Yesterday, I gave a rundown of the most read posts on this blog during 2020. Today, I give a rundown of the most viewed posts of all time (or, more accurately, since I migrated this blog to WordPress from Blogger several years ago).
I continue to be grateful to everyone who reads this blog. In a world where there is so much to which you could give your time, to give some of it over to whatever my thoughts on any given thing might be is very kind. I recognise views and agreement are not the same thing, but I am thankful for all your engagement. Believe it or not, I have altered my own views on certain things based on responses I have had to posts and the ensuing discussions. I hope, whether anything I’ve written here has caused you to change your views or not, that it has at least given you pause to think. One of my aims is not total consensus, but to be interesting. I hope for most of you I have at least managed that since you’ve been following.
10. A few thoughts on that Liam Neeson interview
This post came in at the sixth most read post of all time by the end of 2019, so has dropped five places. Most of us have probably forgotten that Liam Neeson interview from 2019. It was one where he decided to relay a story about when he went out seeking revenge on pretty much any black man in response to something that happened to a friend of his. It contrasted Neeson’s story, the wider response and the need of the gospel.
9. The problem of having no defined membership
This is a new entry from the 2020 crop of top posts. The article points to some of the issues that will arise if we decide we do not need to have defined membership in our church.
8. What to do when people are disappointing and the church lets you down
Holding the same position as last year, this post from 2017 looks at how we can respond helpfully when we face disappointments, particularly in the church.
7. Three ways the prosperity gospel has infected our churches
Dropping three places from 2019, this article considered how the prosperity gospel has managed to infect otherwise sound Evangelical churches. It looks at the subtle ways the prosperity gospel manages to work its way into churches that, on paper, are very sound.
6. Biblical CBT vs Worldly CBT
Last year, this article came in at fifth place. In fact, it has now overtaken the previous article that was, last year, ahead of it for views. This post took a very simple formula – drawing on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy – to look at lies we tell ourselves, the answer the world offers and the solution that the Bible would give us.
5. Five beliefs upheld by Calvinists that don’t undermine the doctrines of grace
This one has dropped two places from last year in the all time most read posts. This article looked at five common misconceptions that people often assume of Reformed theology. It pointed out some beliefs that many assume Calvinists wouldn’t hold, but that they do typically affirm and which do not undercut the doctrines of grace.
4. Complementarianism and answering Beth Moore’s valid questions
Another new entry from the top posts of 2020. This post was written in response to two questions Beth Moore floated on twitter particularly to complementarians. The post outlines how my wife and I work out complementarianism in our own marriage.
3. The advance of the new legalism
In at the third most read post of all time is the most read post of 2020. This one contrasted the old-style legalism that largely said ‘keep away’ with the new style legalism that tends to say ‘do more and more’.
2. What is the biggest problem facing Evangelicalism? Comfort
Holding its place from last year’s rundown of the most read of all time is this post from 2018. The article argued that the biggest problem facing Evangelicalism today is the idol of personal comfort. I suspect the post continues to gain traction because, for the most part, our biggest problem remains the same.
1. The most concerning thing about the Royal Wedding sermon was the Evangelical reaction
Again, holding it’s place as the most read article of all time on this blog is a post about the Royal Wedding of Harry & Meghan back in 2018. It was so far ahead of the pack for views when it was first written, nothing else has ever quite caught up. It hasn’t vastly grown since it was written, but it eclipses other posts by such a way that it will take some beating.