some peace?

[seajoy]

This thread will probably annoy many, but I feel like saying this anyway. This used to be a safe haven for conservative/confessionals to come and congregate. Instead, it's become a war zone of personalities. I am as guilty as anyone - getting her nose in where it doesn't belong - and trying to calm things - and instead causing more trouble. So I'm pointing the finger at myself too. And yes, I take things too personally on forums....I'm an annoying little bugger that way. It's just how I am.

But that said....
We are brothers and sisters in Christ. It makes me very sad as to how that love we are to have for each other is so lacking as of late. It seems to be all about making the other guy look bad....as bad as one can....and in anyway one can.
I don't know if folks remember this, but we are on the same team. If we were all sitting around having a beer together, we would be talking about our dear Savior. I've seen it happen at a reunion.
Here's some stuff that everyone knows:
1. The LCMS has some troubles (let's pray for our brothers and sisters there).
2. There is now a new faithful President that God saw fit to place there.
3. Who gives a rats rear what happened in 1960, what is happening now is what matters.
4. The WELS isn't perfect either (IMHO)....I still pray with my LCMS friends. No one is going to tell me I couldn't pray with my 90yr old LCMS grandma when she was still on this earth.
5. We can't fix any synod's troubles from this board.

So, I've gone along long enough. Let's just say I'm real tired. I care about all of you guys very much.

There, I've said my peace.

 

[Matt Faith]

I love this thread. Peace and love yall

 

[Matt Faith]

post deleted due to unpeaceful content. Listen to Seajoy.

 

[Aibrean]

Personally I don't have a problem with WELS if they don't have a problem with me

 

[QuiltAngel]

I am sure there is Matt. Otherwise, denominations wouldn't have different branches.

 

[Matt Faith]

I am sure there is Matt. Otherwise, denominations wouldn't have different branches.

Good point, I didnt think of that.

I just want to say that I respect everybody here.

 

[seajoy]

I just saw some of the arguing in the lcms/wels differences thread. There definitley is alot of tension amongst Lutherans, even conservative ones. I wonder if this happen in other forms of Christianity? Are there conservative baptists arguing with other kinds of conservative baptists? Its interesting to see how Lutheranism is divided in many ways.

Yikes...let's just have peaceful talk in this thread.

 

[Matt Faith]

Yikes...let's just have peaceful talk in this thread.

oops. I should erase that post before it causes new problems. sorry.

 

[seajoy]

oops. I should erase that post before it causes new problems. sorry.

I don't think this thread is going anywhere anyway - so no prob.

 

[Matt Faith]

Look at that post now. Pretty peaceful, huh?

 

[seajoy]

post deleted due to unpeaceful content. Listen to Seajoy.

Stop it.

 

[Matt Faith]

lol. i just thought that hippie looked funny.

 

[QuiltAngel]

lol. i just thought that hippie looked funny.

That is pretty much how the peaceniks looked. Yeah, I actually remember that era, I am that old

 

[Matt Faith]

@QuiltAngel your not old. age is only a number.

im 23 but I have the sense of humor of a 3 year old. lol

 

[joyfulthanks]

A couple of weeks ago, I tried to start a positive thread in TCL for the purpose of talking about Jesus. That one didn't get very far at all. Only two people posted in it besides me. I wish you better luck.

That was about the time I changed my sig to what it is now.

 

[seajoy]

A couple of weeks ago, I tried to start a positive thread in TCL for the purpose of talking about Jesus. That one didn't get very far at all. Only two people posted in it besides me. I wish you better luck.

That was about the time I changed my sig to what it is now.

Thanks, joyfulthanks, I'm still praying for a good discussion. Sorry about your thread.

 

[QuiltAngel]

This thread will probably annoy many, but I feel like saying this anyway. This used to be a safe haven for conservative/confessionals to come and congregate. Instead, it's become a war zone of personalities. I am as guilty as anyone - getting her nose in where it doesn't belong - and trying to calm things - and instead causing more trouble. So I'm pointing the finger at myself too. And yes, I take things too personally on forums....I'm an annoying little bugger that way. It's just how I am.

But that said....
We are brothers and sisters in Christ. It makes me very sad as to how that love we are to have for each other is so lacking as of late. It seems to be all about making the other guy look bad....as bad as one can....and in anyway one can.
I don't know if folks remember this, but we are on the same team. If we were all sitting around having a beer together, we would be talking about our dear Savior. I've seen it happen at a reunion.
Here's some stuff that everyone knows:
1. The LCMS has some troubles (let's pray for our brothers and sisters there).
2. There is now a new faithful President that God saw fit to place there.
3. Who gives a rats rear what happened in 1960, what is happening now is what matters.
4. The WELS isn't perfect either (IMHO)....I still pray with my LCMS friends. No one is going to tell me I couldn't pray with my 90yr old LCMS grandma when she was still on this earth.
5. We can't fix any synod's troubles from this board.

So, I've gone along long enough. Let's just say I'm real tired. I care about all of you guys very much.

There, I've said my peace.

It is true that we can sit with our brothers and sisters in the WELS, LCMS, ELS and AALC and all get along. We are more alike than different. We can also get along with our brothers and sisters of the ELCA when together.

I think you hit it with your 5 points, seajoy. I am looking forward and not backwards for my Synod right now. I think sometimes we look back too much and forget about now and where we need to move forward.

The one thing about communicating via a website like this is that it is hard to get the full meaning of what another is saying. We don't have voice tone and body expressions to go along with what is being said. Instead of putting the best construction on things, we tend to put the worst construction on things. We sometimes forget that there are real people with real feelings behind the posts.

May the peace of the Lord be with all our members here.

 

[Matt Faith]

"We sometimes forget that there are real people with real feelings behind the posts. "-QuiltAngel

True statement.

 

[joyfulthanks]

I'd like to make a suggestion for us to consider as a forum.

I've often seen this forum referred to as a "safe haven." There's nothing wrong with having a safe haven, but perhaps one of the reasons that we've begun to bicker amongst ourselves a bit is that we have in some measure lost sight of the fact that, not only are we brothers and sisters, but that we are brothers and sisters who have a high calling to show the world the gospel of Christ - through our words and through our actions in this very public forum.

What do I mean by this? Just this: if we think of TCL as a place primarily for us that we must protect, we, as humans can have a tendency to become inward-focused and stagnant. We are meant to be a flowing stream, taking the water of life to the nations. When we do this, we ourselves are refreshed and renewed by the Holy Spirit. When we become stagnant, things can get a little swampy and start to go sour pretty quickly.

CF is an amazing mission field! There are 200,000 members, if I recall correctly, and many of them are looking for answers. When they come in here to find them, what are they finding? Are they finding love amongst the brethren, welcome, and the love and good news of Christ? Or are they finding something else?

Maybe if, as a forum, we developed a commitment amongst ourselves to a vision of reaching people with the good news of Christ, we would be less likely to turn on one another. Perhaps it's time that the focus not be on us and what divides us, or on what we get from CF, but on what we can give to the world together.

In Proverbs somewhere, it says, "Without a vision, people cast off restraint." In other words, if we don't have a vision of why we're here, we don't control ourselves very well. Why are we here at CF, in the middle of a very public forum if not to help others know and follow Christ? If we truly get a vision for that, I think a lot of these things will solve themselves.

Maybe it's time for TCL to change focus a bit. Let's lift high the cross together!

 

[joyfulthanks]

I'm going to put a copy of my previous post in the main TCL forum as a discussion starter because I would very much like to bring both halves of the Lutheran house into this discussion, and I'm not sure the ELCA folks will see it here.

Thanks, seajoy, for starting this thread!