So here are a few more comments and questions interspersed in Pauler's OP:
Originally Posted by Pauler
i know this has been a long time coming, and i apologize for that. i wanted to communicate with you all first and for you all to gain clarity before sharing with the rest of the board.
Are you referring here to the site- or is there, as I have long maintained there should be, a true governing Board of Directors that defines how Christian Forums should be managed?
It appears that the second sentence actually may have been intended to be omitted. It is simply referring to the site and not to an external BoD.
__________________ "Many of us...have been willing to put our foot down on this issue to state publicly and strongly that it's not right how immigrants in this country are being treated, especially how they're being portrayed as criminals." --Bishop Jaime Soto
As pertaining to those that dont know Christ:
i want those that are not believers to be able to interact amicably with believers on the board. i would hope that the believers on CF would welcome non-believers with open loving arms and for the believers to show them the light of Christ in their interactions with them in speech and attitude.
however, let's say CF was a ford mustang forum. if someone really loved chevy camaros, and started to say how camaros were better than ford and fords suck and constantly caused trouble with other members, they are not here to be friends nor are they here to find out more about ford mustangs...hence they would no longer be welcome on the boards. i think you all get the picture.
may it never be said that someone, whether christian or not, did not find gracious love here on CF at some point.
please post questions, and i will try to answer them to the best of my ability.
I am very glad to read this.
May I ask what your reaction would be to a 'ford lover' who was persistently rude and unpleasant to someone who happened to mention that they didn't feel the same way?
Because, whilst it is true that some non-Christians do come here purely to cause trouble and push their own beliefs, I have seen a lot more unkindness from Christians towards those who don't share our beliefs... and I find that very sad.
Do you have any plans to do anything about this problem?
__________________
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Because, whilst it is true that some non-Christians do come here purely to cause trouble and push their own beliefs,
I have seen a lot more unkindness from Christians towards those who don't share our beliefs... and I find that very sad.
Do you have any plans to do anything about this problem?
'unkindness from Christians' is, alongside with 'christians fighting against becoming well', in alot of people's experience in CF, 2 of its major challenges.
Of course, God/Jesus wants as many of His human-creations, to Accept Him as their personal Savior, this life included. - Meaning CF as a fit vehicle could serve... atheists, or agnostics, or anyone being additionally gently lovingly & constructively guided towards radiant emotional well-being, as well as strong physical health, for life & this abundant...
People evidencing these processes, in such a community, would be drawn here, as many people do wholeheartedly want, & seek to enjoy related blessings...
in God richly-blessed Paul, live...
__________________
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i know this has been a long time coming, and i apologize for that. i wanted to communicate with you all first and for you all to gain clarity before sharing with the rest of the board.
before i get into it, i just want to ask you all to try and read this as from Christ's perspective. what i mean by that is to try and put our own biases aside. the below statement can be taken from a "liberal" standpoint in an anything goes attitude. it can also be taken "conservativly" in a walk on eggshells around everyone. it is not meant for either extreme.
as i have been praying over the last few weeks, this was the only thing that kept coming back to me.
36"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself. 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." Matt 22:36-40
As pertaining to Christ:
i try to think of CF as church, and i thought of the character of Christ and what he would want his people to be like. i want CF to be a place where Christians have a place to discuss the things of Christ...even amongst all the different denominations out there. it would be a place where all who claim to have a personal relationship with Christ can come to talk about Him and worship Him.
As pertaining to Life:
i would want people to develop deep relationships with each other and be able to walk with each other both in the bright and dark times of life...share in both bliss and sorrow...joy and heartache....in essence live life and grow together
As pertaining to those that dont know Christ:
i want those that are not believers to be able to interact amicably with believers on the board. i would hope that the believers on CF would welcome non-believers with open loving arms and for the believers to show them the light of Christ in their interactions with them in speech and attitude.
however, let's say CF was a ford mustang forum. if someone really loved chevy camaros, and started to say how camaros were better than ford and fords suck and constantly caused trouble with other members, they are not here to be friends nor are they here to find out more about ford mustangs...hence they would no longer be welcome on the boards. i think you all get the picture.
may it never be said that someone, whether christian or not, did not find gracious love here on CF at some point.
please post questions, and i will try to answer them to the best of my ability.
I know how to make it work. It would require eliminating elitism and encouraging respect.
__________________
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"Wisdom enters through love, silence, and mortification. It is great wisdom to know how to be silent and to look at neither the remarks, nor the deeds, nor the lives of others." - St John of the Cross, OCD"
"Look for Christ Our Lord in everyone and you will then have respect and reverence for all."
- St Teresa of Jesus, OCD"
Rom 14:22 -
"Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Blessed is the one not condemning himself in what he approves."
"There are not a hundred people in America who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions of people who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church— which is, of course, quite a different thing." - Archbishop Fulton Sheen
"Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I love you very much. I beg you to spare the life of the unborn baby that I have spiritually adopted who is in danger of abortion." - Archbishop Fulton Sheen
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I know how to make it work. It would require eliminating elitism and encouraging respect.
Only the Holy Spirit can eliminate elitism through the graces of humility and charity. He showers His blessings, but few are willing to receive. Only through Christ can we be made one.
Come Lord Jesus.
__________________ Virgin Theotokos, rejoice!
O Mary, Full of Grace;
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
And blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
For thou hast borne the Savior of our souls.
+ + + + +
Glory to Jesus Christ!
Glory Forever!
O Giver of Life, Glory to Thee!
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Because, whilst it is true that some non-Christians do come here purely to cause trouble and push their own beliefs, I have seen a lot more unkindness from Christians towards those who don't share our beliefs... and I find that very sad.
Do you have any plans to do anything about this problem?
Even worse would be the unkindness from one segment of self-professed Christians (who, by their own repeated testimonies, not making a judgment here, believe themselves the only "real" ones), toward other Christians whose faith focuses more on Christ's love and His exhortations to love ALL without reservation, bias or favorites. You can pretty much cut with a knife the division down the middle between those who imagine living Christlike lives to be a matter of following tons and tons of all the "right" rules about "everything" and cheerleading all the "right" social and political causes, versus those who know it has to do with how we treat one another -- and the first group treats the second group REALLY REALLY shabby here. Sorry to say it but everyone can see it. Deplorable. and sorry to break it to you but it has been WAY too late for a VERY long time for wishing "may it never be said that someone, whether christian or not, did not find gracious love here on CF at some point". Plenty haven't -- but they have all been driven off or silenced. How convenient for those wanting to maintain an illusory appearance to the contrary.
Last edited by hollowgram; 23rd June 2009 at 08:31 AM.
Paul.....keeping you and everyone on CF in prayer. My heart was opened to accepting Christ as my Lord and Saviour after I had listened to a sermon preached on love. I had never realized what true love was and it hit me that Jesus was the only one who could love me the way I wanted so desparately to be loved.
1 Cor 4 - 7
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
__________________
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Paul.....keeping you and everyone on CF in prayer. My heart was opened to accepting Christ as my Lord and Saviour after I had listened to a sermon preached on love. I had never realized what true love was and it hit me that Jesus was the only one who could love me the way I wanted so desparately to be loved.
1 Cor 4 - 7
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
This is such an essential, yet often overlooked, aspect of our faith. Time and time again, Jesus when he walked on the earth, demonstrated this love for us- thereby giving us the perfect example of how we also are to live our lives and interact with others.
So in Jesus, we have a faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love; here is the expanded passage from that given above by RoseyK:
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
__________________ John 6:33: "For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."
Savior, this life included. - Meaning CF as a fit vehicle could serve... atheists, or agnostics, or anyone being additionally gently lovingly & constructively guided towards radiant 
emotional well-being, as well as strong 
physical health, for life & this abundant...
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