http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/james-31-in-the-age-of-social-media
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/marchweb-only/bloggers.html
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/marchweb-only/bloggers.html?start=2
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.
It is common to describe the greater strictness with which teachers will be judged as pertaining to the divine measure. This, of course, is true. It is the foremost reason why not many of us should become teachers. I hope, for the record, that not many people consider ME a teacher because I can think of at least dozens of Christians who are better people and more able to teach not merely through information but their lives what being a Christian is like.
But let me propose, for the sake of personal observation, that James may include an ambiguity as to where the stricter judgment comes from. He goes on to say that if any man does not stumble in what he says he is a perfect man, able to control his whole body. Has this meant that those who are mute are perfect? No, pretty obviously not! The only person who never stumbled in speech is Christ but does that mean we don't aspire to avoid stumbling in speech? Of course not.
What blogs and counterblogs reveal most of the time is that we revel in being snarky toward others but don't like being on the receiving end of snark ourselves. Plenty of people know to at least try to follow the golden rule in blogging and commenting but there are always moments where we slip up or even disregard the golden rule. We reason to ourselves that we would want people to call us on our crap so that's what we're going to do to others by word or blog or whatever, when what we have really done is simply justified our eagerness to make out point, get our shots in, and get the last word.
What does this look like in practice? Well, I could pick a really specific example but I'm not sure I will. Instead I will back up to James 1 and point out that we are admonished to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger because the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. James then goes on to say that if anyone claims to follow the Lord and cannot bridle his tongue but deceives his heart this person's religion is worthless. Worthless, you say? Yes, the apostle says, worthless. Real religion that amounts to something is to visit widows and oprhans in their affliction and and to keep one's self unstained by the world. There are a lot of Christians who work diligently at that last one and there are a lot of people who work diligently at the first one but James says true religion consists of both.
False religion is professing the faith while not bridling the tongue. This is the ground base, if you will, for all believers with respect to the tongue. It is from here that we need to keep in mind what James has to say about the tongue with respect to teaching. Not many of us should be teachers because all of us stumble in many ways (i.e. in speech specifically in this context). James goes on to explain how deadly the tongue is after opening in chapter 3 with a remark that few of us should be teachers. Why? Because we have a propensity to use our tongues to destroy rather than to build up. Because we have a propensity, warned against in James 1, to see our faith less in terms of how we serve than how we profess. With the tongue we bless the Father and curse people. We extoll the beauty of God while declaring people to be worthless. James says, very simply, "Brothers this should not be."
The contrast James establishes in chapter 1 between the false religion of simply declaring faith while not bridling the tongue and the true religion of helping widows and orphans in affliction and avoiding the stain of the world comes back with a second variation. Parallelism in ancient literature can be a tough thing to gauge but I throw out a reflection for myself as a Christian blogger. If James says not many of us should be teachers at the start of chapter 3 then what is he getting at at the END of chapter 3.
Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
James seems to be saying at the start of chapter 3 that not many of us should be teachers because we are not as smart or wise or godly as we tell ourselves we are. If we are really as wise and godly as we say we are then our good conduct will show it forth more than any words we might say to establish our bona fides in the faith. Wisdom is revealed in meekness rather than selfish ambition.
For whatever reason it would appear James is challenging those who think they are wise to demonstrate their wisdom not by what they say but by what they do. He doesn't just mean this in the sense of saying, in today's vernacular, "Don't just write a blog entry." The first world is full of Christian bloggers who will blog to their heart's content about their own pet topics and pet peeves and then when they themselves come under scrutiny or criticism will wave their hand and say, "Oh, it's just bloggers. You bloggers go home and blog about this thing I just said because you've got nothing better to do while I'm the Christian who matters." Well, if I understand James 3 correctly, brother or sister, if you do THAT you put yourself in the same camp as all the other bloggers. There are Christians out there who aren't blogging at all (and plenty who are, really) who are doing things to live out their faith in Christ in a way that involves helping people.
Obviously there's nothing inherently wrong about blogging. I enjoy writing even though I consider it challenging. I also like to write if by some chance I may prove helpful or useful to someone. If a person merely wants to feel a sense of accomplishment there are easier ways to go about doing that and as the joke goes, nobody reads your blog.
But here's the thing, it DOESN'T MATTER that nobody reads your blog for you to be responsible and accountable for what you say in a broadcast medium. Why? Because statements made in the public sphere in print can be subject to libel suits. Whatever you blog is, as journalists put it, on the record. A lot of people who are celebrity bloggers might wish that people would forget what they said on a blog or in a podcast or through a streamed video but the reality is that thanks to being a public figure the amount of villification that can be said about you, once you're a public figure, goes way up. Free speech protections allow for incendiary things to be said about public figures living or dead because while the things may not be true for the sake of political discourse it's safer to prefer the libertarian theory of the press for elected and unelected officials than the alternatives.
That means if you, even by some odd definition, can be considered a celebrity known by thousands or even millions of people across the land, then people can say scandalous stuff about you and you've got to be able to take it. If you fire any shots back at people who aren't public figures, however, legal protections are not so lenient for you when you have the power to keep someone from getting a job but nothing they say will keep you out of public office or out of a conspicuously and (let's face it, probably earnestly sought) public role. Bloggers who go into this not merely thinking "everyone else is on the record" but "everything I do is on the record and could potentially get me sued" are, I hope, more likely to blog in a way that is, if not exactly more Christian, at least more likely to keep them out of trouble.
When there are many words sin is unavoidable but the one who restrains his lips is wise. Even Christian bloggers blog about this. How is it that Christian bloggers can write so as to rival the Puritans in sheer volume while considering the proverb? My guess is what these prolific Christian bloggers HOPE or BELIEVE they are doing is being living embodiments of THIS proverb:
Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a word spoken in right circumstances.
That's so much the money quote for why Christians blog that I'm putting it in bold, italicized green font. That is what we Christian bloggers are aspiring to any time we bother at all to write, if I may be so bold as to extrapolate why so many Christian bloggers are blogging at all. We hope that what we say will be the right thing spoken at the right time, the right place, to the right person for the right reason.
One of the unappreciated beauties of Ecclesiastes as a book is that it constitutes a thumb in the eye of the sweeping certainties of Proverbs. If we propose Solomon as the author of both (which not all conservative scholars do) then Proverbs may represent the young Solomon collecting proverbs and axioms and observations and forming some of his own as a way to guide people to the right life. Ecclesiastes, if Solomon actually wrote the book, represents a king who has grown jaded at his own failures and, if you read thoughtfully, the greatness of the wisdom he attained. I am very partial to the textual interpretation of the epilogue that states that in addition to being wise the Preacher collected and weighed many proverbs. As Iain Provan and other scholars have noted, when we read about the life of Solomon in Kings there is a question mark over which things Solomon does are deriving from what kind of wisdom. David could see his son had wisdom and urged him to use it but by the time Solomon's throne was consolidated he felt completely unfit to rule such a great people and asked for wisdom.
If we subscribe to Solomonic authorship then arguably it becomes even more vital to see Ecclesiastes as an extended study in which he pits proverbs against each other to demonstrate that the human condition is so broken that no proverbs can ultimately REALLY help you to understand it or overcome it and that, therefore, all that one can do ultimately is fear God because all of that wisdom may not actually get you wealth, success, respect, or anything. If you build a great legacy (let's say it's a great blog) you may well die and it goes unread or may be taken up by someone who isn't worthy of what you put into it. Pop culture history is full of the sons of rock stars who aren't even a fourth what their fathers were. Church history in America is full of sons of preachers who don't even begin to compare with the abilities, though, and influence of dear old dad.
All this is to say that while we as Christians and Christians striving to leave a mark in the world may aspire to this or that legacy we already have our legacy, which is Christ. Empire building and legacy making can happen but what will last is that which is done for Christ. It's easy to conflate the kingdom of God with my own little neck of the woods. Not many of us should be teachers and perhaps not many of us should be bloggers because we will be measured by a stricter standard. That standard won't just be the ultimate encounter with the risen Christ but it may well come in small ways we ignore because we don't think that history or public opinion that hasn't happened yet in our minds but is happening to us all the time now really counts.
Let us attempt as best we can, with God's help, to do good deeds and live a humble life rather than one characterized by bitter envy and selfish ambition. We should not boast about either our bitter envy or selfish ambition, or deny the truth of it if either of those things (or both) are in our hearts. Where there are these every other evil will follow. I can't say that if Christians stopped blogging upon recognizing selfish ambition or bitter envy we would see no Christian blogs. I don't think that we can answer that without revealing we have one or the other. :)
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