Genesis 38! Let's get him, fellas!" If someone does want to take me to task for my beliefs or something I said, I'll be happy to answer it in person.

Third item: 5 months into the lifespan of our blog, we've graduated to the double-digit daily readership category. Tim Bayly of Baylyblog has graciously added us to his blogroll, as has Steve Hays at Triablogue. Unfortunately, the illustrious Centuri0n has neglected to add us to his blogroll. Of course, his blogroll is fairly selective, which would obviously disqualify us, so I don't think this is a case of mere oversight. Clearly, we need to rack up more meritum de congruo (congruent merit) to earn a right standing before him. UPDATE: correction, we are on his blogroll (thanks, Frank!). But you have to scroll way, way, way down to find us (d'oh!).

According to Site Meter, I am clearly our biggest fan, having visited our blog more often than anyone else. At a close second, some peculiar fellow from Reston, Virginia has been spending a scary, inordinate amount of time visiting our blog. Our little treasury of wisdom here on the net simply does not warrant this. I suspect ulterior motives.

In the meanwhile, the Pedantic Protestant came to a functional standstill, while NTRmin.org essentially closed it's doors, and Pyromaniac became Team Pyro. Our blogroll was updated accordingly. Also during this time, James White has had 87 formal debates. And the Emergent Church movement continues to be simultaneously awful and hilarious. So many memories...

Fourth item: Where do we go from here? How can we get from our modest readership numbers to web traffic of Pyromaniac proportions? Judging by the Boar's Head Tavern traffic, clearly sound theology isn't the way to get there, but we'll go ahead and keep that in our resume anyhow. Should I pick a theological fight with someone in the blogosphere with more traffic than us (the blog parasite method)? Nah, blog wars can only last so long.

Actually, I've got some posts on presuppositional apologetics in the oven at the moment, as well as some stuff on the Federal Vision. I'll intersperse some lighter observations in between the meatier stuff, but hopefully we can strike a good balance of quality and quantity around here.

As a graduate student, Jeremy has powers far beyond my own. Once he gets his little "thesis" distraction out of the way, he can get back to the real work of edifying the God-blogosphere here at the Horde. However, I will no longer tolerate his "filler" posts responding to 3rd-party posts in the blogosphere. Since we have higher standards around here, only original scholarship will do, as my hard-hitting posts on beer ice cream and Keira Knightley exemplify.

Garet has undergone an experience of Pauline proportions, and is currently residing in Arabia, whereupon, after three years, he will emerge to blog again with wisdom and insight worthy to be added to the canon of Scripture.

Category: Blogging Ourselves