{"id":2840,"date":"2006-01-10T19:19:01","date_gmt":"2006-01-11T00:19:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/?p=2840"},"modified":"2006-01-19T04:10:04","modified_gmt":"2006-01-19T09:10:04","slug":"is-it-just-blogging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2006\/01\/is-it-just-blogging\/","title":{"rendered":"Is it “just blogging”?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some of my favorite people in our online community are fond of saying \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just blogging\u00e2\u20ac?. Now when the topic of discussion is something like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153What is the best song the English Beat ever recorded?\u00e2\u20ac? then I would agree \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it is just blogging. But here in the bloggernacle I generally object to this saying. Let me explain why\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 <\/p>\n

First, I confess I think the saying has some value even here. We can get pretty crabby with each other in our little community. When emotions run too high or people get too touchy, busting out a well place \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just blogging!\u00e2\u20ac? comment can diffuse tense situations (sometimes). The message seems to be \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take all of this so seriously\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never even met that person face to face before\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 This isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even real\u00e2\u20ac?.<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m ok with the sentiment that we should not get our knickers in a twist too easily. But I object to the idea that our community and our relationships here are less real than the communities and relationships we have offline. <\/p>\n

Are the friends you make here real friends? Do the kind or consoling words others write to you here really make you feel better? When someone feels humiliated or shunned in our community is it real humiliation? When you feel prompted or inspired to make a specific comment here, is that real revelation from God?<\/p>\n

I believe the answer to all of these questions is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153yes\u00e2\u20ac?.<\/p>\n

I sometimes like to say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not just blogging; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s people\u00e2\u20ac?. In ultra-passionate moments I have pointed out that people<\/em> are the most valuable thing in the Universe \u00e2\u20ac\u201c at least that is what God seems to think: <\/p>\n

Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God (D&C 18: 10<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For behold, this is my work and my glory\u00e2\u20ac\u201dto bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. (Moses 1: 39<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I wonder if there is much more at stake in what we do here in the bloggernacle than we sometimes want to admit. Isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it possible or even likely that we are having an effect on souls<\/em>? Isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it likely that we are either helping others develop faith in the Lord Jesus Christ or eroding their faith in him? <\/p>\n

For us here in the bloggernacle, is it really \u00e2\u20ac\u0153just blogging”?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is it “just blogging”?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-corn"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/75"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2840\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}