[#] a blog primer

Yes, I incessantly talk about myself. All the time. I am my favorite -- I admit it.

What I don't do for the most part is cover national news as if I couldn't go to work tomorrow if something happened in Washington -- and it's funny because I have talked Baptism into the ground and am ready to go back for 565th's on the Gospel and Orthodoxy when it comes to (as the new series has begun) marriage. So if you disagree with me on baptism, orthodoxy, the Gospel or marriage, I might not make it to work tomorrow if I don't respond with a full-force gale -- but if John Roberts getting a "walk" from his fellow justices, or is George Bush limping into history? Yeah -- I don't care much.

So my blog is not really trying to compete with Malkin or Reynolds or LGF or whatever. I mean seriously: how many more blogs need to be talking about the same things these people are completely raving about already? And who's going to add something someone else isn't already saying?

Now, on the other hand, I want to offer you a challenge. The first part of my challenge is that you have to decide whether or not you're really a Christian, OK? You decide for you and I will keep my opinion about that to myself. Now, if you don't choose to say, "yeah, I'm really a Christian," that's all you need to know, and you may continue with your day. If you're not really a Christian, what do you care about baptism or orthodoxy anyway? You're not a nutter -- a non-Christian interested in Christian orthodoxy is like a Muslim interested in how to run a decent tattoo parlor.

The second part of my challenge is this: if you are really a Christian, can you tell me what that means? The usual way I ask that question is "in 150 words or less", but in this case if you can do it adequately in less than 500 words, you are probably better off than half the people you'd meet at church. If you can't do that, then you should keep reading here, but remember: you're reading to learn something.

The third part of my challenge is to those who have passed the first and second part: now I want you to find 10 blogs in the blogosphere that are actively advocating what it is to be a Christian as you have defined it above in the Year of Our Lord 2006 which are not in my blog roll.

If you're a lurker, or a passer-by, and you think you've got this one licked, then the last part is simple: leave a comment here which lists your 500-word (or less) self-confession, and a second comment which lists the 10 blogs you think best represent your view of the faith.

This should be interesting.