Review: GOD'S BLOGS

Right at the beginning, I will join in with the reader to say that as a premise for a book, God having a blog is pretty cheesy. Having said that, though, I'd like to think that if God did delve into the culture and start posting to the internet, it would look something like this book. Probably a plain white site, not really flashy, with some italics and font changes for emphasis, definitely no WAV files of electronic hymns - maybe an MP3 of a chorale in the background, if anything.

Lanny Donoho has attempted to envision such a site with God's Blogs (copyright 2005; Multnomah Publishers, Inc.). There's a clue to how Donoho thinks from the copyright page, where the typical jargon is sprinkled with one-liners and wordplay: "No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,.... But you can read it." Some will judge this book on its lack of seriousness, perhaps going so far as saying its sacrilegious to "add to the scriptures" - but they would miss the point. This is a fun book, it's a deep book, it's a practical and philosophical book, going more for impact and meaningfulness in choosing the metaphor of a blog to explore the complexities of God.

Like playing with ants.

The "older gentleman" obviously still had some "child" in him.
He knew how to play and how to take the monotony out of life for a kid temporarily stuck in his dad's business world. He also happened to be the president of the New Orleans chamber of commerce. He had made it to adulthood without forgetting.
Too many of you grew up too fast. And you got your definition of adulthood all messed up...
Don't let your kids grow up
and forget that ants talk and children like to play...
and no matter how old you get,
you can still get down on your knees
and introduce them to one another. (p. 73)

Punctuation and paragraph structures take a backseat to meaning and emphasis, giving God's Blogs a very poetic feel. Bloggers see themselves as authors and poets, as people with insight into the human experience - why should God be any different?

Donoho conveys "God's posts" on eternity, on forgiveness, on salvation, on laughter and psychoneuroimmunology (p. 77), on the Olympics, on poverty - honestly, it looks like most blogs, as readers surf for the content that's all over the map and still relevant and pertinent because it's the story of our lives. If God were to start a site sometime in 2007, it wouldn't surprise me to see it looking a bit like this book. The site, and this book, would appeal to those of us who already spend too much time blog-surfing, but who also empathize with each other and share in life's experiences vicariously through the screen or the page.

The title might be cheesy, but not any moreso than anyone else's blog, is it? There's nothing unbiblical or extra-scriptural here, just using the blog stylesheet to reflect God's care and heart for His people. And it's a fun, easy, captivating read that ends up not being as "easy" and not as "fluff" - it dives deep into what God might say to a generation paying attention and looking for Him in the midst of it all.