Replies

"Let me take this opportunity to say I enjoy being on this forum, and I rarely frequent any other subject matter besides religion."

I enjoy your posts, Clay+Iron_Times. I've very much appreciated your Scripture selections in the past, and the comments you make on those Scriptures.

"Emotions sometimes can run high as a testament to this thread but I do feel deeply committed conveying The Word of God."

Yes, we're mostly red-blooded American Christians, and we get pretty fired up over religion. That's fine, we're all passionate about our faith, and no one on the religion forum is going to be accused of being luke-warm. It's good to be polite to each other, but frankly, the heated discussions have a way of putting the issues on the table in a hurry. As long as we're being honest, it's all good. These discussion force us to think clearly and make us better informed. "Be angry, but don't let the sun go down on your anger...."

"Titanites and others... SoothingDave ...."Soothing"..Dave? I hope that places a smile on his face because I am just kidding...But is he kidding? :))No a little caustic now and then is okay, Im alright with it"

I have a tremendous amount of respect for those two posters. They are very concise and tend to get right to the essential issues. They are knowledgeable, and I would certainly go to them with questions. I'm new to watching their posts, but I've notice they don't obfuscate, they don't evade questions, and they don't change the subject to avoid difficult topics. They don't create strawmen in order to deflect criticism, and they don't try to paint anyone into a corner. Another thing I've noticed is that they don't attack anyone else's religion. That's pretty impressive, when you consider that the questions they are addressing can be challenging and sometimes quite hostile. You don't see them try to belittle or misrepresent other people's religion to cover up for their own weaknesses. Basically, Clay+Iron_Times, they are not so much debating as trying to explain what they believe. They will question the sincerity of some questions and even some posters, and I see that as entirely appropriate. Some of the statements being made to them are not very nice, and it's good to figure out who has a sincere difference of opinion, and who is just wasting everyone's time. It keeps the conversations productive and meaningful.

Also, I would be a much better poster if I had half of Soothing Dave's patience. You will see him engage half a dozen skeptical or even openly hostile posters and keep his cool while explaining his Faith. It's can be pretty tough to sit back and defend your faith against hostile questioners, and It would be much easier to go into offensive mode. I can assure you, many people's religious belief, if they were clearly exposited, would not stand up to the amount of scrutiny you see Soothing Dave work through. He's extremely good at keeping his cool and just answering questions very directly.

FR is a great forum and it brings together a lot of Christians who have historically not had a lot of dialog. I've learned a tremendous amount from this forum.

"Question.. When any of you are about to logon...do you get a certain height of anxiety and anticipation built up.. Oh no.. I've got a new post! Sometimes I just relax and read the subject matter with no interaction. Other times I cannot let it go, I must post and wait for those red letters to come up. :-)"

Some people approach the forum as a debate, and others approach it as a discussion. Sometimes it's good to ask well-informed posters to check our work and see if what we are saying makes good sense. It's an excellent place to learn to explain beliefs to a critical audience, and the critical nature of the forum can help us work through difficult concepts.

Alright, I have to get to work, and you've addressed another post to me on Baptism, so I'm going to try to get to that. BTW, don't be offended if you see see me lose my composure, I just don't have Soothing Dave's patience or cool.

Also, I would be a much better poster if I had half of Soothing Dave's patience. You will see him engage half a dozen skeptical or even openly hostile posters and keep his cool while explaining his Faith. It's can be pretty tough to sit back and defend your faith against hostile questioners, and It would be much easier to go into offensive mode. I can assure you, many people's religious belief, if they were clearly exposited, would not stand up to the amount of scrutiny you see Soothing Dave work through. He's extremely good at keeping his cool and just answering questions very directly.

I went through my hotheaded days, but have learned to relax. The purposely ignorant will out themselves, as will the time-wasters. My greatest success is in counting how many posts I make that never are responded to, like 1348. It's a complete dismantling of the simplistic verse cherry-picking some engage in.

When your debating partner is silenced into changing the subject, or picking at nits, you know you have made a good witness to the truth.