Blogging and Mortality

Doug, Lingamish, Christopher Heard, and others have written of the demise of Jim West's blog. The deletion of a blog could have happened by accident, by a security hole in blog world, by malice, or through a technical error. We can ask - what sort of backup do we have? Or even if we have backup, could it be restored? Or even if it were restored, would it make any difference to anyone? (By the way - Firefox and Scrapbook give a very easy way to backup your archives).

And we can also ask - how much of our self-image or our images of others is contained in our writing? How important are these open diaries? How important our ongoing conversations, book reviews, large or small projects, and twitter updates?

I have said before on this blog that Jim is a community builder. I have not said much about why I disagree with him on some issues - though I record the disagreement. I did delete his blog from my blog rolls some time after my commendation of him but I still have it on one of my aggregators (why do I need two aggregators? I don't know - it was experimental). So the good Dr. is still there. (By the way, my initials are D.R. but I am neither a doctor nor am I ordained - but I love study - and the Immortal One knows I love him too even when I am forgetful.) I am still on the BS elist too - but I seldom log in any more. There's only so much time.

Why did I delete his blog (from my list - not the blog itself!). Because I did not want to read anything further about total depravity and his view of the hopelessness of some cases of abuse. Let's just say I believe in the resurrection.

How little time is needed for resurrection? Ever since I heard of Jim's hurt, I have prayed for the resurrection of his blog and spirit - in the flesh - and perhaps in his new life, he will have even more impact than in his first life.

Where will our blogs be when we shuffle off this mortal coil? Or for that matter when some other bug attacks our continuity? Beloved - of this be sure - we teach each other the love of God whether we are accurate or incompetent, whether we are bold or timid, whether we are open or closed - we teach each other by our reaching out - even when we fear touch.