Closing FriendlyChristian.com
I’m presently in the middle of my bi-monthly ‘I want to stop blogging on FriendlyChristian’ ordeal. This time it’s pretty serious.
I’ve spent a good part of today wondering why I continue to host this site. For the most part, FriendlyChristian.com visitors fall into one of three categories:
- You’re a Christian who agrees with most of what I say. You’d rather not debate with a bunch of highly educated atheists (so you stay quiet) and will most likely never budge.
- You’re a Christian who disagrees with most of what I say. You’re interested in telling me that I’m way off base, whether it’s in a comment or email, and once you say what you feel the need to say, you never come back (as far as I know).
- You’re not a Christian and you disagree with most of what I say. You enjoy debating and telling Christians that they’re wrong and will most likely never budge.
I’m not promoting a product or an organization. I’m not part of a magazine or newspaper. My opinion(s) are shared by many and often expressed better by others. The truth is, this site is a dime a dozen.
I’m not saying that I don’t have anything to offer. I’m not throwing a pity party and I’m not interested in your sympathy (that sounds harsher than I intend it). But really, what’s the point?
I’ve heard sermon after sermon about not quitting/giving up. I just heard one this afternoon, actually. But I also know that throwing in the towel is sometimes a great (and mandatory) move in the right direction.
Originally I had a vision that we could start a movement. I felt like my passion and persistence were all that would be required. I felt like I could bring authenticity, a long lost quality, back into the arsenal of Christians. I felt like I/we could show unbelievers what it really means to be a follower of Christ. I don’t know that any of this has happened. Instead, FriendlyChristian.com has become a battlefield. And that, my friend, is not something that I’m interested in being a part of.
Christianity is so freakin’ complex. I told a friend just yesterday that I wish it really could be as simple as Mark 12:30-31 (love God and love each other). Christianity as a whole is jacked up. Every religion thinks they’re right. We’re making fools out of ourselves. I’m just one dude armed with a passion for Christ, a white Macbook and a lot to say. I just don’t know that that’s enough in the world of blogging.
Then, mix all this with trying to figure out how to run a successful blog. It’s an aggravating mess that I just don’t know is really worth it.
Side note…
I’m not interested in lectures telling me that I’m a wrong for not reading the King James Version bible. I want to argue but I’m not going to. What’s the point? You’ve made up your mind. If I’m wrong and acknowledging the fact that the KJV is the ONLY true word of God, I’ll gladly apologize to you as I descend into hell. Until then, you can go argue with someone who gives a rat’s…
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17 Responses for "Closing FriendlyChristian.com"
See Bill that’s your problem straight away. A Mac? I mean, honestly, you’re deliberately putting yourself into a minority.
Seriously though, a battlefield? I see opposing views and some strong opinions but we seem to be treating each other with respect. Of course, I can’t see the emails you receive but the public face of FC is, for the most part, lively with intelligent debate. So what if we never resolve our differences. You’re not out to convert us and we’re not out to turn you to the
dark sideatheist view.I’ve mentioned this a couple of times before but it’s worth saying again. When I started reading this blog I was very anti religious. I saw all religious people as deluded fools who were driving the world into an early grave. Now I only view a few religious people like that.
I credit my change of heart to you and the healthy influence of the contributors to this site.
A few of the more religiously minded commenters have said similar things about their views towards atheists. We’re not the depraved baby eating monsters that they’d assumed we were. Well, most of us aren’t.
If nothing else you’ve made a handful of people change their minds and become more accepting towards others. Not a bad piece of work. You’ve also done it with humour and good grace. If you want to lay this blog to rest you can have that as the epitaph but I think it would be a shame to end it now.
Bill, I think you have to want to do this. It’s too hard otherwise.
So I would never try to push someone to continue if they’re reluctant.
Maybe you’ll get re-energized; maybe you wont’; maybe the comments here will sway you one way or the other.
What I hope is that whether it’s here, somewhere else online, and/or mostly offline (aka in Real Life ;-)
you’ll continue to be a Friendly Christian.
Anyway it’s really neat to see that this site has made such a difference to hoverfrog. The difference it’s made to me is that I’ve met some great people here.
(I think that’s basically my goal in life - to meet interesting people
Why is being a Christian complex? Our lives our amazing, we have the best guy in the world on our side.
If your life is going hard, or you think it’s too tough your not on fire enough.
The whole blog post you just posted sounded like a depressed, and whiny baby.
WWJD?
Bill, if you’re serious about going into ministry, you know you could always view this blog (even if you do close it down now) as having taught you valuable lessons about - as Hover said - being inspiring, making your mark, and thickening your skin rather than your heart.
for me, the value of this blog shows in a few ways - it’s instructive in learning how to better communicate with people of widely divergent views, it’s helpful with my studies (religion, natch!) and i’ve met people here that i genuinely like, despite their views![:-\](http://www.friendlychristian.com/smilies/yahoo_question.gif ":-\")
“, that i never would’ve had any form of relationship with otherwise.
btw, Adam Clark, way to go with the brotherly love thing…
dammit, my first lil man was s’posed to be whistling, not d’oh-ing.
Bill,
I decided a long time ago that I don’t have much to offer in the world of blogs either.
But then I figured out that I don’t write for other people; I write for myself.
My blog is my opinions, my emotions, my brain “on paper” (digitally speaking). I find that when I write from my heart, say what I want to say and nothing more, readership and responses pick up.
That’s what you’re doing on Friendly Christian. I don’t think you realize the impact you’re making just by “being you,” which encapsulates being real, being outspoken, being authentic, and sometimes, yes, being controversial. And to be honest, I think this blog IS one of the best out there — especially in the niche it’s carved out. I can’t think of many other forums where Christians and atheists share their views in such an open, accepting, and intellectual environment.
So count this comment as a vote to “Save Friendly Christian!”
Bill, dude. I COMPLETELY understand where you are coming from. I know this site has at times become a battle but I think we are learning (slowly but surely). I agree with hov. People are passionate but I haven’t really seen any cheap shots at anybody (at least not among the regulars)
And as usual, I came to this site (and everything else in my life) coming in with expectations and I realized that in my full 22 years of living I have a heck of a lot to learn. I think people are growing and learning and you helped with that man. You being you is what makes this site work. No fake smiles, no bs, people respect that. That’s what we need (especially Christians) is pure raw honesty.
@Adam easy man. If Christianity was simple, then more people would be following it. Or actually it’s both. Simple sometimes, hard the next. I think Bill has been (and still is I bet) on fire just as much as anybody. He’s just tired of the BS that goes back and forth. In fact, to even start something like this has gotta take fire.
@ atheist/freethinkers or whatever you guys are calling yourselves these days
even though I am very passionate about my beliefs and will probably disagree with you guys until the cows come home, I still understand that you don’t mean harm by your comments and am learning (please don’t take this as bad as it may sound) to respect the person even if they disagree without getting too fired up.
PS The reason I have been AWOL in the past few weeks is because classes in grad school suck big time and I have this test on Friday that basically covers all the material I have learned in the past year. Joy.
ditto
you know it’s time to move on if it feels like religion. religion ruins marriages, faith and even blogs.
Bill:
You can’t be serious about closing the site man…I was just getting warmed up to this thing!
On a serious note, I understand your points, but have to agree with [most of] the other comments. This site is a breath of fresh air for people on both sides of the fence!
If you’re doing this democratically, my vote is for keeping the site up. If it’s a dictatorship, then let me know how much money it’s gonna take for me to bribe you into keeping it going. If it’s communism…Well, then it’s bound to fail anyway so you might as well close the doors now!!!
For His Glory,
Jason
My guess is Jesus wouldn’t call people names while they’re down…
Just sayin’.
Bill, I know how you feel. I’m thinking about shutting down my personal blog soon, too. There’s no reason to keep blogging if you don’t enjoy it. (Unless, perhaps, if you make money from blogging, which I don’t.)
However, you can blog, say your piece, and ignore the comments. Plenty of bloggers do that. You’ve already said what you have to say in your original post so let everyone else duke it out in the comments and ignore them if that part gets you down.
I guess it all depends on what your goals are and what you want to spend your time doing. Just because you decide you don’t want to blog any more does not make you a quitter or a failure. It’s perfectly fine to try things out for a period of time and then move onto something else if you are not getting any satisfaction or enjoyment out of the project.
It really is that simple (referring to Mark 12:30-31). It is called Christian Deism.
Hang in there. It’s important work.
writerdd said:
Exactly.
I was going to offer words of wisdom but realized that I don’t have any. So I’m going to quote writerdd (sshhh, don’t tell I copied off her paper).
I’ve noticed a lot of blogs have become battlefields lately and I don’t like that. All I can say is, you’ve done a pretty decent job and I’m glad you were on. I hope you don’t close down, but if you do, I wish you the best of luck. (well I wish you the best of luck either way, but you know what I mean.
All Christians should be friendly as Jesus was friendly to everyone except the religous leaders who were keeping people from finding God.
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