Alden Swan dot com

I subscribe to a lot of blogs. Too many to read, actually. I usually just scroll down the list in Google Reader, looking at the titles to see if they look worth my time. A few I will actually take the time to skim. Fewer still will I actually read. And very few do I ever read all the way through. (However, I know you all will read this blog all the way through, because you not like those other people…)

I subscribe to some blogs merely for pleasure or to make me think about things. Many I  subscribe to for a specific purpose. Some of the blogs are geared toward getting hired, some are focused on business development, others on personal development, and others dedicated to philosophy or theology. I also subscribe to a number of blogs who claim to be able to improve my photography skills, or to make me a better writer/blogger.

Why I hate many of them, but keep reading them anyway

I have found that many of them simply want something from me. It’s like having a friend who’s been sucked in to a multi-level marketing scheme. Suddenly, you aren’t just a friend, you’re a prospect. The same thinking goes for many blogs. Whether you like it or not, if you stop to read the blog, you’re a prospect, and some kind of response from you is expected. How do I know? Because some of the blogs I read about being better bloggers tell me I should be doing this, too.

Another thing bloggers want us to do is to keep coming back. The trick is to give away just enough potentially valuable information to overcome people’s frustration. But, in order to to find any valuable information, you have to read through the day’s list of five, seven or even ten things you must do to improve what you’re doing.

Often, there’s nothing there of any substance.

5 reasons why you’re not succeeding

The worst offenders are the blogs who post negative lists, telling you why you are failing at whatever you are doing—and presumably, why you need to keep coming back to their blog.

The fallacy behind all of these lists—whether positive or negative—is the thinking that if you could follow the list to the letter, you would have results. A secondary fallacy is making the assumption they want you to make, which is that the goal they claim you should have is indeed the goal you should have.

Again, this is all a trick so you’ll keep coming back.

Finding freedom

I am “all about” freedom. You just have to read the front of my book to see that. (notice how I slipped that little plug in there with a link to Amazon?) To find freedom in the world of how-to blogs, you have to realize things like

• There is no one right way to write a resume, and following this list or that list will not get you hired.
• There are no five steps to financial freedom.
• There are very, very few real secrets to anything.

Now, to be really free, you should be able to read somone’s list of things you should do, and pick out one or two that may be helpful while tossing the rest. You must be able to unsubscribe to a blog which you find is little more than a scam. You must know deep down in your heart that if there are really 5 steps to financial freedom, Joe Schmoe wouldn’t care about wasting time writing a blog.

Good blog

There are good blogs, and some really great blogs.   Typically they present ideas or information, allow for discussion, and give the reader freedom to respond or not respond. They cite personal experience, both good and bad. They occasionally challenge their readers. They allow the reader to fail, without feeling bad. They treat their audience with respect, as equals. They dare to break the “8 rules of good blogging.” (FYI, I’m breaking some right now!)

Where the rubber meets the road

Now, if you really want to get control of your blog subscriptions, here are 10 things you all should be doing…

I just finished reading a short blog post about worship by a guy who considers himself a theologian. It was an interesting post, but the guy doesn’t seem to understand worship at all—he seems to think that worship is about our attitude, and what we do and say. But, this is not why I wrote this post. In fact, the statement, “This is not why I wrote this post,” is precisely why I wrote this post. Let me explain…

I was reading the aforementioned blog post, the writer included a brief autobiography as it concerned his topic. What caught my attention and pretty much derailed my train of thought was when he began a paragraph with, “The Lord then led me to Dallas Theological Seminary.”

My first thought was something like, I doubt the Lord leads anyone to Dallas Theological Seminary (sorry, I couldn’t resist—I’ve never been a big DTS fan). The question that really did preempt any thinking about worship was “Did God really lead him to that school, or was it simply his decision?”

God told me… or did I just want to?

I’ve known hundreds of people over the years who routinely say, “God told me …” or “God led me …” It’s nearly become a figure of speech rather than the theological statement it is. And, when it’s apparent that it was a poor decision, they fall back on “God must have a reason.”

Did God really lead him to that school, or was he simply avoiding taking any personal responsibility for his decision?

Now, it could be that looking back, he can see how God blessed his time at DTS; perhaps he met his wife there, or had some other experience or opportunity that was unique to that place.  However, my question is still, “did God lead him to DTS, or did God simply bless his own decision?”

I’m not sure that there’s practical difference between the two.  I heard once that to the ancient Jewish worldview, there was no difference between “God caused” and “God allowed,” and that if something happened, it was presumed that God had allowed/caused it. I suspect it’s something of a combination. I doubt that God has determined everything or even has a “perfect will” about everything. On the other hand, I believe that some things are determined. Does it really matter which are which?

How to screw up your life

One way to really screw up your life is to adopt the belief that God has perfect plan for our lives that includes relatively minor details, but yet that God has given us free will to mess up his plan. Marriages, for example, can get really messed up if one partner thinks they may have missed God’s “perfect will” and married the wrong spouse. Some even use it to justify divorce. This kind of thinking is guaranteed to make us miserable, if not downright schizophrenic.

Don’t be afraid of making bad decisions

My own opinion is that “the one” doesn’t exist. I believe that God’s plan for us is big enough to cover all possible contingencies. Hence, Romans 8:32, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him…”

That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to be wise; after all, God’s given us tons of wisdom in the Bible, and has offered to give us even more (James 1:5). What it does mean is that if we are stupid, God will work good in that, too.

If it helps, think of it this way: You couldn’t make a perfect decision if your life depended on it. There, now the pressure’s off. Just make the best and wisest decisions you can, and trust God to do his thing. God has already “given us all things pertaining to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3), so have a little faith and go for it. Go to DTS, even.

Hadley Arkes writes an interesting article today on the rightness or wrongness of lying, in When Speaking Falsely is Right. An excerpt:

… The point is: Not every taking of property is a theft. Not ever killing is a murder. A “murder” is an “unjustified killing.” An innocent person, set upon unjustly, could not be unjustified if lethal force offered the only means of rescuing himself from that unwarranted assault. Plainly, we could not put on the same plane the killing done by a Hitler and the killing done by those who would resist being killed unjustly by a Hitler.

In the same way, not every act of speaking falsely is a “lie.” As many people have recognized, nothing wrong has taken place when children decline to tell their father of the surprise they are planning for his birthday. A “lie” is an unjustified act of speaking falsely, as a murder is an unjustified act of killing. The untruth becomes a lie when it is directed to a wrongful purpose, as in deceiving for the sake of fraud and for the hurting of the victim. …

I’ve always noted that the 9th Commandment states, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor,” not “Don’t lie.”  On the other hand, Satan is known as the “father of lies”—but is he the father of all lies (or untruths)? How much evil would come from always telling the truth—such as the example used of hiding Jews from the Nazis?

It’s an interesting question. Is there a time when lying is the right thing to do?

I don’t really have a bucket list, that list of 10 things I’d like to do before I die. Not really—although I’ve had something of a short mental list that I’d compiled over the years. Two of my major ones were accomplished last year: I published a book, and I got to see Toad the Wet Sprocket in concert for my birthday. Okay, so perhaps not that exciting, but there you have it. One unfulfilled item is to visit the British Isles, especially Ireland and Scotland. Some day, perhaps.

One thing that was not on my list was to have triple bypass surgery, which I had last Thursday. It wasn’t nearly as fun as seeing Toad, but way more exciting. Last Wednesday I was getting winded doing yard work, and knew that I shouldn’t be. I drove in to the hospital, and the cardiologist set up an angiogram for the next morning. That procedure was quick, and a couple of hours later I was being wheeled down for open-heart surgery. When I woke up, I had a Frankenstein-like scar down the front of my chest. On a scale of 1 to 10, the pain was about a 13. A part of me wanted scream, “Freedom!” (Braveheart reference). A freaky experience, to be sure.

I’m home now, and doing well. I have very little pain and feel quite energetic, but can’t do anything for 4-6 weeks (lifting limited to 5 pounds—I can’t even pick up the cat).  The reality really hasn’t sunk in, it all went by so quickly. But, I’ll have plenty of time to think about it. What I am aware of is that I now have a chance to add a few more items to my bucket list. Feel free to make any suggestions.

In the meantime, I have a lot of free time and so will catch up on my reading, and will blog more. Just a warning…