Time Out

[Sophia7]

Since we're having some problems with flaming in this new forum, I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone of the difference between a personal attack and a respectful expression of disagreement with someone else's beliefs.

For example, saying, "You aren't really a Christian if you believe ____________," would be considered a flame.

A better way to disagree would be to say, "That belief is unbiblical [or against the teachings of the Church] because _____________." Give evidence from the Bible or Tradition (for those who see that as authoritative) to support your assertions, but please refrain from insulting other members personally. We can disagree without being disagreeable.

I believe that we can make this new forum a great refuge for conservative Christians and a place of fellowship and brotherly love if we all keep in mind these words and put them into practice:

RO 12:9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

RO 12:14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

RO 12:17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:

"If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."

RO 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
​

 

[GreenMunchkin]

Sophia, are you the only mod for this forum?

 

[porterross]

Thank you, Sophia!!!


You forgot one of my favorite Bible verses of late.

Proverbs 18:2

A fool takes no pleasure in understanding,
but only in expressing his opinion.

 

[Sophia7]

Sophia, are you the only mod for this forum?

Yes, for now. I've been appealing for help from some of my teammates. I'm going to need it!

 

[Sophia7]

Thank you, Sophia!!!


You forgot one of my favorite Bible verses of late.

 

[Hishandmaiden]

Since we're having some problems with flaming in this new forum, I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone of the difference between a personal attack and a respectful expression of disagreement with someone else's beliefs.

For example, saying, "You aren't really a Christian if you believe ____________," would be considered a flame.

A better way to disagree would be to say, "That belief is unbiblical [or against the teachings of the Church] because _____________." Give evidence from the Bible or Tradition (for those who see that as authoritative) to support your assertions, but please refrain from insulting other members personally. We can disagree without being disagreeable.

I believe that we can make this new forum a great refuge for conservative Christians and a place of fellowship and brotherly love if we all keep in mind these words and put them into practice:

RO 12:9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

RO 12:14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

RO 12:17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:

"If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."

RO 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
​

I think it is a timely intervention.

 

[CyberPaladin]

Sophia I feel really bad for you and I pray you get the help you need here soon.

 

[Albion]

Edited to correct glitch noticed by CyberPaladin. See the corrected message in my next post.

 

[CyberPaladin]

bvad agatoace roje

Albion any chnace you could run this part by us again in English.

 

[Albion]

Hi all.

I personally feel exactly as Sophia does, that this could be a great forum. There are some wonderful people here.

But the forum has a perspective. It is the Conservative Christian forum, and "conservative" is defined for us.

So what happens when some controversial issue is mentioned? It should be as such things always have been handled, i.e. a dissenter on the liberal side of the issue (which is not to say that the person "is a liberal") can certainly make his or her point. HOWEVER, this forum is not the place for a protracted debate in which conservative values and liberal values are equally in the spotlight and equally to be advocated. It is, as one of us wrote, a place in which it should not be necessary for a conservative to have to defend conservative values.

A good example occurred yesterday with the "Woman's Ordination" thread. A person with a personal interest in women being eligible for ordination was able to argue the point over the course of dozens of posts, throwing in every "proof" she could come up--scriptural, rational, historical--in order to "win" the issue. That is a misuse of this forum.

The entire argument, if it was wanted, could have been carried out on another forum which has a totally different reason for being. General Theology was suggested by me, as an example. But not here. Not here any more than it would be right for me to go to the Liberal forum in order to stir up trouble contesting their basic views.

That poster defended her position also with the tactics all debaters know--personal attack, misrepresentation of what the opponent had said, playing the victim, and etc. Finally, she left claiming unfair treatment. But it still did not end the thread as several of us were pleading for, not until a Mod at last felt there was no alternative but to halt it.

There are two ways to handle this IMO in order to save what is a unique forum and one that could be great.

1. The Mod or mods will have to be somewhat more willing to call a halt to such abuses of the forum's policies, or

2. Conservative posters here will have to stop engaging--and therefore facilitating--the liberal arguments posted by whomever.

As we can see on the Woman's Ordination" thread, the posting of many, many responses by a conservative to the many, many postings by the one favoring Women in ministry only had the effect of intensifying the exchange and perpetuating it...long after everything had been said and when it should not have been going on at all. It is not our purpose to vanquish all liberal thought; that is not even possible. So acknowledging the other side's POV, simply calling attention to why we here don't agree and letting it go is an effective way of keeping the forum on point.

Thank you for reading my concerns. These are just what I as one person think and they are offered for your consideration.

Blessings to all.

 

[Albion]

Albion any chnace you could run this part by us again in English.

Thank you for calling that to my attention. I have no idea how that happened, but the post following your request is what was supposed to be posted.

 

[GreenMunchkin]

Your woeful misrepresentation of the debate is astonishing, and the most obvious case of self-dissonance I have ever witnessed.

I wish you well.

God bless.

 

[Albion]

Thank you for sharing.

 

[CyberPaladin]

Agree with you Albino to a certain degree I have seen to many instances where threads last far longer than they should and it just becomes people shouting the same old positions over and over again.

 

[Albion]

Agree with you Albino to a certain degree I have seen to many instances where threads last far longer than they should and it just becomes people shouting the same old positions over and over again.

I appreciate it, Cyber. Shouting is what it amounts to, all right, because it's clear that no one's mind is being changed in the least.

The problem is that we never seem able to get those in the middle of a heated exchange to "just drop it." Each side wants to get in that one last rejoinder to his adversary's "false" claims or "poor reasoning." It would work, I am sure, if when the stray POV is posted, no more than a polite and quick reply is given back, but this is a matter of self-discipline, and I know that it's hard to do sometimes.

 

[Sophia7]

Sophia I feel really bad for you and I pray you get the help you need here soon.

Thank you.

 

[Sophia7]

But it still did not end the thread as several of us were pleading for, not until a Mod at last felt there was no alternative but to halt it.

There are two ways to handle this IMO in order to save what is a unique forum and one that could be great.

1. The Mod or mods will have to be somewhat more willing to call a halt to such abuses of the forum's policies, or

2. Conservative posters here will have to stop engaging--and therefore facilitating--the liberal arguments posted by whomever.

I would just like to point out a couple of things: first, until our wiki rules are finalized and approved by voting on them, we have no forum-specific rules. There is a lot of confusion and instability right now all over CF, as far as rules. Things like flaming are covered in the general CF rules (which could yet change due to the wiki process), and some people may be asked to edit posts if they are determined to be flaming.

Also, we have limited staff in this forum currently, and I was not able to be here most of the day yesterday. I did post a mod hat at one point, and then by the time I was able to check in on the thread again, I had already received several reports, so I chose to close the thread for staff review while waiting for some help on the reports.

Please be patient as we go through this time of transition. It will take a while before we have enough mods here and before we can vote in some new ones. Also, we could use everyone's help in trying to put out fires when you see them, rather than depending on us to police everything. We can only do so much as mods. It's up to all of us as members and as Christians to learn to get along even with those with whom we strongly disagree. Ultimately, that's the only way that we can minimize the strife and make this a successful forum.

 

[Lisa0315]

Hi Sophia

Any word on when mod apps are going to be available for <choke> poll? Sorry, hard for me to use that word these days. Last I heard there was an emergency of some kind which is why the <choke> polls were not yet open.

Lisa

 

[Sophia7]

I haven't heard anything yet, but even when we do vote people in, it will take time to train them.

 

[Albion]

I would just like to point out a couple of things: first, until our wiki rules are finalized and approved by voting on them, we have no forum-specific rules.

Of course. We all know that. I was speaking to a concept.

IF there is to be harmony, there are only two ways to have it (which your post seemed to verify). Either we will have to have effective mods taking effective action OR else we will have to discipline ourselves.

That is a statement about the board, without regard to when the mods or rules are decided upon. It is true before we have them and it will be true after we have them.