If you haven’t read What Types of Questions will be on this Blog? Part 1, you may want to start there. I had intended to list some of the topics I want to research in that post, but the post started getting a bit too long, so I decided to split it into two parts. Actually, since I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to write one post a week, splitting the long post into two shorter ones seemed like a good idea; now I have one less to write.
The list of questions I’ve written down to research keeps growing, and here are a few of the categories they fall in to:
- Animals
- Archaeology
- Astronomy
- Creeds
- Fossils
- Genealogies
- Heresy
- Maps
- Manuscripts
- Reformation
- Translations
All these categories are related to the Bible, but they’re not necessarily theological issues (Animals, Archaeology, Fossils, Manuscripts). For the first several months I’ll likely be blogging about these types of questions. Other categories are definitely theological (Creeds, Heresy), and I’m much more concerned about writing about these topics. There will be few consequences if I get some information wrong concerning a manuscript that’s 1,000 years old, except some (hopefully polite) comments correcting me. If I get some theological point wrong, it could have eternal consequences. I need to take care I understand orthodox theology before I write about it, and that will take time. Having the ability to write about theology accurately and in a way which my readers can understand concerns me. Please pray I’ll allow the Holy Spirit to guide my writings.
The number of questions I have far exceeds my ability to research and write about them. Between the time I decided to start this project and when I posted the first article, Domain Registered, was only about three weeks. During those three weeks I wrote down about 200 questions which are potential topics for this blog. Within two months of that first post, I had about 400 questions. Six months later, and I have over 800 questions (although some are really different wordings of the same basic question). If I write 50 posts a year (assuming I miss a week here and there), I already have enough questions for over 15 years. Thinking of questions is easy; getting the answers on the blog will be difficult.
Please be patient with me as I’m trying to figure out my blogging style. When l was in high school and college, I enjoyed doing research for papers (if I could pick the topic, rather than have one assigned), but I didn’t like writing the papers. Now I’ve committed myself to trying to write an article every week (on average), which is a bit frightening. I need to write in a way which people enjoy reading, which is intelligible and which accurately reflects God’s truth. It could be months before I feel comfortable blogging, so check back regularly while I’m learning.
Some readers may not be sure if they want to come back to read the next article. Here’s a teaser: I’m anticipating an article next week about two archaeological finds in Jerusalem, one confirming the historical existence of a king of Judah, and the other possibly belonging to one of the major prophets in the Old Testament. I hope you’ll be back to read it!
