backfire

*was visiting a couple of jc friends' blogs and stumbled across some stuff. and that was something that has been somewhat on my mind for a while too.

-the context-
J recently [since the start of the year] became a christian. and very ideally, he has indeed transformed from a pseudo "ah-beng" who sprouts uncouth vocabulary on a rather regular basis to an active church member. so his blog reflected the change as well - from being %&*!$ ridden to one that predominately talks of what is generally termed "christianly/religious" stuff. well..that is something good to happen. by and large, minus some minute reservations, i am pleased to see such a thing happening.

T then wrote about how he has since then been increasingly been turned-off by the contents of J's blog. he commented that J's blog is now classified into the category of "christian blogs" which is also more or less the blogs he do not visit. i wonder if he is just unused to such content from the psuedo "ah beng" or maybe T is just "anti-christian" [to use the phrase loosely] but this is the catalyst to this post.

-my thoughts-
i know J blogs all the christian topics to basically share with others what he has learnt, albeit in an extremely "in-your-face" manner. his eagerness is evident in the posts and should be commended. but clearly while the intention is good, it is showing some signs of backfiring. people are getting put off by all the verse quoting and all that jazz. so..in a very unfortunate way, the people that J is trying to witness to are being repulsed.

and so begets the question of how should a christian blog? should the person just blog relentless despite the fact that it is backfiring simply because it is right to have such fervour for God? or should the person suit the tastes of masses by just not blogging about such things - behaving like any other blog in cyberspace.

personally for myself, i started this blog with the conscious goal of using it to share about my faith and walk - not just a daily rundown of events. i stay very clear from rants and raves and the generally known b*tching. i have a number of posts where i blog about issues, though i have to admit they have decreased over the last year. these days the posts are less often written with the sole purpose of sharing my thoughts as a christian about an issue. but i still make sure to have a christian "presence" in what i do write and what i do not write. not just because i am a christian and therefore i have to mention certain things but because my faith does form an intergral part of my identity. but according to my friends, mine aint in that category [i havent figured out if its actually a good thing or not]

i feel sorry for J who is perhaps a victim of his enthusiasm. yet this serves as a sober reminder that we cannot witness to our friends by forcing doctrine down their throats and expecting them to swallow it willingly. its easy to just take on a judgmental and 'holy' attitude when discussing a myriad of issues but that clearly does not sit very well with people. i am convinced that there indeed has to be a difference between a practising christian and one who isnt, and its inevitable that blogs would reflect this. but at the same time there is a fine line between stating a stand with humility as compared to adopting a judging, and perhaps arrogant, tone.

Christ himself was very clear about the message that he was bringing to the world. and he never lost his purpose nor minced his words with the pharisees. he spoke hard truths and also exposed the hypocrisy of the religious leaders. yet at the same time, the story of a just God who loved the world so much was communicated to the world with sensitivity and grace. Christ didnt just quote scripture endlessly although im very sure he could, he demostrated the truth through stories and actions. but most importantly, the message was never lost despite the seeming dilutedness of it. i think we could pick up a couple of pointers from the man himself.

i still constantly try to reconcile my faith as a christian, the need to witness to the people around and the best way to do it. its easy to conclude that there needs to be a balance but how do we do it? im still figuring out as i blog along. i just remember that its the walk and the life i seek to write about. i may not blog about christian things all the time but this will still be a reflection of the life that i live in Christ who died that i may live.