One thing I have increasingly observed and noticed among people who comment or send me messages is that they perceive my blog to be my entire summed up thinking. In all reality, this site is like 1/10 (perhaps an even higher ratio, like 1/15) of my total summed up spiritual life. That is to say, my blog is simply a sounding board for whatever the subject is I happen to be thinking through at the moment. I could honestly care less if anyone reads it, it’s just more of a public diary of thoughts. Yet this does not mean this is the only thing I’m thinking about concerning my life in Christ. I’m just writing on whatever the particular subject is I happen to find important. It seems some people perceive bloggers as sitting behind a keyboard, brows furroughed, gritting their teeth, sweating in angst. Many are, but I don’t think I’m one of them. I’m supremely happy in Christ and joyful in the Lord and what He’s accomplished for me. It’s what drives the things I do. Do I struggle with anger, my own misery? Surely.

But people perceive me as being supremely negative, especially as it pertains to apologetics posts, when of nencessity, apologetics is logically denouncing another view as false from Scripture or reason. Some relativistic secularists seem to think that’s just too negative though and we need to be more positive and uplifting. Tell that to Jesus when reading the Gospels and He’s speaking parables. We talk all well and good about being like Jesus and yet ignore the fact that part of that is speaking into the world that it’s views are just wrong. Jesus was a very serious person in His earthly ministry. It’s not arrogant to say that something is wrong based on Scriptural evidence because it’s true.

Unfortunately, the positive-thinking movement has crept into the professing church as well. But apologetics, that is upholding the truth of Scripture and defending it, is by nature itself negative because you are calling out views that don’t jive with Scripture. Our culture hates this because it assumes something they don’t believe: that absolute theological truths exist. Yet Jesus Himself, the apostles, the prophets, did this incessantly because truth is absolute and Satan spreads lies like a wildfire to eclipse the Gospel and he must be refuted. That is a part of witnessing I might add. Entire books of the Bible are supremely negative (Jude, Isaiah, Jeremiah?) in denouncing the culture or group at hand, that they are straying from the Lord and deserve His judgment. They are apologetic works: defending the faith. Call that negative, I call it being faithful to the command of the great commission to uphold the truth and preach the Gospel.

Am I better than those who don’t pursue such things? Absolutely not. I’m not justified by my blog or things I say or think, but Christ’s work alone is the only thing that does this. I’m a sinner of sinners, and fight with my depravity on a moment by moment basis, seeking imperfectly to bring myself into submission to His will, by His grace. Yes, I make mistakes on here and in my life. Yet my sin does not disqualify me from speaking things that are true, because again, it is Christ alone, and not myself who justifies me by His blood. Apologetics and witnessing and evangelism is merely pointing the way to the truth, not ourselves. I’m not pointing out I’m right and everyone else is wrong. I’m pointing out that God’s Scriptures are true and everything else is wrong, and in cases where people deem me too negative, I take heat for it. Jesus said you would be hated by the world when you take a stand. Seems the Scriptures are true on that too.

All that to say, when reading a post, know that that’s not all I’m thinking about and that’s not all I’m doing with my spiritual life. People can’t see what goes on in the rest of my life or my heart for that matter from a silly blog site that is only a fraction of my life.