{"id":628,"date":"2008-12-23T00:01:43","date_gmt":"2008-12-23T00:01:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/markdroberts\/2008\/12\/happy-birthday-to-still-not-jesus.html"},"modified":"2008-12-23T00:01:43","modified_gmt":"2008-12-23T00:01:43","slug":"happy-birthday-to-still-not-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2008\/12\/happy-birthday-to-still-not-jesus.html","title":{"rendered":"Happy Birthday to . . . Still Not Jesus . . . But My Blog"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>My blog just celebrated its fifth birthday. My very first blog post appeared on December 22, 2003, at 3:42 p.m. It was called: “Review: The Da Vinci Code is Truly Fictional”<\/a> and contained 483 words. There’s a bit of irony here, as my long-time blog readers know, because, later on, I put up well over 100,000 words debunking the “historical” claims of The DaVinci Code. <\/em>But, when I started blogging I was a bit more concise. No doubt some of you wish I had maintained the discipline of brevity. (Photo: My very first blog post.)
\nAs many of you know already, I got into blogging at the urging of Hugh Hewitt. He had been bugging me about starting a blog for many months before we had dinner in early December of 2003. Over Italian food, Hugh started in again about how important it was for the blogosphere to have voices like mine in it (Christian, evangelical, reasonably sane). He shot down my excuses for not starting a blog, though he did offer a sage warning: “Blogging is a harsh mistress.” Translation: If you start and take it seriously, blogging will require time, energy, and lots of commitment. No kidding! In the past five years, I figure I’ve spent around 2,000 hours blogging\u2013that’s 250 8-hour days.
\nFrom the beginning, my blog was an avenue for pastoral communication. I talked about the issues I would like to talk about with my own congregation, if I had the time. I reserved the right, however, to interrupt a serious conversation with silly or fun or personal items. No doubt you’ve seen plenty of this if you’ve visited my blog a few times. For example: “Practical Christian Living and Potty Talk,”<\/a> or my ongoing series reporting on the police blotter from the Boerne Star<\/em><\/a>.
\nOne of the\u00a0 unusual features of my blog is the proliferation of series-length essays. Most bloggers write posts that are relatively short, and they don’t often link them together in a connected essay. But I found myself wanting to say things that just didn’t fit in 250 or even 1,000 words. So I developed the blog series. Because I was working in HTML, rather than using a blog engine (Blogger, Typepad, etc.), my series could be formatted so you could read it in chronological\/logical order, rather than upside down, as is typical for blog categories. Some of my longest blog series ended up the size of a typical non-fiction book. In fact, one of them became a non-fiction book. Are the New Testament Gospels Reliable?<\/em><\/a> became the book Can We Trust the Gospels?<\/a><\/em>. (A few of my harshest critics think this is more of a fiction book, actually. But we’ll leave this for another day.)
\nFor more than three years, I did my blog “by hand” with Dreamweaver\/HTML. This gave me lots of power in formatting and design, but it meant my blog lacked the automation that makes blogging easy and that allows for convenient commenting, archiving, etc. Finally, in April 2007, I embedded a WordPress blog engine into my website. This allowed me to do things like put up posts at one time that would become visible later, thus buying me a day off every now and then. For example, my blog will have a new post on Christmas, but I’ll put it up a few days earlier. Perhaps more importantly, using WordPress enabled my readers to add comments with relative ease. My blog became more of a conversation and less of a lecture. I’ll have more to say about this in a few days.
\nI must admit that I’ve been amazed by the impact of my blog. On December 23, 2003, the day of my blog’s birth, it received 44 visitors who looked at a total of 174 pages. That felt like a good start to me. At least somebody besides my mother actually visited my blog! By the end of this year, my blog will have had well over 3,000,000 total visitors. In the last year, the 1,000,000 plus people who visited markdroberts.com<\/em> looked at more than 3,500,000 pages. I marvel at the power of the Internet to foster communication throughout the world.
\nFrom the beginning, I wanted to blog responsibly, to speak with as much clarity and truth as I could muster. Whether I have fulfilled this commitment, I leave it to my readers to judge. But I continue to feel a great responsibility in my blogging. I do indeed want to be a trustworthy, gracious, Christian voice in the blogosphere, much as Hugh Hewitt once envisioned. I try to treat all people with respect, including those I’m critiquing or those who critique me. In my opinion, the lasting thing the world world needs is more harshness, more stridency, more narrowmindedness, more unwillingness to listen thoughtfully to others. In my blog I try to follow Jesus’ simple advice: Do to others as you would have them do to you. (Not as my young brother once said: Do unto others as you would like to do unto them.)
\nIf you’re a regular reader of my blog, or even an occasional visitor, I want to thank you for your faithfulness and encouragement. I can’t tell you how many times I have wondered whether my blogging effort was worthwhile, only to receive a note from someone thanking me for something I had written. Oh, to be sure, there have been other kinds of notes as well, from people who’d prefer that I stop blogging. A few seem to wish that I’d drop off the face of the earth. But the vast majority of readers who communicate with me, either through email or comments, have kept me going. This includes, by the way, those who have disagreed with me. Their questions and challenges have sharpened my thinking and sometimes helped to change my mind.
\nThus, blogging has been more than a way for me to express myself. It has given me an opportunity to grow in my thinking and, in the process, to develop new relationships. Most of all, I hope that, through blogging, I’ve been able to make the world a little better place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My blog just celebrated its fifth birthday. My very first blog post appeared on December 22, 2003, at 3:42 p.m. It was called: “Review: The Da Vinci Code is Truly Fictional” and contained 483 words. There’s a bit of irony here, as my long-time blog readers know, because, later on, I put up well over…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":214,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-holy-week-easter"],"yoast_head":"\nHappy Birthday to . . . Still Not Jesus . . . But My Blog - Mark D. Roberts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2008\/12\/happy-birthday-to-still-not-jesus.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Happy Birthday to . . . Still Not Jesus . . . But My Blog - Mark D. Roberts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My blog just celebrated its fifth birthday. My very first blog post appeared on December 22, 2003, at 3:42 p.m. It was called: “Review: The Da Vinci Code is Truly Fictional” and contained 483 words. 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Roberts","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/f2d\/f2ddf5f080861f66ea230384f9d1bab2x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/f2d\/f2ddf5f080861f66ea230384f9d1bab2x96.jpg","caption":"Mark D. Roberts"},"description":"The Rev. Dr. Mark D. Roberts is a pastor, author, retreat leader, speaker, and blogger. Since October 2007 he has been the Senior Director and Scholar-in-Residence for Laity Lodge, a multifaceted ministry in the Hill Country of Texas. Before coming to Laity Lodge, he was for sixteen years the Senior Pastor of Irvine Presbyterian Church in Irvine, California (a city in Orange County about forty miles south of Los Angeles). Before his time at Irvine Pres, Mark served on the staff of the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood as Associate Pastor of Education. (Thanks to Janel Pahl for taking the photo to the right.) Mark studied at Harvard University, receiving a B.A. in Philosophy, an M.A. in the Study of Religion, and a Ph.D. in New Testament and Christian Origins. He has taught classes in New Testament for Fuller Theological Seminary and San Francisco Theological Seminary. Mark has written several books, including No Holds Barred: Wrestling with God in Prayer (WaterBrook, 2005), Dare to Be True (WaterBrook, 2003), Jesus Revealed (WaterBrook, 2002), After \"I Believe\" (Baker, 2002), and Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther (Word, 1993). His most recent book is Can We Trust the Gospels? Investigating the Reliability of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (Crossway, 2007). He is currently working on a commentary on Ephesians that will be published by Zondervan in 2014. Mark writes a devotional for The High Calling of Our Daily Work, a website associated with Laity Lodge. His \"Daily Reflections\" can be viewed online or sent as a daily email. If you wish to receive this email, just visit TheHighCalling.org and sign up. Mark serves on the editorial board of Worship Leader magazine, where he publishes articles and reviews, including his regular column \"Lyrical Poetry.\" Additionally, he has published dozens of articles in leading magazines and journals. He often speaks for churches and other Christian groups, and has been interviewed on over seventy-five radio programs nationwide. Mark is married to Linda, who is a Marriage and Family Therapist, a Spiritual Director, and a retreat speaker. They have two children, Nathan and Kara.For Publicity Photos and Bio Statements for Mark, please check here. Mark's Dossier Professional History: Senior Director and Scholar-in Residence, Laity Lodge, October 2007 to present. Senior Pastor Irvine Presbyterian Church, June 1991 to September 2007 Adjunct Assistant Professor Fuller Theological Seminary, 1994 to 2007. Courses: New Testament Theology and Exegesis. Adjunct Instructor San Francisco Theological Seminary, 1995 to 2001. Courses: New Testament Greek and Exegesis Associate Pastor of Education First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, 1987-1991 Teaching Fellow Harvard University, 1980-1983 Education: Ph.D. in the Study of Religion. Harvard University, 1992. Area: New Testament and Christian Origins M.A. in the Study of Religion Harvard University, 1984. A.B. magna cum laude in Philosophy Harvard University, 1979. Phi Beta Kappa; Danforth Fellowship Books: Can We Trust the Gospels? Investigating the Reliability of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Crossway, 2007 No Holds Barred: Wrestling with God in Prayer. WaterBrook, 2005 Dare to Be True: Living in the Freedom of Complete Honesty. WaterBrook, 2003. Jesus Revealed: Know Him Better to Love Him Better. WaterBrook, 2002. After \"I Believe\": Experiencing Authentic Christian Living. Baker, 2002. Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther in the Communicator's Commentary Series. Word, 1993. Contacting Mark: You can reach Mark at: E-mail: mark@markdroberts.com mroberts@laitylodge.org Phone: Laity Lodge: (830) 792-1216 Address: Laity Lodge 719 Earl Garrett Kerrville, TX 78028","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/author\/mroberts"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/214"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}