I want to post about a comment thread from which I have quoted the entirety of my latest comment on a thread begun when Eric questioned (rightly, I think) my bold but somewhat blustery assertion that “it’s not a blog if there are no comments”

Without Comments, it’s not a Blog at Theoblogical
I suppose that in a sense, this question is kind of like the question “what is church?” (except not quite as important). Many people will say about one church or another: “that’s not a church”, or “that is far from what church is meant to be”….but is it, nevertheless, “Church”? Does the percentage of “criteria met” determine whether or not a given constitution of a body of “believers” “qualifies” as church?

This is actually a good topic worthy of its won post and thread, if I can say so myself. But I will give Eric the credit for causing this connection to happen in my “blog-logged brain”. But, that’s one of the roles I envision for my “blog self” which is named THEOBLOGICAL. I want to continuously raise the issues of what it means and what it CAN mean to be “theoblogical”.

I think the energy behind my insistence upon comments stems from my frustration of how blogs seem to be, by inherit attribute,   better at dialogue than churches are.  Granted,  it’s not “complete” dialogue.  The issue of enbodiment;  to have face-to-face and contact and faces to see and eyes to look into are all aspects of in depth dialogue that are missing online.  But it does convey some content and reveal SOMETHING,  which is better than NOTHING (as in what happens when churches fail to embody structures which make for the kind of discipleship and mutual accountability and “knowing each other’s journeys”  that I think is vital to a faithful ecclesia).  If there is NONE of that going on, then online poses a threat and a challenge.  I prefer to say that online can be an ENABLER of what needs to be getting done in face-to-face , day to day expression of church.  Then,  and ONLY then,  online conversations can EXTEND what gets talked about when we gather together,  and can be a witness and a draw to other seekers that “here is a people who are sharing such concerns and who support one another in what are, by any other standards, radical notions of community.