The Ugly Underbelly of Christian Opinion

[wingnut-]

6 hours ago, nebula said:

<snip>

"While dissenting opinions are important because they often open our eyes to viewpoints that we maybe never considered, the spirit in which they are given is just as important. Comments that are arrogantly dismissive, snarky, nasty or just plain rude reveal far more about the person writing them than they help whatever cause that person is trying to champion. Often these comment threads turn into backyard theology brawls and completely ignore Paul's reminder not to judge or despise our brother, and that we are ultimately only responsible and answerable to God for ourselves (Rom 14:10-12).

But I'm not as interested in dealing with the symptom (people being horrible on social media) as I am with the root, which is ultimately many Christians' feeling that policing other people is not only their right, but their God-given duty. When Paul tells the Corinthians that it is not our place to judge those outside the church, but rather those within (1 Cor. 5:12), I'm not sure he had Facebook or YouTube in mind. When these words were written, there was a natural understanding that any "judgment" of fellow believers was going to happen in the context of relationship. What has happened today is instead a kind of free-for-all of opinions shouted at the top of our lungs that is completely outside of relationship."

http://www.charismanews.com/opinion/behind-the-lens/65730-the-ugly-underbelly-of-christian-opinion

 

I think the real problem when it comes to social media is that most times there is no real relationship.  It is very easy to type things out on a keyboard and hit enter than it is to say the same things to a person's face.  When we are looking at a computer screen it is quite a bit different than looking into a person's eyes, where we see the immediate impact of our words on an individual.  I think as others have pointed out it is best to wait and consider a response in this type of setting than to just answer back, particularly if what we read brings out an emotional response.

Another issue as I see it is that in a setting like this forum, we have people from all over the place, and not everyone's first language is English.  So often there are communication gaps, or in so many cases simply misunderstanding what the other individual has said.  How many times do we see when following a thread that someone replies to a post and says in their response exactly what the other person said, just in a different way?  I don't know about anyone else, but I see it all the time and it usually leaves me scratching my head.  Are we really considering what was even said in the first place, or simply responding to one sentence that we misunderstood the presentation of and disregarding the majority of what was written?

It's a tricky situation when so many people from so many different walks of life are brought together in one place, but I rather enjoy it all the same.  I know I often misunderstand what someone says to me, and I am aware that not everyone understands me either.  I'm working on clarifying things in discussions to avoid confusion, I guess time will tell if this helps at all, but so far it seems to be effective.

God bless

[The_Patriot21]

The flip side is to many people take the passage about judging not to mean we should remain quiet and not call sin what it is-sin. There's definitely a lot to be said about how you go about your debating, but that doesn't mean to remain quiet. Speak the truth in love I believe is the key...

My dad always told me, it's not what you say, but how you say it. What you say maybe true, but if it's not conveyed in love, often the message is lost.

[Behold]

7 hours ago, Teditis said:

I agree with the notion that many Christians (especially on forums) think that it's an imperative to police

other Christians. When asked they'll say something like Paul and Jesus rebuked others... Like they're at that

level of Christian maturity! Ha.

Most are actually too immature spiritually and rather inept socially to raise a legitimate argument about anything.

"You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye".

People should truly take this Scripture to heart and allow it to be a significant rule-of-thumb for them to live by in all matters

pertaining to something that they disagree about... they should really be staying out of things and remain quiet whenever their

thoughts lean towards wanting to correct an error in someone else or to defend the Scriptures.

Love is supposed to be the Way of a Christian... we should set examples to the world over for how generous and understanding

Christians can be in conversations.. but unfortunately, it seems that Christians are seen as just the opposite... why is that?

 

-

We live in a pathetic and decadent society where moral value is now deemed hate speech, and the Democrat Nat'L Convention during their last convention championed a Transgender (guest speaker) as not only heroic but normal.

So, in a society that is this upside down, where black has become "the new white", and where civil rights have replaced whats right, then  its a good idea and the perfect timing for Christians to stand their holy ground, protect themselves from heretics and secularists, and of course "do  unto others as they would have them do unto them"..

However, this is with the understanding that "meek" is not to be misinterpreted as "weak", and this is absolutely  not the time in history for Christians to be any secular pragmatist's doormat.

See, its one thing to live and let live, and to be tolerant and accepting, but its another thing to be infected with "Blind Tolerance" and most unsaved people have this moral infection, and many who are born again are carriers, also.

Edited June 22, 2017 by Behold

[Anonymous Aristotle]

7 hours ago, Teditis said:

I agree with the notion that many Christians (especially on forums) think that it's an imperative to police

other Christians. When asked they'll say something like Paul and Jesus rebuked others... Like they're at that

level of Christian maturity! Ha.

Most are actually too immature spiritually and rather inept socially to raise a legitimate argument about anything.

"You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye".

People should truly take this Scripture to heart and allow it to be a significant rule-of-thumb for them to live by in all matters

pertaining to something that they disagree about... they should really be staying out of things and remain quiet whenever their

thoughts lean towards wanting to correct an error in someone else or to defend the Scriptures.

Love is supposed to be the Way of a Christian... we should set examples to the world over for how generous and understanding

Christians can be in conversations.. but unfortunately, it seems that Christians are seen as just the opposite... why is that?

 

I think we all grow in our spirituality as Christians. Learning to walk in the word while walking away from the mannerisms of the world takes time. 

Also, as far as Internet community is concerned, there's no way to first know if those we meet with on the Net truly are in the faith. That can be reason also why there is conflict. Because if someone out there is of a mind to try and fake it entering a religious form of any kind, when it isn't sincerely held in their heart, they're going to act in the wrong way. And when people don't immediately leap to that conclusion that this person isn't sincere in the identity they've claimed they have spiritually , their actions will seem confusing to those who are. 

 

[warrior12]

2 hours ago, wingnut- said:

 

I think the real problem when it comes to social media is that most times there is no real relationship.  It is very easy to type things out on a keyboard and hit enter than it is to say the same things to a person's face.  When we are looking at a computer screen it is quite a bit different than looking into a person's eyes, where we see the immediate impact of our words on an individual.  I think as others have pointed out it is best to wait and consider a response in this type of setting than to just answer back, particularly if what we read brings out an emotional response.

Another issue as I see it is that in a setting like this forum, we have people from all over the place, and not everyone's first language is English.  So often there are communication gaps, or in so many cases simply misunderstanding what the other individual has said.  How many times do we see when following a thread that someone replies to a post and says in their response exactly what the other person said, just in a different way?  I don't know about anyone else, but I see it all the time and it usually leaves me scratching my head.  Are we really considering what was even said in the first place, or simply responding to one sentence that we misunderstood the presentation of and disregarding the majority of what was written?

It's a tricky situation when so many people from so many different walks of life are brought together in one place, but I rather enjoy it all the same.  I know I often misunderstand what someone says to me, and I am aware that not everyone understands me either.  I'm working on clarifying things in discussions to avoid confusion, I guess time will tell if this helps at all, but so far it seems to be effective.

God bless

Some good points here brother.   Now, if we all do some retrospection on some of our post here, could we see somethings that we honestly can improve on and how to communicate better or wiser.  I remember the post " Breathe in/Breathe out", where there was two people who went back and forth to make their view clear.  In the end there was an apology and an acceptance which was really, really nice to see and a very good example how it should be done.