There’s blood in the water, folks, and bloggers have been circling like sharks. All of us (including yours truly) know that controversy sells, and we can’t wait to boost our stats by picking apart the latest celebrity to defect.

Sometimes the blog posts serve a purpose. For instance, earlier this week I reported on Beth Moore’s compromising remarks about same sex attractions.  I made an effort to move the conversation beyond Beth Moore to examine ways both homosexuals and heterosexuals excuse sexual and romantic lusts, and thankfully many of my readers got my point. Some, however, fixated on Mrs. Moore. Their comments (especially on Twitter) revealed that they saw my article as being primarily about Moore. I feared that might happen.

Similarly, many bloggers — even those who don’t ordinarily consider themselves discernment bloggers — have written about Josh Harris kissing Jesus goodbye. I will link to the posts that used the incident to make solid applications that actually benefit us in tomorrow’s Saturday Sampler while avoiding those that simply exploited the matter to acquire clicks.

Sadly, I understand the temptation to blog about celebrity apostates and false teachers. Dear readers, you encourage us to do so. As I read my stats, I find that even alluding to Beth Moore guarantees clicks.

Blogging experts advise bloggers to find out what our readers want and feed them accordingly. To my profound discouragement, my readers want to read about Beth Moore. You can do without the Bible studies I write, and church history completely bores you. Doctrine doesn’t appeal to you either. So the blogging experts would direct me to build my blog around Beth Moore and other false teachers.

Before you start salivating at the prospect of The Outspoken TULIP devolving into a kinder, gentler version of Pulpit & Pen, let me remind you that my purpose for blogging is to disciple women for discernment through doctrine. While teaching discernment does sometimes include naming false teachers and reporting on their compromises, bloggers do readers a terrible disservice if we give the impression that discernment only means exposing those teachers.

Think of it this way: Your child refuses to eat anything but fudge ripple ice cream. Of course she’s not receiving the nutrients she needs, and your pediatrician keeps begging you to enforce a proper diet. But every time you feed her meat, vegetables and potatoes, she barely nibbles at her meal. You feed her the ice cream, assuring yourself that at least she’s going to bed with a full tummy.

Sorry lady: you’ve forfeited your Mother of the Year award. Go train that little girl that she only gets fudge ripple ice cream after she eats at least a few bites of real food!

Yes, I probably will write about celebrity apostates and false teachers from time to time, especially when I can then move into teaching right doctrine. But believe me, the thrill of getting more clicks wears off when my articles about Bible Study get pointedly dismissed. Rather than thrilling myself with blogging popularity, I intend to feed my readers a balanced diet. I only hope you’ll start taking a few bites of meat.

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