Forum Closure

[A New Dawn]

Closure of The Messianic Way Subforum​

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."(Matthew 22:36-40)

The Lord God has made it abundantly clear in the Holy Scriptures that His followers are to serve and glorify Him in all things by living all aspects of their lives with the intent of loving others as they love themselves. This task, to which all believers have been called, is not an easy one by any means. Here at Christian Forums, we make every attempt to facilitate the meeting of this divine mandate. That being said, when something becomes a stumbling block which is either preventing that love or creating something to the contrary, it becomes prudent to take all the necessary steps to remove such a hindrance. It is based on that reasoning that we, the Administrators of the Theology Category here at CF, have come to the conclusion that the time has come to close The Messianic Way subforum of Unorthodox Theology.

Reaching this decision was not made haphazardly or with little contemplation. The rationale behind it is extensive and compelling. Simply put, The Messianic Way has ceased to be a loving environment, and rather has become a forum where frequent strife and animosity abounds. In his newly crafted Vision (link:CF Vision - Christian Forums) for CF, pauler has outlined the following point:

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.

In light of that, we want to make it perfectly clear that this decision has not been reached in an attempt to silence, shut out, or alienate our Jewish members. As pauler stated, CF and the believers herein seek to openly welcome non-believers in our midst in order to make them feel welcomed and loved. The problem is not the views and ideas that our Jewish members put forth, but rather the manner in which they treat those with whom they disagree. They have made it clear that they have no real interest in learning about Christ and have continually refused to engage Christians on a level playing field. This problem can be clearly seen in contradiction of another portion of Paulers vision:

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 Staff, we tried to utilize every means available to us in order to avoid this ultimate conclusion. In fact, we made multiple attempts to reach out to the members of The Messianic Way, Jewish or otherwise, by creating a discussion Thread in which we might have been able to come to some sort of reconciliation or agreement. (link: The MW forum- A discussion for all that post here. - Christian Forums) Unfortunately, our attempts were met only with hostility and complaining, rather than civilized discussion or viable solutions.

It is in light of these issues, the continual belittling of Christian members and the disregard for Staff, that we have made this difficult decision to close down The Messianic Way indefinitely. As previously implied, this is not the equivalent of the permanent ban of all Jewish members here at CF. We actively encourage our Jewish members to continue to post here at CF. Along those lines, you are all still welcome to post in the Messianic Judaism Subforum in the Faith Groups section of CF, so long as your posts are made in the nature of fellowship rather than in the manner that they were made in The Messianic Way. This means that posts bashing Christianity or denying its validity will not be tolerated.

It is to be expected that this decision will not be met with open arms by many parties. We can understand that many of you will be frustrated and hurt by this decision as well. Your complaints and suggestions are welcomed, but we urge you to use the appropriate means to express them, such as the Suggestion/Complaint Box, rather than using means that would get you into trouble. And of course, as always, the PM boxes of the Theology Admins are always open.

Respectfully and in the love of Christ,
The Theology Administrators
MarkRohfreitsch, Hentenza, A New Dawn