Anyone know where Christians and only Christians..

[carlos123]

you sound suspiciously like lucy van pelt

Who is lucy van pelt? .

Carlos

[IslandRose]

l am not interested in having this place of fellowship also be a place a mission.  Most all Christian fellowship sites have this perspective which in my opinion is at the bottom of why there are so many problems with people coming in and causing disruptions.  I know there are some on this forum that would disagree with me strongly but Christ did not set up the Church to be a place of mission.  Rather He commanded us to go and be missionaries.  To our unsaved neighbors and others. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Maybe this is where you and I see things very differently. You see I have a church home, a place like you are describing, and it is run very much like you say. We strive to keep it pure and all those we bring into fellowship are basically those who have come to know the Lord and from that fellowship we reach out to our community to try to win more to Christ. But Worthy, to me, is more like the market place. It is a place where I find both loving brothers and sisters with which to fellowship and also those who need to hear the gospel. There are some who become so obnoxious that we choose not to deal with them, but that is almost always after they have heard the gospel at least once. And here in our cyber-marketplace, as in our own neighborhoods, there are Christians who sometimes act not so Christ-like. And they need to be confronted and sometimes escorted out.

You see, brother, I don't see Worthy as our church, I see it as our mission field. That is why I try to be patient as long as I feel that someone here may be able to reach a heart for Christ. And when we do have to send someone out, my heart weeps, but I continue to pray that somewhere, someone will be able to reach them.

IR

[carlos123]

Thanks Island Rose for your input and thoughts.

I guess that is where an essential differerence lies in our respective views. I am looking for a Church online. You already have a Church offline.

In my desire to find a Church online I am looking for a place where Christians will apply Biblical principals to problems encountered. Like how to deal with sin in the midst of fellowship and how to avoid the disruptive influence of such. To the degree that such principals are not applied in online fellowships, to that degree the problems that I see occuring online among Christian fellowships will not be overcome in the long run.

If any online forum, chat, or other such place is seen to be a mission field then there is absolutely nothing wrong with letting in whoever and interacting with whomever from that context.

The problem for me personally comes in when I see a forum or other structure refer to itself in language and using phrases that lead me to think of it as a Church. So for example to say that a mailing list is a place where Christians can come to find fellowship and to build each other up in the faith (a Church) while also saying that it is a mission field to reach the lost will present problems. In that a Chruch and a mission field are to be seen and interacted with in very different ways.

I think mixing that which more aptly belongs within a Church wiith that which belongs in a mission field is problematic. It's kind of a mute point though since I am looking for a Church online.

I wonder if a poll was taken how many on this forum would say that it is a Church, a mission field, or both?

Does that make sense?

Carlos

[Matthitjah]

IR,

I believe that is exactly the point. That this is a Mission field. I believe what Carlos is seeking and may he forgive me if I'm wrong? Is a Church online.

You see Carlos we all have our respective Church's. We also have our family's, jobs, etc.. Then we have this. This is a place to grow and learn for some. For some it is a place to test ideas they have heard. For some a place to preach the Gospel and pass on what they have accumulated by way of the knowledge of Christ. That is the point as well that we are all gaining Christ daily. Some of us gaining more of Him, some gaining Him for the first time.

Either way, it cannot replace True Worship, Fellowship, and the breaking of the Word the way it can in a Church environment.

I would also direct you to the top of Study Group forums right now. George has written an excellent piece about how we will never find a perfect Church.

I have to agree with Shiloh who has spoken well. I know that I have taken personal time to write to you about this as well Wayne. Yet you still seem to have an issue with the way the Boards are run? Your thought's are valuable. I hear you, yet if we do not implement them? This issue arise's again? In another thread you said these issues will arise again and again. Know why. We are all working closer and closer to what we shall be. We are citizens of heaven in an imperfect world. Know how we all got here to this citizenship? God's immeasurable Grace for which we are all, I'm sure, immensely grateful. So much so that we desire for others to know this Grace. Yes even those with unsound Doctrines or maybe issues with anger, yet again even those who might not yet accept this Grace. We were once there too. Twice dead and removed from God.

We Mods do our best here to be Obedient. I know at times this task here is a labor for me. I for one am very glad that I am able to labor at all for the Lord.

I can tell you that at times I myself have not seen why some stay way beyond reason. I know God does though and I am fully submitted to the leadership of this Ministry. One day when I'm serving the Lord the way George does(God willing)? I will fully understand why the Lord has led George the way he does. Until then it is all I can do to submit to authority.

I must tell you at times I am thankful I am not the leader here for I would have acted out of zeal instead of submission to my Lord.

I have much to learn my brother. I have so far to go. I am grateful for the Spiritual authorities the Lord has placed in my life. My brother George is much more like the Lord than I am at times, this to my shame but to my Lord's Glory brother.

You knwo the Son's of Thunder wanted to call fire down from heaven. The Lord rebuked them.

Peace,

Dave

[carlos123]

I was trying not to be defensive, but I was primarily reacting to this statement of yours.

I have seen George and the mods helld in such high esteem here sometimes, and there is to be sure a lot to praise them in what they have done, that I wonder if this high esteem can sometimes interfere with seeing God's ulltimate way of doing things better. In other words we may think that because George and the mods are being led by the Spirit in the best way they know how that there isi no way that we, who are likewise being led by the Spirit by the way, can come to see how God might want to do things differently apart from their leading.

It implies that you do not agree with how they are doing things, and that you have better ideas and could run the board better. It almost sound mutinistic, as if George and the mods should not be the only ones deciding board policies, and perhaps they should let the rest of have a crack at it.

Just a few follow up comments if I might bro.

I do not think I could run this board better in any way, shape, or form if we are talking about this forum being a mission field. I would't even want to tackle such a task or even try knowing something of the headaches involved behind the scenes to do so.

Nn I do not agree with how things are done from a view that the forum is a church. A view that may be decidely mine derived from comments to the affect that we are a group of Christians getting together to build each other up in the faith.

If I do have any better ideas they ONLY are applicable to how an online Church should be run. NOT a mission field. IF any such ideas are better I would hope they are based on the Word and NOT my own thinking.

Far be it from me to say that George and the mods should not be the one's to make decisions here. I don't know why you might think that but I think no such thing. At all! That would be downright silly if everyone went around making decisions everywhere and I don't hold to such a belief at all.

As for someone else having a crack at running this board? No thanks. I think George and the mods are doing just fine IF we view this forum as a mission field. Even if we view it as a Church I am NOT saying that anyone else should run it. I would hope that IF it was indeed an online Church that George and the mods would continue to run it still, just in a way that would apply Biblicial principals for how to deal with troublesome sin in our midst is all.

Regardless I did not intend this dicuission to be about this forum but rather to solicit suggestions about where I might go to find what I was looking for. And even that was a response on my part to encountering on a thread I was on some of the same old troublesome problems that I have encountered all over the Internet in threads that I have participated in. Namely uneccessary and uncalled for, potentially disruptive posting.

You appear dissatisfied with how the board is run, and it is all over your posts in this thread. 

Yes I am Shiloh but only in so far as it is not being operated as a Church while using phrases to describe itself that I can only apply in my head to a Church. If that makes sense.

But I am not and do not wish to bash the forum. That would be ungodly and silly.

This is not the first time you have expressed dissatisfaction with operations of the boards.

You are right about that too Shiloh but again when I bring this topic up it is always in connection with something happening or that I have experienced that I am responding to.

Fro example I responded on another thread to pipe up and share my two cents worth about how we might be missing God's solution to the way things sometimes go downhill. From the perspective of this forum as a Church and how Biblical principals would solve the problem in the future.

Would you have me just be quiet and say nothing about a potential solution to problems that the forum encounters?

I am not being defensive, but I am really concerned especially with this latest thread.  I don't think you mean any ill, but I am concerned nonetheless.

I think I understand why you might be concerned Shiloh but I assure you before God that I am not wanting to cause a problem or be divisive. I don't think anyone else has shown this concern so it may be just be you. I don't know. In any case I asked my questions and got great input to help me understand the problems that I might encounter in potentially starting something new and am thankful for that.

If nothing else I am coming to a greater understanding of why it so often seems that I don't fit into your average Church. Mainly I think it's because I look to the Word and want to apply what it says with others without regard to church traditions or how things have always been. This inevitably causes me to bump into things if you know what I mean.

If you have ideas about things that should be done differently we have threads for that purpose, where you can ask George about stuff, or you can PM him. You can submit your ideas to George, but the decision will ultimately be his.

Absolutely Shiloh. I understand that. Please note though that I did not start this thread to suggest changes. I was responding to something I encountered on a thread and in frustration I started this thread to see if anyone knew of someplace that I could go to that might be closer to what I am looking for. Namely an online Church.

For sure George and the mods are open to suggestions as far as I know and most certainly they have the final say so. If I don't like their decisions I am always free to go elsewhere but that is not the issue Shiloh.

The issue is that I have seen a problem that surfaces in virtually ALL the online fellowship areas that I have personally experienced. I was trying to figure out how to address that or to find a place that I was not aware of where these types of problems could be alleviated through the application of principals that are applicable to a Church.

Carlos

[carlos123]

I know that I have taken personal time to write to you about this as well Wayne. Yet you still seem to have an issue with the way the Boards are run?

And to be sure I have appreciated input from both you and Wayne though I would add bro that you and I have hardly touched this subject at all in our communications. I think you wrote me all of 3 paragraphs one time on this (if that) and I think I wrote you asking if we could discuss this more in connection with a thread you intervened on (I can look up the communcations or you can in my message store if you want me to).

So I don't think we have communicated back and forth at least between you and me the way your phrase implies bro. And I have never in any way made suggestions to leadership of this forum regarding this issue as one would if suggesting that things be done differently. My bringing this issue up has always been in connection with experiencding something on a thread not as an initiation on my part to suggest something to forum leadreship. Again your implication of my doing so is unfair and innacurate bro.

As for communications with Wayne that has mostly been through private email and not in any way directly connected to this forum. It has been with him as my friend and not in his official capacity as a forum mod. So I think again it is unfair to characterize this in a way that implies I am not listening to what has been shared with me.

I bring up this issue when I encounter the types of problems that we are talking about in threads that I am participating in. So again your characterization of me continually bringing this issue up as though I have a beef with the board and can't wait to get it out in every way and at every opporuntiy that I can s unfair Dave and a gross mischaracteriszation of where I am coming from.

Your thought's are valuable. I hear you, yet if we do not implement them? This issue arise's again?

Again bro you and I have barely spoken about this so how you can you imply that I have somehow presented suggested changes, they have been rejectred, and that I am now continuing to bring up this issue? That's unfair Dave.

If you as a mod on this forum want to tell me to not bring this issue up in the context of responding to problems I enncounter in threads I participate in ever again I will submit to your leadership in this and never mention it again on this forum. Period. So far no one has ever told me such a thing but if they did I would never mention it here again so help me God.

As for me discussing it with Wayne further as a general issue that concerns me with regard to internet fellowships that's between me and him since our communications are almost always outside the forum. Though I would not want to place him in an uncomfortable position by talking to him about what happens on this forum especifically. Rather I might want to get his input on this problem in general with a view to getting his advice about how to deal with it in anything new I may start.

May I suggest that we take this to PM if you want to discuss this further? I do not want to make this a divisive issue and feel that this thread is moving in that direction. I will continuue to respond as long as one's ask me questions or such or mischaracterize what I have said but I think it might be best to take this to PM or close down this thread at this point.

Carlos

[Guest shiloh357]

Nn I do not agree with how things are done from a view that the forum is a church.

[Matthitjah]

Carlos,

I did not mean to offend you bro.

Do you realize that you wrote me about a similiar subject? I responded and we had quite a good discussion. I count you as a brother.

Yet here we are again. I am being blunt because it seems that unless you get the answer you want? This will arise again.

I will tell you again that I count you as a Brother in Christ.

This is not an online Church. Neither should it be construed as one. We operate Biblically because we are a Christian Board. The Word of God is how we all operate our daily lives. Yet again this is a unique form of communication. It lends itself to many diffuculty's one in being misunderstanding eachother, as we are even now. We cannot see eachothers faces or smiles.

Yes, at times there are problems. There are problems in every day life bro. We solve them as they come along. Simply closing off the doors and running a private club is not the solution. Snatching some from the fire and moving closer to the Lord is.

Carlos,

Brother you are a blessing. Your questions are not burdensome. I appreciate them.

I really believe this link will help you;

http://www.worthyboards.com/forums/index.p...opic=19850&st=0

Peace and much Love,

Dave

[Guest Romano7]

...such fool discussions, can I make a little flood her!?!?! ) ) )

....guys come to our community and don't quarrel with each other...brothers

[Gerioke]

Achan replied, "It is true! I have sinned against the LORD , the God of Israel. This is what I have done: When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath."

So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent, and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver underneath. They took the things from the tent, brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites and spread them out before the LORD .

Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the gold wedge, his sons and daughters, his cattle, donkeys and sheep, his tent and all that he had, to the Valley of Achor. Joshua said, "Why have you brought this trouble on us? The LORD will bring trouble on you today."

Then all Israel stoned him, and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them. Over Achan they heaped up a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day. Then the LORD turned from his fierce anger. Therefore that place has been called the Valley of Achor ever since.

It's a good thing that if we confess our sins and repent , we will be forgiven