The purpose of this blog

Welcome to my weblog. I thought that, after beginning with a poem, I would give a brief introduction. You’ve already read my name, as well as the name of the blog. Any other description about myself besides my name I’ll save for another time. The title of the blog is Hymnus Deo, meaning A Hymn to God in Latin. It is taken from the John Donne poem below. You may think that the title suggests that this blog will be more devotional in nature. While that will certainly be a portion of what I post here, it won’t be everything. I have no definite plans here. I’ll probably write some cultural commentary, some theological commentary, some amateur Biblical exegesis, along with the occasional poem or joke. I don’t know how often I’ll blog either – maybe once a week, maybe every day. If you’re familiar with blogs, all of this is old hat to you anyway.

I mentioned amateur Biblical exegesis. As a matter of fact, everything I write here will be amateur, except for those things I quote from others. I’m armchair in all these things, and they should be read as such. Anything I write should be examined in light of Scripture and in conjunction with the great teachers of the church. If you think anything I’ve said is wrong, then I would encourage you to take it to your pastor. Pastors aren’t infallible, but they are ordained (and I’m not), and therefore are presumably more knowledgeable about these things than I am. Nonetheless, I do hope that what I write will be of benefit to the reader. There is a place to put comments after each entry. If you have any questions or comments, I would like to read them, so don’t be shy. I want the things I put here to generate thought and conversation.

I expect this blog will generally be read only by my friends, considering the number of blogs on the internet. And little of what I’ve written so far will be news to them. I write this next part, however, for the random stranger that might stumble upon my blog.

I write what I do for edification. If you want constructive dialogue, you’re in the right place. That might even include heated discussion from time to time. If you are just looking for a place to spill venom, however, you’re in the wrong place. If I think the conversation is becoming destructive, I will, as our friend Barney says, nip it. All contentiousness needs to be taken somewhere else. We would all do well to heed the words of the Apostle Paul: “But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.”

Well, that’s all I have for now. Once again, welcome.