Mistakes, lies, false witness,and such sins..

I don't have to go there much anymore. Assignments have been elsewhere for the past year, which is a good thing.

 

Back to topic – I hate to use the words of an Anglican bishop because last time about all of the Calvinists here wanted to tar and feather me for suggesting an Anglican could be Reformed and my fellow Baptists wanted me burned at the stake for referencing an Anglican at all. But it is a good quote.

An Anglican bishop once wrote “Let us resolve to talk more to believers about the Bible when we meet them. Alas, the conversation of Christians, when they do meet, is often sadly unprofitable! How many frivolous, and trifling, and uncharitable things are said!” (J.C. Ryle, Consider Your Ways)

Another example is Charles Sheldon's book "In His Steps" (where we get the slogan "what would Jesus do"), which is an outstanding book. Let's have the "mind of Christ". Approach one another in the spirit of serving a brother instead of conquering him.

I think that the attitude of this Anglican bishop and this Christian socialist would solve many of the issues that occur between Christians. While we may reject their theology we should be able to appreciate Christ in them and follow Him in our dealings with one another. Christ transcends theological divides among Christians.

 

It is. But I suppose it is not supposed to be easy. I cannot tell you how many times I've had to let false accusations and insults go without responding. But I can tell you it is far less a number than it should be.

 

A bunch of times.

 

Sin begins in the heart and mind of a person. I think sometimes people (even Christians) just want to hate someone so they look for a reason to hate someone. I guess the flesh is something we must struggle with in this lifetime, but it is something with which we must struggle. As John Owen wrote, be killing sin or it will be killing you.

 

Perhaps we all should be careful not to impose our ideas and practices on other people. There is a reason that the board allows people to edit and revise (or even remove entirely) their posts. Often when people post (especially on a mobile device “on the fly”) they review their post and sometimes determine it did not come across as they had desired.

I understand you want your original post to stand. I am not sure why, if you determine it is not reflective of your intent, but I understand that to be a valuable trait to you.

For an example to consider – I greatly appreciate C.H. Spurgeon and reading his sermons. Many are not aware that the sermons we read are not actually the sermons Spurgeon preached. Spurgeon wrote his published sermons based on his preaching but they are revised versions of what was actually said.

We have to be careful not to fault people for not appreciating our nuanced preferences. There is nothing wrong with wanting your original words, regardless of accuracy, to be posted. But there is also nothing wrong with refining your posts to better reflect what you want to communicate. I prefer the latter as I think it provides greater clarity, but I do not impose that on other people (some may be dismayed that Spurgeon's sermons were not actually the words spoken from the pulpit, but I appreciate he took the time to refine for print).

Many times I see people have deleted their own posts (I can see the deletions). My first impression is "well done". I do not want anyone to think that this is not acceptable behavior. This is why we have an edit feature. Perhaps if people used it more often the board would be a better place.

 

Here we do not "hard delete". The posts and edits are always there. And if I recall there is a time limit in edit and delete feature. My rule of thumb is not to delete anything that has already been referenced (one's own posts) .

I have not seen any issues on this board with people editing or deleting their posts (except perhaps when some posts were not edited or deleted).

 

What is interesting with this thread is we are ultimately preaching to the choir.

I think that we all can benefit by looking at our interactions on forums (if we cannot learn from one another we probably simply cannot learn). But the fact is I doubt any of us here are liars, false witnesses (intentionally), or mastered by sin. That said we can all make mistakes and should uplift one another and strengthen one another in Christ.

I think that the important thing to keep in mind with online forums is that we do not know one another, cannot judge one another, cannot discern one another’s motives/ intent, and are incapable of discerning what another person understands of the Scripture beyond what that person says.

So what do we do? We interact as Christians with the posts (what is written by the member) and we discuss/ argue/ fellowship around doctrine.

I have seen times when Christians treat other people as if they were not Christians (as if they were instead liars, deceivers, etc.), but that is nothing but trampling the blood of Christ and denying the power of God. I know sometimes arguments get heated, but are adults and Christians. We should master our emotions rather than allowing our emotions to master us.

 

I agree. Not only is refining and clarifying appropriate but it is necessary to facilitate any meaningful communication. Not only do I believe this in terms of people revising or removing posts they deem not to be effective communication but I think that this is the way we should engage one another.

I do not believe that this type of forum is designed to proselytize but to understand. We should engage each other to better comprehend where the other person is coming from, what they believe, and why they believe it. That does not mean we adopt their views. I have probably learned more from people's views that I will never hold than I have from people that I agree with. I think it is often this way. Iron sharpens iron (or as Spurgeon illustrated, the rocks in the stream are worn smooth by natural friction).

I encourage people here to learn about other people's views and how/ why they hold them. Also I think it is important to always re-examine our own views. If our views are correct then they stand the text. If not, then we make them correct as best we can.