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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.
I think Major Carleton was quite excessively sincere. He would have been happy to see another extermination order. He called for one.
When you make a post advocating the extermination of an entire Christian denomination, trust me, I'll presume you really mean it.
I could ramble pointlessly - you wont listen - you dont care to understand - I could say context xontext context - Carleton lived in a period of great upheaval - great violence - No one condones that now - I think you know that. That statement in itself is inflammatory - and I will chide anyone who doesnt see it as such (they're losing sleep - I know LOL)
We've been throught he whole denomination thing as well - a condition of including a denomination among the others as participatory of the same body is the creeds - which to my understanding are not part of LDS doctrine. IMO therefore they exist outside of body "Christianity" - of course thats my opinion and I am subject to error.
sincere apologies if that offends
....and with that - I will tell the mods - HE's ALL YOURS, IM DONE RESPONDING TO HIM
goodnight everyone
I will say though - that Maj Carletons comments deserve a thread -as does the MMM - as does Smith treatment - incarceration etc, and I look forward to threads which are informative and allow for even handed dialogue
There is absolutely no shortage of disagreement.
Terrific. And more, they were followed by a great sermon by a visiting priest here. As you may know, Mr. Elk and I are in the Rockford Diocese. If the sermon I heard today is any clue, we may soon hear our Bishop send the same message of Bishop Burke to the Pro-Death politicians.
I think perhaps that could be misunderstood.
"Should you ever make a post" would be clearer.
No one expects such a post from you, I am sure.
That's funny. If you are around to get the message, then you did miss it. The big question is, who's gonna be around long enough to post it? I can't type more than one character in the twinkling of an eye.
Maybe there's a macro we can use. Ctrl-Alt-End. Or maybe: Ctrl-End-PgUp. Or maybe: End-PgUp-Home.
I just pity the poor person that gets signaled with the macro: End-PgDn-Del
That is so true.
Could we also limit the ENDLESS hobby-horse issues (eg. predestination)? Please. Keep it fresh.
So if you pull the plug, I can certainly see why. But unless the "harpies" leave and the forum becomes fresh, I won't visit it much. And, yes, this is not only an embarrassment to Free Republic but to those who call themselves Christian.
Yes, as was his Father-in-Law Annanias. While i certainly do not believe that all Priests were Saducees, they did control the Chief Priests.
You may recall that Paul was able to use the division between the Pharisees and Saducees to get put into Roman Custody.
(If you want on or off my Catholic Ping List, please send a Freepmail.)
This was literally a play on words.
The disciples got it, and here is that explanaton.
"Thou art Peter," Peter's name is petros in the Greek. It means (petros) a soul hard and unyielding, and so resembling a rock.
"...and upon this rock I will build my church;" The rock here is (Petra) which is a projecting rock, crag, rock or large stone.
Christ was telling Peter that yes, you are a rock. But upon this rock (being Himself) would He build His church.
To verify that Peter knew that the church would not be built upon him, 1 Peter 2:4-9 tells us:
To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,
Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.
Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,
And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;
Christ is the Rock, the chief corner stone, the rejected head of the corner, not Peter.
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