Thoughts About Taking The Heat On Forums

[Michael37]

It's all about taking the heat.

No it isn't.

Well why does just about every online discussion forum have someone posting the line, "If you can't take the heat get out of the kitchen?"

Things do get heated but it's just your opinion that it's all about taking the heat. What statistics have you got that prove your claim?

I don't need statistics because it's obvious it's all about taking the heat. People who hide behind statistics usually want to manipulate the truth. Everyone risks being stigmatised because of what they post so that should be part of the equation.

Oh, so there's an equation now. How can you have an equation without statistics being a factor?

That's a good point. I know some atheists live to flame any Christian they can lock horns with, so if a survey was done to work out a percentage of Christians who have been flamed by an atheist in an online forum then we would have our statistic.

Hang on. Aren't you assuming that it's only the atheists doing the flaming?  Isn't it just as much the Christians flaming the atheists and giving them heat? 

Maybe, but what would be the benefit? There needs to be some self-control, and once it becomes obvious the only reason an atheist is on a particular Christian forum is to generate some heat then the Christian should disengage.

That's a cool idea in theory but have you noticed that controversial issues and heated discussions attract way more attention than more civilised threads?

Yeah. I have noticed that. Years ago I was on a non-specific forum where the flaming of Christians was demonic. Talk about heated opposition to belief in God...I Praise God though because the Holy Spirit gave me a season to present answers to every objection without responding to the personal attacks, but there comes a point where it is casting pearls before swine.  

So do you still think it's all about taking the heat if you go online in a forum?

Yes...to a certain degree - and I've got a scriptures for it.

1Peter 1:6-7
(6)  Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
(7)  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

James 3:5-6
(5)  Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasts great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindles!
(6)  And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

[Still Alive]

3 hours ago, Cobalt1959 said:

Bare statistics don't lie.  They can't because they are simply sets of numbers.  Statistics lie when people manipulate them in a way that favors a preconceived outcome.

 

I'm with you. Frankly I see that happening with both statistics and the bible.

[john1]

7 hours ago, Michael37 said:

So do you still think it's all about taking the heat if you go online in a forum?

1 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 19

No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God's approval.
 

[Michael37]

11 hours ago, Cobalt1959 said:

Bare statistics don't lie.  They can't because they are simply sets of numbers.  Statistics lie when people manipulate them in a way that favors a preconceived outcome.

Your whole Atheists vs. Christians premise fails when there are many atheists that infiltrate Christian boards and try to shake people's faith.  Do the majority of Christians do the same thing?  No.  I am not so insecure in my beliefs that I need to seek out atheist forums and then try and make them doubt themselves.  If you really believe this dichotomy exists then you do not adequately understand faith.  An atheist is marked by their lack of faith.  A Christian is marked by their possession of true faith.

Could this bitter thread be the result of seasoned Christians pointing out the flaws in your "no organized Church" hypothesis?  Why does organized structure and accountability within the Church cause you so much grief?

Well done, Cobalt159. Your use of the word majority is most agreeable as is your input about statistics. The majority of Christians don't respond in kind to ad hominem baiting, but most assuredly on some sites atheists and Christians do get entangled in protacted debates that get quite heated. I don't want to be too specific and provide a link but the evidence is out there.  Blue on blue is another matter.  You're way off if you think this thread was born of bitterness, quite the opposite as I was being jovial in my slant, but I won't roast you for your perception of my perception, because I love you unconditionally. ?

Edited August 28, 2018 by Michael37
wording

[Michael37]

6 hours ago, Yowm said:

I posted that saying yesterday...but it was a suggestion to a general audience (no one in particular). I never mentioned any statistics to go along with the suggestion.

Correctomundioso, Yowm. You did post the saying just as you describe and I read it on this site just after reading it on another Christian site where I was having a good laugh about the flaming going on between some atheists and a Christian who was bemoaning their strategies in a way that was adding fuel to the fire. Hilarious stuff in one sense but awful in another. Anyway, the meme in question is one I rather like and one I periodically apply to the self-employed who complain about the problems that go with it. 

Back to what goes down on forums though, over the years I have noticed a trend in certain discussions that seem to act as a vehicle for the same posters to express the same hostile emotive reactions rather than friendly reasoned responses, regardless of the tone and subject matter. It's like these posters are saying, "No matter what you post I'm never going to agree with you on anything, because you once dared to express something contrary to my belief."

There have been some academic studies of online discussion forums done and their benefits and deficits have been examined, but at the end of the day it's up to the individual do decide where the balance is.

Blessings ?

[Michael37]

8 hours ago, Still Alive said:

I'm with you. Frankly I see that happening with both statistics and the bible.

Have you got any statistics to prove that, Still Alive.

I'm in trouble now. ?

[Michael37]

4 hours ago, john1 said:

1 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 19

No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God's approval.
 

Excellent input, john1. I had not included this verse among those considered to be satirical until I read a commentary that described it as such, but it deals with the arbitrary nature of alternative views most succinctly. 

[Still Alive]

15 minutes ago, Cobalt1959 said:

If you actually loved people unconditionally, you would not have spent a good deal of time, and posts denigrating and insulting anyone who attends an organized church, and anyone who dares to occupy a leadership position in those same churches.  Especially pastors.  You seem to have a great deal of difficulty and contempt for that particular office and anyone who occupies it.  Even though you occupy that same office by default in your own personal v2.0 of a church.  If your internal values were consistent in regards to leadership within a church, no one would have any kind of a leadership position.  The playing field would be level and no one could put someone out of your "church" because no one would have the ability or the authority to do so.

You receive correction as both an insult and as an affront to your perceived personal view of how things should be according to your own view.  Nobody likes correction.  I hate it and I resist it vehemently until the right person can put it to me in terms that click and convince me to examine the situation and subject in different terms.  I call that an Ah Ha! moment. 

Ad hominem is not my style.  I had no clue what the term even meant until I was a member at the ancient Manna Cabana 14 years ago.  You hold a position that has huge difficulties, spiritually-speaking.  Should I not correct you when it comes to that position?  Correcting people shows you care.  High-fiving everything someone says, no matter how incorrect says, "I don't care that much."  

Do you want to be right?

Or do you want to be correct, bibically?

I have to say that I strongly have to agree with that rant with one caveat: Sometimes it is good to use the phrase "brood of vipers". If the shoe fits...