For some reason, I am afraid to respond to other people's threads on here, even though I want to really bad. When someone makes a thread, and I disagree with them, I want to say I disagree. But then I feel like I am pushing my agenda on people against their will. But I am still afraid to even agree with people on here, for they probably don't care that I agree with them. It is the weirdest thing. What if I said, well I don't agree, and then they tell me, "well who cares what you think?" I have responded to other people's thread on here before, but then I just stopped because I felt that no one cared what I thought.
It's weird. Even in the prayer section, I want to let someone know that I am praying for them, but then I feel, they don't care if I pray for them. I contribute here by being a supporter, but I would like to offer an opinion, even if it is disagreeable with people. I am also afraid that if I disagree with people they are going to block me. When I disagree with people, I am respectful, but people can still get angry.
I have never wanted to force an opinion on people against their will. But I have no problem talking about racial issues and other issues starting my own threads. But I am for some reason am afraid to respond to other threads. I don't know what advice you can give me, or what encouragement you can give me. But anything will do.
The only agenda that anyone should be concerned about is the agenda of Christ and presenting a dissenting viewpoint is not pushing an agenda on people against their will, and there comes a point where we just have to agree to disagree. Sometimes, if we are able to present a compelling enough case for our position, we can persuade others to that same perspective or at the very least, give them cause to consider it, but we can't expect or force anyone to agree with everything we post. While most people who come to this site profess to be Christian, there is still clearly a diversity of thought as you come to find out, the more often you interact with other forum users.
And when we come across someone who does not agree with us, how do we go about contending with that disagreement? In such cases, we should always contend with disagreements in a civil and respectful manner, present the best case we have for the positions that we hold to, but at the same time, graciously give those holding differing viewpoints to present their reasoning and case for theirs and if we are confident and secure in our beliefs, there is no reason to be afraid of being challenged with dissenting viewpoints.
And though we should all want our interactions to be civil and respectful, sadly, even here, that doesn't always happen and sometimes you may come across fellow forum users who become defensive, resort to personal attacks, insults, who are condescending, and belittle us.
If the user blocks you, that does not necessarily mean you did anything wrong. For whatever reason, they have just decided that they don't want to interact with you and it could be that they simply hate and despise where you might stand on a particular issue. And if they block you simply because they don't agree with you on a certain issue, that is just a sign of weakness on their part. They clearly are afraid to be challenged by a viewpoint dissenting from their own.
And at anytime you feel that you are finding it hard to keep a cool and level head, you may want to step back from the computer for awhile until you calm down. I would also advise that before you decide to respond to a thread, you may want to spend some time in prayer and ask God to give you the wisdom and temperance needed to interact in a civil and respectful manner, to respond to conflicts in an appropriate manner, and conduct yourself in a way that will bring glory to His name.
