Idols

There are probably a thousand things I’d like to blog about. Partly because I’m interested in a variety of things, but mostly because if I’m blogging, I’m focusing on worldly things and that’s a great deal easier than the alternative. Part of the reason I like to blog is to maintain more of a connection to the outside world – I’m a web developer with a home office. It can be very isolated. I also wanted to improve my writing, and if you want to be a better writer, you need to write more. Writing is also how I “process” things – I find it very helpful to write in order to clarify my thinking on a topic. I can’t do much to support the war effort, but being part of the huge chorus of people who do – 101st Keyboardists, Chairborne Division :-) – is at least something, however small. So I have many reasons for wanting to blog, some better than others.

After the visitor count exceeded 4,000 a month, I became far too interested in the stats. Even accounting for the fact that many people come here looking for porn – no, really - I was a bit too excited about traffic and getting linked to by bigger bloggers from time to time.

My spiritual life – and I think this is true for most people – ebbs and flows. When I started this blog, I was so thrilled with what God was showing me every day. That was almost exclusively what I wrote about. These days, not so much… I’ve been building my house on the sand. I wrote in “Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Not Political Parties” that excessive partisanship, and excessive interest in politics is a sign of Christian immaturity for the simple reason that all of this is temporary.

When I sit in church listening to a great sermon and find myself thinking about a blog post, I know there is a problem. In many ways this blog has become an idol for me. What is an idol? This Sovereign Grace sermon series (audio, notes) on idolatry explains.

“An idol is something within creation that is inflated to function as God. All sorts of things are potential idols, depending only on our attitudes and actions toward them…Idolatry may not involve explicit denials of God’s existence or character. It may well come in the form of an over-attachment to something that is, in itself, perfectly good…An idol can be a physical object, a property, a person, an activity, a role, an institution, a hope, an image, an idea, a pleasure, a hero – anything that can substitute for God.”
– Richard Keyes

So I’m going to be spending less time on the temporary, and a lot more time on things that are eternal.

Carnival of Hurricane Relief, #71

There are some great stories in this edition of the Carnival of Hurricane Relief. Go have a look!

Don't Download This Song

It’s another Weird Al Day. His skewed vision of the world is a perfect fit for the day because I just checked my referrers. It’s amazing how many first time visitors come to Pursuing Holiness looking for pornography. The latest is people looking for rape video, because of this post. This is discouraging for two reasons – there are a lot of sick, twisted people in the world. And not only are they sick and twisted, they’re stupid. Really stupid. For pity’s sake, why would someone looking for porn come to the domain www.pursuingholiness.com? Jeez.

Ex President For Sale; Bad Poetry No Charge

There was a time when I believed that Jimmy Carter, while a weak and ineffectual President, had at least distinguished himself in his post-presidency activities. Well, except for the bad poetry. It’s truly cringeworthy. But promoting Habitat for Humanity, with its concept of “sweat equity” and teaching people to be homeowners was wonderful. A charity that doesn’t just give a free handout but really works alongside people to help them move up in the world is one of the best modern examples of teaching someone to fish instead of giving them a fish, and Carter did well to promote it.

But things change, or at least we tend to learn more than just what’s on the surface. Rachel Ehrenfeld has a excellent editorial at the Washington Times called Carter’s Arab financiers. (h/t Wizbang)

Alan Dershowitz has a great deal more in Ex-President for Sale, the first of a six part series among many interesting articles he’s recently posted on Gather.

Carter is not just a man who failed to respond to the Iranian declaration of war back in 1979. His statements, behavior, and the people and organizations that he chooses to befriend, make it look as though he actually agreed with it.

Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Is It Just Me?, Perri Nelson’s Website, Mark My Words, The Random Yak, Big Dog’s Weblog, Adam’s Blog, basil’s blog, DragonLady’s World, Common Folk Using Common Sense, Conservative Cat, Wake Up America, Rightwing Guy, The HILL Chronicles, third world county, Faultline USA, Stageleft, stikNstein… has no mercy, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, Pirate’s Cove, Blue Star Chronicles, Planck’s Constant, The Pink Flamingo, Dumb Ox News, Dumb Ox News, High Desert Wanderer, Right Voices, and Gone Hollywood, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.