As of today, The MonT-SteR REPORT is a venerable 3 years old.
I mentioned last month that tMR would be shifting its focus a bit in the days to come. Well, those days have arrived. An e-mail I received from a friend sums up the need for change:
Things in culture land are growing more nasty. I glanced at your blog earlier today. It is refreshing by contrast. However, it looks to me that you like to mount your charger and sally forth with gusto to whatever excites your pet peeves. I agree with all you write, but I do not think you pick the most significant targets all the time. [Frontpage.com does a much better job in this respect. I wish you would read up on Islam, Russia, China, the war on terror, the economy, the threat of nuclear terrorism, etc. and comment on those topics. Of course, that assumes you have tons of time to expend on researching issues for your blog, which you don’t.] Emotional exasperation with liberal nitwits seems to be the dominant note you strike, though your frustration at times is tempered with mercy and sweet reasonableness. The irenic note in the cultural wars is appreciated. I also wish you could work in the gospel some place so that those who are undecided between the Antichrist spirit and Christ can make the right choice. It is the gospel — not conservative political commentary — that is the power of God unto salvation. That’s your true calling, not superficial cultural apologetics. May God grant you the spiritual passion to make your message life-giving and compelling.
I received this e-mail at the end of July, and by the time it arrived in my inbox I had already considered that the focus of my blog had gone askew; my friend’s missive only confirmed what I had been feeling.
In 2002, tMR struck out with a specific purpose in mind. I stated that purpose in my original post, and I quote it again here:
- I enjoy writing, and I enjoy helping other people to my opinion. 😉 tMR will function as an outlet for me to express some of my ideas, opinions, and heartfelt emotions on current events, personal matters, and metaphysical topics. I am a Christian, and since I am adjured by Christ’s command to love God with all my heart, strength, and mind, tMR will endeavor to reflect a genuinely Christian, Biblically-centered worldview.
- As a Christian, I want tMR to demonstrate a couple of things to surfers who may bump into my site:
1) Being a man or woman of faith does not mean that you check your brain out at the church door. Although Christian theism hinges upon truths which deal with the immaterial and/or the supernatural, it is not irrational. Faith is not the antithesis of reason — the two go hand in hand, guiding and informing one another. God made us whole persons; we can’t reflect all that He made us to be if we live as though faith and reason are mutually exclusive.
2) Being a man or woman of faith doesn’t mean that you can’t have any fun! I plan to have fun with tMR. Lots of it. I can be Mr. Serious, but I have a definite goofy side. Just ask my wife. 🙂
- Above all else, I hope to persuade those who visit my site to consider and accept the claims of Jesus of Nazareth — Son of God, Savior of all mankind. I know that Jesus is a controversial figure. I’ve alienated good friends by talking about Him. I’ve angered people by taking Him at His word that He is the only Way, Truth, and Life, and that none can come to the Father but through Him. But He has changed not only my own life, but those of countless billions across the past 20 centuries. I’d be crazy not to share something so wonderful, so fundamental to my own existence and well-being, with those I care about or encounter on a day-to-day basis.
Regretfully, I’ve fallen largely short of these goals. There are many posts I’ve made over the past three years that I’m proud of, some not so much. In either case, I’ve spent way too much time on my blog kvetching about liberalism and the political outrages du jour. My friend is right — it is the gospel of Jesus Christ that is the power of God unto salvation, not conservative Christian political commentary.
Does this mean I won’t talk about politics ever again? No — I don’t think I’m capable of making such a promise. 😉 What it does mean is that my blog needs to be more God-focused. The Bible is a deep book. Lifetime upon lifetime has been spent mining its treasures, and they have never been exhausted. Mine is yet another lifetime called to be spent in like manner, and tMR is supposed to be an outlet for that adventure. Today, I’m rededicating it to that end.
To the readers of tMR who have come and gone over the past 3 years, thank you for visiting this little space on the Web. Please be sure to visit from time to time in the future. Things are about to get good around here. 🙂
Jesus, I humbly offer this blog to you anew. You are the one who gave me the inspiration for it to begin with. I pray that in the days to come it will be a tool in your hands — ever sharper and more precise — to bear much fruit for your kingdom. May my thoughts and meditations be pleasing in your sight. Amen.
Blessings,
Rob
aka The MonT-SteR
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