Isn't This Cute?

[catlover]

Originally Posted by LeeD
I want to reiterate my vision for CF, something the staff and advisors have been working hard to implement in these recent weeks. I am weary with how CF has become a place of debating, strife, and infighting. My vision, simply put, is for CF to be a place for Christians to fellowship online, a hangout so to speak. While I would encourage sincere non-Christians to participate in some areas of the community, our focus is becoming much more inward focused, centering around the body of Christ which involves prayer, encouragement, edification, sharing burdens, and always forbearing one another in love. Those who want to endlessly debate against Christianity or promote other faiths than Christianity might find other boards more to their liking as CF probably won't be much "fun" for you any more. I hope this helps some to see the direction of where CF is headed.



http://christianforums.com/showpost....2&postcount=68


In other words, we are an exclusive club.

And some people wonder why Christians are disliked by others.

 

[mathildapaws]

1. At least people who take the time to debate against Christianity are showing an interest.
2. Quite often I've noticed that people who antagonistic to Christianity base their arguments on some very intellectually flimsy ideas. If they want to come to a Christian website and risk getting argued out of their ideas or discovering that Christians are varied and have all sorts of views, well good for them.
3. They might learn things that seem useless to them now, but may stick with them later in life.

Christianity is really quite scary to outsiders and websites provide them with a place to dip their toes in.

 

[catlover]

1. At least people who take the time to debate against Christianity are showing an interest.
2. Quite often I've noticed that people who antagonistic to Christianity base their arguments on some very intellectually flimsy ideas. If they want to come to a Christian website and risk getting argued out of their ideas or discovering that Christians are varied and have all sorts of views, well good for them.
3. They might learn things that seem useless to them now, but may stick with them later in life.

Christianity is really quite scary to outsiders and websites provide them with a place to dip their toes in.

I think the "Inward" part of the post is pretty selfish-anyhow I don't know about atheists having flimsly ideas some atheists I have met are pretty darn smart.

But...you are correct that this maybe a good place for non-Christians to dip their toes.

 

[mathildapaws]

I think the "Inward" part of Lee's post is pretty selfish-anyhow I don't know about atheists having flimsly ideas some atheists I have met are pretty darn smart.

I was generalising a bit. Thinking of the ones who raised me.

 

[catlover]

I was generalising a bit. Thinking of the ones who raised me.

Your parents are atheists? What do they think of your conversion?

 

[DeanM]

I've seen this before.

It was posted in staff forums. I was sworn to maintain confidentiality, but since the cat's out of the bag, I suppose we can discuss this.

The interesting part of this edict, for me, is this line:

I hope this helps some to see the direction of where CF is headed.

I try not to read too much into anything, but there's a few choice words here. The "direction" is toward slimming down the population by starting the elimination process. "where CF is headed" is a bit more of a mystery. Considering that the only real facts available to us are that some people are becoming less welcome as we travel the path before us.

When I first read this, it was in the context of another edict that I do not believe has gone public yet. Let me wrap up this post and see if I can find any public discussion of it.

The combined message of the two edicts is pretty interesting.

 

[mathildapaws]

Your parents are atheists? What do they think of your conversion?

That I'm old enough to make my own decisions. I was very worried there'd be a hostile reaction but thankfully there wasn't.

 

[DeanM]

Found it.

This comes from a staff supervisor. I found this in the SF/C forum, so i guess it's public . . .

Originally Posted by JAS4Yeshua

Another thing to keep in mind, Sharon, not only has Jo asked everyone not to campaign, it is a violation of the site rules, and the advisors have stated that they may ban those who are trying to petition or campaign.
​

Ok, so here's the one-two punch.

CF is going to start a cleansing, making certain people less welcome here. We don't know at what point the final cut-off for acceptance will be ultimately be, but I've seen a few things that lead me to believe that this line is drawn a bit higher than "non-Christians."

Add to that the fact that we're not allowed to form any sort of petition or campaign, and -Poof- you've a recipe for quite a cleansing.

And nobody will really be allowed to speak against it in any organized manner.

Scary stuff.

 

[TheManeki]

Thanks for posting a link to the thread, Dean. I found this line very interesting:

"You don't have to agree with the decision, for most of us don't, but you do need to respect those in authority. That is Biblical." (emphasis mine)

I wonder what is meant by "respect those in authority." I don't see how complaining about a given rule is disrespectful, while I could see how calling someone a dumbo booger-head could be disrespectful. Unfortunately, it seems from the thread that complaining about a rule is being viewed as disrespectful.

The Bible seems chock-full of people challenging secular and religious authority, from Moses, to David, to the prophets, to Jesus, and so on. And then there's the history of the church, for example Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation. In more recent memory, we have the church challenging secular and religious authorities to end the Jim Crow era in the US (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and others) and apartheid (Archbishop Desmond Tutu and others).

 

[Rajni]

I clicked on the link to the thread but only got the "404 Not Found" error message.

UPDATE: I was able to get into it -- yays!

Thanks for posting a link to the thread, Dean. I found this line very interesting:

"You don't have to agree with the decision, for most of us don't, but you do need to respect those in authority. That is Biblical." (emphasis mine)

I wonder what is meant by "respect those in authority." I don't see how complaining about a given rule is disrespectful, while I could see how calling someone a dumbo booger-head could be disrespectful. Unfortunately, it seems from the thread that complaining about a rule is being viewed as disrespectful.

The Bible seems chock-full of people challenging secular and religious authority, from Moses, to David, to the prophets, to Jesus, and so on. And then there's the history of the church, for example Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation. In more recent memory, we have the church challenging secular and religious authorities to end the Jim Crow era in the US (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and others) and apartheid (Archbishop Desmond Tutu and others).

 

[DailyBlessings]

Ssh! Don't discuss what the authority is doing! We wouldn't want to be un-Biblical!

 

[DeanM]

Ssh! Don't discuss what the authority is doing! We wouldn't want to be un-Biblical!

That, my friend, is priceless!

You made my day!

 

[catlover]

That I'm old enough to make my own decisions. I was very worried there'd be a hostile reaction but thankfully there wasn't.

Good thing they are mature enough to realize you can make up your own mind about God...

 

[geekgirlkelli]

I was thinking of doing this before, but now I'm definitely doing it. I am starting a forum for liberal Christians/atheists/pagans/whatever where we can all get along.

When I get it online, the URL will be http://religiousdiversity.sensiblediscussion.com

Give me a few days to get it all going. In the meantime, email me at kelli at kellimcmillan dot com, just in case I get weeded out of here before I get a chance to set it up, that way I have a way of contacting you when it's all set up.

I am certain this will be one of my last posts here on CF. I saw this coming weeks ago.

 

[Kris10leigh]

WWMC is not in danger, as far as I can tell. Right now it's just a cooling off period for the debate forums.

 

[geekgirlkelli]

WWMC is not in danger, as far as I can tell. Right now it's just a cooling off period for the debate forums.

CF is going to start a cleansing, making certain people less welcome here. We don't know at what point the final cut-off for acceptance will be ultimately be, but I've seen a few things that lead me to believe that this line is drawn a bit higher than "non-Christians."

It sure sounds to me like it's not forums getting cleansed, but members...

I knew being welcome here wouldn't last. People like me are a threat to fundamentalist Christianity because I can prove that non-Christians -- pagans even, can be decent human beings, despite what they tell you.

Boy this brings back flashbacks of my days as a fundy. Gotta make sure we keep those nasty, evil atheists and pagans out and not let them mingle with the fold. Since we're not for God (in their minds) we're against God, and therefore evil heathens, worthy of nothing but ridicule and hatred. It's this very trash that drove me out of Christianity in the first place. Jesus is supposedly so all-powerful, so why is it that Christians are so afraid of the "dark side" when they've got Jesus on their side. It makes no sense.

 

[Rajni]

Boy this brings back flashbacks of my days as a fundy. Gotta make sure we keep those nasty, evil atheists and pagans out and not let them mingle with the fold. Since we're not for God (in their minds) we're against God, and therefore evil heathens, worthy of nothing but ridicule and hatred. It's this very trash that drove me out of Christianity in the first place. Jesus is supposedly so all-powerful, so why is it that Christians are so afraid of the "dark side" when they've got Jesus on their side. It makes no sense.

I hear ya. I went through a Fundamentalist period and there is a certain fearfulness there that I no longer have now that I've become far (far) more moderate in my Christian walk. A Christian with a strong faith can remain grounded and content, regardless of the belief systems of those around him/her. The realization that God is in control just has that effect; perfect love doesn't cast out people, it casts out fear.

 

[LovebirdsFlying]

I'm going to go out on a limb here, but I'm not interpreting Lee's words the same way. I see it as, he wants to create a place for Christians to come and re-charge their batteries, so that they can be better equipped to go out into the world and evangelize. I see Lee's post the same as I see the words I've read above many a church door. "Enter to worship....depart to serve." Non-Christians are certainly welcome at any Christian church, I hope (!) but they aren't there to debate. The same would apply to CF, if I'm reading the situation correctly. And if I am, then I don't see a problem. I for one refuse to play endless games of "try and convert me" with a person whose only intent is to stump a Christian with an unanswerable question and then gloat that Christianity doesn't have all the answers after all.

This said, I hope the vision for fellowship rather than infighting also includes seeing that Christians don't attack other Christians, or act in an un-Christlike way toward nonbelievers.

 

[Loki]

I'd like to think that CF will weather this latest purge the way it's mostly weathered the past ones. And Kelli, I've been here 6 years, am not a Christian, and am certainly crankier and more argumentative than you. I think I've been warned twice, and took a self-ban once. If I'm still around, hopefully you should be safe, as you're actually a pleasant person

 

[Kris10leigh]

Right. Man, you guys are wise. I honestly don't think Lee is trying to oust anyone genuine. Just the troll-esque folks who can be both Christian and non-Christian.

Since this IS technically a Christian site, I feel that all Christians should have a safe haven here without persecution or hatred. However, even Christians bicker and spew Hell at each other, so I don't see that happening. And I just LOVE this concept of defining the perfect Christian. Let's see...who is a perfect Christian? Um...that would be YESHUA! None of the rest of us come close.

And I think this should be a place where respectful non-Christians get to pick our brains. It's good for all of us.