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RE: There's an elephant in the room...

zoarean — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 06:17:16 GMT

Do Go Be Man,

Yeah, sometimes we can be so zealous in what we believe that we become close-minded to anything else. I was definitely that way as a CSist as I rebuffed every Christian God's Spirit sent my way (& they were many). I pray that I now would balance a zeal for what I believe with a zeal for the truth. As I've said before, we can "know the truth" until the cows come home, but if it's a "truth" that's found apart from God, in man, then it's really no truth at all.

zoarean

RE: There's an elephant in the room...

Do_Go_Be_Man — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 18:55:57 GMT

Zoarean,

Thank you for your reply.

One of the frustrating things we encounter is that many of the disingenuous and actively aggressive posts often present some of the most interesting opportunities for discussion until they stray far off topic or attempt to defend their perspectives using personal attacks instead of dealing with the issues.

Some of the recent contentious discussions presented some relevant, useful perspectives. Unfortunately, the contributors got so hung up on claims of bigotry and censorship the threads became dull and irrelevant. Though some of those discussions occurred publicly, much of it happened out of public view through private messages and e-mails. They dug so deep into their suppositions and accusations, they totally lost sight of their actual message and forfeited their opportunity to discuss it.

The poster to whom I think you are referring got hung up on trying to prove the physical nature of the Bible while ignoring the spiritual and content nature of it. He privately sent me a link to an article by some scholarly type discussing Biblical papyrus fragments. Sure, we do not have the tablets on which God wrote the Commandments or anything Moses, Luke, or Paul penned in their own hands. That's something I would enjoy discussing, but he almost immediately began characterizing my position which countered his as censorship and game playing - "a good talk spoiled", to misquote Mark Twain.

Do Go Be Man
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RE: There's an elephant in the room...

zoarean — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 17:30:00 GMT

Do Go Be Man,

Though I was inclined to comment on a recent thread, I thought better of it, sensing the poster was being disingenuous. I see you felt likewise & dealt with it properly. I believe these debates can have great merit if all parties are truly seeking the truth; nevertheless, I agree with you & Linda that any extensive threads that don’t discuss CS are off-topic on this site. I too have been delicately chastised for my "rabbit trail" excursions & have consequently moved some of my commentary into private messages.

Thanks for making a "right judgment" (John 7:24) concerning the mission of this site.

zoarean

There's an elephant in the room...

Do_Go_Be_Man — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 14:19:24 GMT

There's an [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_elephant_in_the_room]elephant[/url] in the forums that I would like to address. A few contributors have recently and over time charged the moderators with censorship. Claims have been made that we remove posts based on doctrinal disagreements.

Some will strongly disagree; however, no post on these forums has ever been blocked or edited due to doctrinal content. The only reasons any post is ever subjected to moderation are extreme deviations from the forum's terms, conditions, goals, and scope. Very few posts have been thus affected. Essentially, if a post demonstrates respect for other contributors, it stays.

Reasons that some posts have been edited or blocked ([url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forum_moderator]moderated[/url], not [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship]censored[/url]) include:

[li]Repeated false, unsupported claims[/li]
[li]Personal attacks (slander and libel)[/li]
[li]Misrepresentation of the contributor's identity (anonymous or otherwise)[/li]
[li]Use of foul language[/li]
[li]Spam and other advertising[/li]

As you browse through these forums, you will see many doctrinal discussions representing diverse points of view. Mutually respectful explorations of doctrine are often beneficial even if the contributors disagree. We draw the line, however, when debate includes personal attacks or threats. That's when the plug gets pulled, regardless of what other content such posts may contain.

We also draw the line when contributors try to use the forums as a platform for promoting their particular branch of Christianity as "the only true church". Labeling legitimate challenges to other perspectives and opinions as prejudice and hatred falls far short of mutual respect and represents an abuse of the forums. Requests for proof or clarification should be welcome opportunities for discussion not motivation for personal attacks or threats.

Occasionally, we notice that a contributor posts anonymously while signing different names and pretending to be more than one person. Such behavior is inappropriate and an invitation to have the posts deleted.

Linda and I welcome feedback and may be contacted using the private message feature of the forums. We cannot, however, respond to non-registered contributors using private messages. You may also contact us via e-mail:

Linda - [email]contact@christianway.org[/email]
Do Go Be Man - [email]do-go-be-man@nc.rr.com[/email]

Do Go Be Man
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