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Locked on 01/26/2004 9:33:25 AM PST by Sidebar Moderator, reason:
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Posted on 01/22/2004 6:34:29 PM PST by Sidebar Moderator
The bad news is that I am the newly designated moderator of Free Republic's Religion Forum. The good news is that I am the newly designated moderator of Free Republic's Religion Forum.
First, let's discuss why this is bad news.
I have no doubt that everyone who participates in this forum is aware of the general posting guidelines of Free Republic; they've been in effect as long as Free Republic has been in existence. Just for clarity, here they are again: "NO profanity, NO personal attacks, NO racism or violence in posts."
Having spent the better part of a week reading as much as I was able to get to on the Religion Forum, which includes virtually every currently posted thread, I can say that I've seen no profanity (should be a given on a forum devoted to religion), and only one or two posts which could be construed to contain violence. On that score I commend you all.
Unfortunately, however, personal attacks are rampant. Protestants attack Catholics, and vice versa. Within these two major Christian families, Calvinists attack Arminians, and tit-for-tat. Traditional Catholics attack New Age Catholics, and back it comes. Self-professed Christians of all flavors post gratuitous insults and jibes directed toward Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses frequently. Threads are posted for the obvious and sole purpose of flaming "the opposition", whoever that might be in any particular instance. I could go on and on with further examples, but from many of your posted comments it is clear that all of you are aware of these facts, and seemingly, accept them as the order of things.
It is not the order of things, and it will no longer be tolerated.
Sadly, a forum devoted to perhaps the highest endeavor of the human mind and soul, that of the religious expression of faith, has become an embarrassment to Free Republic. All too often the discourse appearing in the Religion Forum resembles that found in those threads devoted to the War on Drugs, less the profanity, of course. Consequently, the question whether the Religion Forum will remain much longer as a feature of Free Republic, at least in its present format, is very much up in the air. How that question is answered depends entirely on the response each and every one of you make to this announcement in the next few weeks.
Therefore, from this time forward, the Free Republic rule of " NO profanity, NO personal attacks, NO racism or violence in posts.", will be more strictly enforced. Furthermore, you are all reminded that this is a religion forum; that is, all practitioners of any recognized religion, provided they also follow the rules, are welcome. However, since a large majority of posters to this forum are self-professing Christians, of one flavor or another, some additional rules will be imposed. You should all be quite familiar with them, even though some of you seem to pay them no heed at present.
These rules are:
"The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'." [Mark 12:31 (RSV)]
"But I say to you that hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you." [Luke 6:27 (RSV)]
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another." [John 13:34 (RSV)]
"If you love me, you will keep my commandments." [John 14:15 (RSV)]
Or, if the commandments of our Lord Jesus are insufficient (paraphrasing Paul) speak the truth in love.
For now, enough of the harsh words. There really is good news.
First and foremost, all that has passed prior to today is forgiven. However, my forgiveness, unlike that of God, is continuing but not unlimited. After all, I'm a sinner, too. Transgressions of the rules will be met with three warnings, followed by three progressively lengthy suspensions, after which unrepentant posters will be, shall we say, cast into the outer darkness. Totally outrageous violations, of course, remain subject to the ultimate penalty immediately, as always.
However, I am also aware that love, in the Biblical sense, is not the Hollywood kind of love we hear about all around us these days. Spirited debate is a hallmark of Free Republic, and is welcome. Sometimes the truth (at least as we understand it, through a glass darkly) sounds rather harsh, but even harsh truth can be couched in terms that allow the Christian love of the speaker to come through.
Further, no matter how you read the tenor of this announcement, I am not a martinet. I can be persuaded to change my mind by reasoned discourse. On the other hand, sinful nature that I have, I do not suffer fools gladly. Directing complaints to me over some action I have taken is fine; doing so with insulting language will not achieve the results you desire, and in fact, will probably result in something far worse. And, as always, I am not the ultimate authority regarding any decision I make; anything I do can be appealed to one higher court - Jim Robinson, by whose direction I am here as moderator.
There are some things I will not do. I will not arbitrate theological disputes. I will not resolve questions of church polity. Nor will I render judgment on interpretations of Scripture. Those are all issues for legitimate debate, and I do not propose to take part as just another poster on this forum. Naturally, I have my own opinions on all these issues, but my opinions are my own and I will keep them to myself.
You should also know, I suppose, that I was selected as the moderator of the Religion Forum because no one else wanted to wade into the mess that this forum has become. All too often when abuse reports come into the moderators from the Religion Forum it is discovered that there are no clean hands in the dispute under complaint. More often than not removing the post complained about generates another abuse report asking "why was I punished when he said thus-and-so first". In many cases, removing all of the offending posts makes the thread unreadable. So, whatever you think of me now, or come to think of me in the next few weeks, I'm your last chance. After me comes the abyss.
And do yourself a favor; before you respond to this announcement remember the immortal advice of Jim Croce:
I'm not Jim, but I've got his ear.
One final word. I am not here 24/7. I actually have a life away from Free Republic; consequently your questions/complaints/comments may not be answered immediately. Be patient, they will be answered eventually. In the end, my goal is (our goal should be) that there will come the day when my presence here is unnoticed. That should be attainable if we all act like the Christian brothers and sisters we claim to be.
May God bless you all.
Let's say that someone - anyone - continues to be a Christian against all available evidence. It seems to me that we have some Biblical instruction about that very situation, something about "shaking the dust from your sandals".
Hey ... you're good!
May God be with you as you take on this challenge.
If I read you right (maybe between the lines), you are the reason why the Religious Forum still exists.
Thank-you.
This sounds good. I just hope I'm not the first one to run afoul of it.
I'm sorry, but the opportunity you speak of has been filled.
If you read the post in question you will have noticed that the comments just before the remarks about Mohammed constituted an extremely personal offensive comment. That is not allowed. Period.
what is the ruling regarding the creation of threads limited to a particular faith/theology group - by that faith group
are non members of that faith/theology group allowed to participate & post to such threads
I would question limited participation threads unless all contained a caveat to the lurker and non conforming poster indicating it was applicable to only a particular faith group
I think the argument could be made that each of us could speak regarding our faith (on dedicated threads) without concern for devolving aspects and potential disruption.
IMO some would say it's exclusionary - but other threads would remain where mutual conversation could occur -
I think this would solve much (again IMO)
your thoughts?
If I may elaborate, its all in how you say it. There is a world of difference between saying "YOU HERETIC!" vs. "according to the beliefs of my church/denomination/religion, doctrine X is considered heretical". One is making a judgment and a declaration of absolute truth. The other is expressing an opinion.
Good Lord, man. I used to admire you. Please don't disillusion me anymore.
It was only a rhetorical question. Honest!
And I've heard even the best wines are going to screw top bottles now, so I still won't have to buy one of those new fangled two handled brushed aluminum and pearl space age cork screws.
That is the essence of all religions. Their methodology for gaining more membership of the club of us against them attitude has been to get a brownie point if you bring converts in. Moslems have managed to do well in this area. Christians have done good for hundreds of years converting others by force/intimidation, or bribes to Christianity. Now, thank God, we know better. We found that soft sell is better!
If you want my opinion, as a Christian, I would rather live my life according to Jesus example; humble/meek/forgiving/loving, and the last thing on my mind would be to witness to others! They can see that you are my disciples if you love one another?
Can't you just say "then IMHO YOU ARE A HERETIC" cutting to the chase and all.
BTW, I delivered that line with a haughty sniff.
That is not the point.
The point is that spirited debate that marked the historic church is an embarrassment to the political culture today . Anyone that has his ears burned by some posts , simply do not need to read them (as in the ignore the forum by not opening it :>)
Hey is the NES going to be held to the same standards or are you still going to have a pretty much Mod free thread??
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