GOOD NEWS - BAD NEWS (Don't Say You Weren't Warned)

Self | 1-22-04 | Sidebar Moderator

[Sidebar Moderator]

GOOD NEWS - BAD NEWS
(Don't Say You Weren't Warned)

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:

'You don't tug on Superman's cape
You don't spit into the wind
You don't pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger
And you don't mess around with Jim'

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.

[A.J.Armitage]

(I do not flag AJ because I do not want to seem to be inviting more of the same.)

You know perfectly well that your rude, arrogant practice of insulting people while refusing to ping them causes flame wars to continue even more so.

[A.J.Armitage]

You seem to be implying that the parable teaches against excommunications in general. Surely you can't mean that, can you? The Bible also contains Titus 3:10.

[Barnacle]

Or the Apostles.I've always wondered who was the counter balance on the Bell.

Judas on the left and ...

"Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth *will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

Peter on the right?

[White Mountain]

Post #500: But don't just whine.

The poster has made many, many baseless claims about whining. It is his play on my screen name, and it is so often repeated that people probably think there is some basis to it.

There are so many little ways to get something in under the radar, to work a false accusation into nearly every post.

There is just no way anyone, outside the circle of exclusion this poster draws, can hope to have a proper discussion with such a poster, until the poster mends his ways.

[CARepubGal]

I really have to wonder if the goal of White Mountain is apparently to incite and inflame, not to discuss with the intention of helping folks outside the Mormon faith gain a better understanding of what the Mormon belief is and why. Instead of trying to dialog about issues and simply ignoring things that may irritate him, he prefers to incite and create flame wars from simple disagreements by posting to "All" and posting truly nasty statements about a poster (making it clear who he posts about without a courtesy ping) as we see even here on this reconciliatory thread.

I find that unfortunate and hope that he could act a little more kindly and perhaps follow the counsel of his prophets on playing nicely with those of us who do not share his beliefs. Perhaps then, the flame wars would cease. I would sure hope so as would most herein

[White Mountain]

Post #540: Speaking on behalf of the aggressive lobby, we would like the gentle ones to show a little backbone, and grow a thicker hide.

The poster's logic here is that the "aggressive lobby" gets to dish it out, but the gentle ones must be nice and take it without "whining".

That kind of logic doesn't fly with me.

[AlguyA]

'You seem to be implying that the parable teaches against excommunications in general. Surely you can't mean that, can you? The Bible also contains Titus 3:10.'

Actually, I implied no such thing. First, Scripture clearly indicates tares ARE NOT wheat. They just happen to hanging out in the same field, together, till the end of time. Without doubt, the Church teaches that those who support abortion, for example, by encouraging abortion have, in essence, already excommunicated themselves. Hence, they're tares. Just because they show up in Mass on Sunday doesn't perforce mean they are in communion with the Church.

Now, in certain instances, it may be necessary to avoid those who (usually because of their public status) would bring harm to the Body of Christ through a more public excommunication -just as is recommended in Titus 3:10.

Perhaps you could convince me otherwise if you would offer your own interpretation of the parable of the wheat and the tares.

[restornu]

DNA tests which show that native American Indians are descended from Chinese/Asiatic ancestors and not of semitic ones

Glad to read this there were also descends in Jerusalem of Chinese/Asiatic ancestors as well as Egyptian! Jerusalem was cosmopolitan!

[White Mountain]

Now come the false accusations that I start the flame wars. It's endless!

AJ's #541: You know perfectly well that your rude, arrogant practice of insulting people while refusing to ping them causes flame wars to continue even more so.

CalGal's #545: I really have to wonder if the goal of White Mountain is apparently to incite and inflame

I must compliment CalGal, however, on the very polite way in which she has been posting on this thread. Yet, she still works in the accusations: incite, inflame, nasty.

I think I have posted enough to show how they operate, and how I have so little hope that they will cooperate with the moderator's wishes until a fundamental life-changing conversion experience comes their way.

It really is sad.

[CARepubGal]

Sorry for attempting to engage the poster in 549 as if talking to an adult. He/she is on ignore from now on. :-(

[A.J.Armitage]

Now, in certain instances, it may be necessary to avoid those who (usually because of their public status) would bring harm to the Body of Christ through a more public excommunication -just as is recommended in Titus 3:10.

And that's what hasn't happened.

[AlguyA]

I'll check in tommorrow for your response. I really should get to bed. My 16 year-old son is due in early in the morning on a bus returning from the March for Life in D.C.

Nite all,

Pax Christi,

Alan.

[AlguyA]

(sigh) And just when I was going to bed.

What do you mean "it hasn't happened?"

And BTW, where's your interpretation of the parable of the 'wheat and the tares?'

[xJones]

People need to get the responses of our scholars and link to them as well, so people can compare and make up their minds. And then of course people need to behave, so the threads stay there.

Please do bring on the works of your scholars. And as in any seminar, a scholarly review follows, unless it's a one-sided polemic because it can't bear any inspection.

Threads stay there? Subtlety was never your strong suit but the abuse button is, so stick to that.

[A.J.Armitage]

If you can't muster the basic civility to address those you're attacking, that's inciting and inflaming.

[P-Marlowe]

Now come the false accusations that I start the flame wars. It's endless!

I think you are (possibly unconsciously) baiting the hook, WM. Your point about the manner in which the LDS doctrines are often ridiculed is well taken. I believe it is possible to discuss LDS doctrine, Calvinism, Arminianism, Catholicism and every other ism, with a modicrum of respect. That being said, it seems that your contribution to this thread could be objectively seen overall as an attempt to bait some of your past antagonists into flinging a little mud your way in order to prove your points to the sidebar moderator.

Your little stab about other people needing a "life changing experience" or Ca Gal working in "accusations, incite inflame and nasty" are comments which are obviously intended to inflame and bring about the worst in the reader.

When they respond in kind will you turn the other cheek or push the abuse button?

[restornu]

In my view, too many people don't reconsider

I too think the "edit" will be welcome tool!

You are right we have lost the civil art in how to communicate our thoughts with out offending or maybe start out trying to converse and than get caught up in the tit for tat!

I am also hoping for others who want to expand their thoughts will be able to do without some holding other ideas hostage because they disagree!

I enjoyed some of the concepts Alamo-Girl and like wanted to explore.

Many of us are in different places in our understanding and should some feel P O because they don't like or disagree the place that is being discussed, would it not be best for them to find a thead that they do find interesting, with out bring their judgement and contempt upon heads of others views!

[saradippity]

Well,I would defintely say yes to Peter.

[xJones]

Until I became the moderator of the Religion Forum I paid no attention to what was going on over here.

Poor mod. This is a tough time to get Religion. :)

[rwfromkansas]

I am sure some take offense at the word (I guess being in college means I basically am not offended by anything except extreme contortions of the F word), but I think we should shoot for as high a standard as possible for actually punishing harsh language, meaning it would only be be removed or result in a warning if a clear violation of forum rules, not just being a bit of a jerk with rough language. That may be your thinking, I don't know.