Paddy Ryan from 1887 Old Judge card
Public domain
Are you a Christian fighter or simply a pugilist? Seth Godin wrote in his blog post “Pugilists“:
The pugilist, on the other hand, skirmishes for fun. The pugilist has a hobby, and the hobby is being oppositional.
The pugilist can turn any statement, quote or event into an opportunity to have an urgent argument, one that pins you to the ground and makes you question just about anything.
Interesting. Sound like any blogs you may have read in the past?
See, Seth nails the problem with dealing with pugilists:
Instead of playing chess, the pugilist is playing you.
Just in case you think Christians are not fighters, or in case you get the wrong idea of who the enemy really is, keep in mind:
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
~ Ep 6:12
From the CoG related blogs I’m reading, they’re not doing it for fun or mere entertainment. But there are other types of people who have some similarities of your first two quotes. Someone who likes to push their view on people, to try and force them to see things as they do. Who have an opinion varying from the true exposition of the Christian faith, a body of men separating themselves from others and following their own tenets and blog out their dissensions. That’s some of explanations given by the Thayer’s Greek Lexicon about the word 139 haíresis
I would say it’s less about being a pugilist and more about blogs being a heretic.
Well, Norbert, being a heretic is a necessary ingredient, but you can be one without being a pugilist. Perhaps someone starts a blog about the moon being made of green cheese. Perhaps they argue that all of the poetic references to the moon being made of cheese are not metaphoric, That alone makes them a heretic, in a sense. However, if in doing so, they intentionally misquote scientists out of context, impute motives of those of whom they disagree with (as though they knew the hearts and minds of others) and make big deals out of little ones in order to spread slander, well, then I would say they are a pugilist (at minimum).
They do not do it for fun or entertainment? Well, it isn’t because they are trying to imitate the mind of Christ. It has more with personal satisfaction, trying to draw a crowd after themselves, and holding a position of importance in the eyes of human beings. If it were not, they would not need such tactics. If it were not for fun or entertainment, they would quickly move on to more important matters.
So, perhaps you don’t read those blogs. Good for you! However, without naming names, you surely know of their existence and their constant comparisons of themselves with the larger organizations (as well as the occasional barb in other directions, including this one).