Tuesday 8 January 2008

Welcome!

My name is David Anderson; I am a minister of the gospel presently (at the time of writing this in 2007) serving in Kenya. My personal homepage is here. Welcome to my blog!

Why this blog, and what can you expect here?
  1. I am a Christian minister - my responsibility before God is to spread his word, which is contained in the 66 books of the Bible, as much as he enables me.
  2. A blog is a way of fulfilling the principle of "double usefulness" - once you've done something potentially useful, with a blog you can squeeze a bit more juice out of it.
  3. I was born in the UK, but live in Africa. My heart yearns for the dreadful spiritual state of my country of birth - a blog is a way of speaking to an having a tiny influence in my former home land.
  4. I'll probably waffle on about whatever comes in to my head. Christianity, theology, philosophy, politics, culture ...
  5. The blog title, "More Than Words", is from 1 Thessalonians 1:5; the conviction that God's words are more than words. I'd like most of all to present the case for Christian thinking in different areas of life, and so I hope that this verse will apply.
Comments Policy

Yup, the Internet can be like the wild west except with less accountability. Which makes boring small print like this necessary...
  1. The ultimate rule: Round here, I am the arbitrary despot. Wu ha ha!
  2. Comments are in general open, though may be moderated. To save your comments from the grim reaper (see rule 1), you should identify yourself (e.g. your real, full name and town of residence).
  3. All rules are subject to arbitrary change as circumstances, my arbitrary whims (see rule 1) and the price of bulgar wheat at the local market may direct. If in doubt, see rule 1.
  4. If any of these rules cause you pain, consider not commenting. See rule 1.
If you want to know what's statistically less likely to arouse the despot's arbitrary wrath - well, it's the usual kind of thing. Be concise (no multi-part posts), if you disagree, put your argument in the comment - no literature bluffing ("Find out why you're wrong by reading this book/article/Wikipedia"). No self-promotion ("Good article. You'll probably like my site, www.astrocultnewagebunk.com."). No ad-hominem, no whining. Etcetera etcetera.
Otherwise, I hope you find it worthwhile to drop by. Welcome!

David Anderson

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi David,

You've listed some rules for engaging in your blog, but there's something missing: what are your rules for using material found in this blog? In other words, copyright. Clearly in the UK there is already a robust legal framework protecting your rights, but in Kenya..? Maybe it would be worth your including something in your "rules" paragraphs about usage. I mention this because I would like to request permission to reproduce your very recent article on Atheism - it sums things up beautifully. I'll email you separately if you prefer.

God bless,

Ralph

David Anderson said...

Hi Ralph,

Thanks for asking. Kenya also has copyright laws, but in any case I believe that the laws that apply to you are the ones of the country you are in as you receive the content of whatever website you are in.

But in any case, I want what I write to be circulated, not restricted. You are free to reproduce any post you like, as long as 1) your purpose is generally compatible with mine 2) you don't alter it and 3) don't claim it as your own work. I'd also request a link back to my blog, but otherwise, use it as you see fit.

God bless,
David