It has been just over a year since this blog started, so I thought that I would look back over this year and reflect a little.
I first started this blog because I wanted to read more books, I wanted to receive reviewers copies of books. I thought that only a few people would read the blog, because who cares about what I think. But that changed. People started saying that they were enjoying the reviews and that they were finding them helpful, which was very surprising to me.
Over the last year I have reviewed 63 books and written 19 blog posts, here are three insights as I’ve sat and reflected on a year of book reviewing and blogging.
1. We love controversy
The blogs or book reviews that have the most views and engagements on this blog are those that revolve around a topic or a person of controversy. The attitude that we should all adopt when it comes to controversy should be one of humility and a deep desire to warn people and correct wrong teaching. But there seems to be something about controversy that makes people be attentive and engage with it more.
This is not necessarily a bad thing, we all need to be aware of and engage with controversy so that we can grow and mature in our faith. But there is one problem that I think is also evident in the Church; because people love controversy, we are prone to overlook ordinary and faithful ministry.
We need people who speak very publicly for matters of controversy and I am very thankful for the people who do this. But we should not be drawn to controversies at the neglect of time spent in God’s Word, in good Biblical teaching and in matters which bring glory to God.
2. People enjoy arguing, rather than discussing
One of the things that I have noticed, not only on this blog but on social media and in conversations, people enjoy arguing and debating rather than discussing to come to a conclusion together. One of the dangers of this problem is that people start to change their mindset and instead of trying to win the person to orthodoxy and sound teaching, people want to win the argument.
This leads to harsh comments, to hurt people and to an onlooking world which sees disunity and a world who hears Christians mocking each other. Instead of arguing to win an argument, we should have good and open discussions. This requires humility, a desire to live according to the teachings of Scripture and an openness to have the sound Biblical teaching change our minds and soften our hardened hearts.
3. We need to engage and read more
People have thanked me for raising their awareness to certain materials that have helped them engage with a certain topic. Many people want to know how to interact with things like gender, sexuality, marriage, parenting, church life and doctrine. But many people do not know where to get such resources.
Book reviewing and blogging is fun, I enjoy it, but the motivation behind this blog is not what it was when it started.
Thank you all for your support and for taking the time to read this blog. If you have any recommendations, books you’d like me to review or topics that you’d like me to write about, please get in touch and let me know 🙂
I hope that you find this blog helpful and I would like to hear the topics that you would find helpful to discuss here. I would like this blog to serve people as best it can.
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