I’ll be a regular reader of yours, and not to take shots either.

as far as people getting flamed or whatever i can see how someone might get that impression. but again, if you read all the posts and all the comments it’s hard to not to understand where josh is coming from. i guess it helps that i know josh somewhat, but regardless, we’re all human and i know if i got cornered on my own blog and ganged up on i’d probably get a little but off….that’s all i’m saying.

The category of “pot shot people” is tricky in this regard. I saw some fair questions in the comments to Josh’s post that got flamed. That aggression was offensive to me. I could’ve assumed you were a pot shot person, for instance, and would’ve been a poorer man for missing this dialogue.

Jesus probably had more freedom to use invective because he knew people’s hearts. When we use it too freely, we do harm. For what it’s worth, I’m certain Josh wants good things. But no one gets a pass on aggression like that. Especially not someone with as much intelligence and heart as Josh.

as for the profanity. i respect your position, but when i read jesus’ reaction to some of the pious gas bags of his day and i understand the greek and the context i can’t help but think that his use of language might be equivalent to our “cuss words.” i think we just need to lighten up. it’s not that big of a deal. we’ll likely disagree on this, but i definitely think the use of profanity doesn’t warrant such a scathing comment. i could think of a whole host of things that are actually affecting other people that we could get upset over–and it might actually be worth it (war, poverty, corporate irresponsibility, violence…, etc.)
see what i mean?

Fair questions. I don’t know Josh outside his blog, and as you say I called him out in a pretty rough manner. But I did read several items on his blog, and I followed the comments on his post. I started out wanting to know what he thought of misconceptions about emergents. He’s brilliantly funny. But the shock jock thing won’t solve any problems.

I figure blogs are public spaces. If a guy’s cussing people out in public, he’s going to hear about it. Especially if he wants to talk about Christ.

As for attention, I’m all for it, or I wouldn’t be blogging. I want people to know that the emergent conversation is worth paying attention to, even if they don’t agree with all of it.

Thanks for stopping by.

happy?

i think i know the answer. . .but. . .just asking.