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Uisdean

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The decision to join your group has been difficult. What I wanted to find was a place where Christians were reading specific books of the Bible and then commenting on them. That's currently my idea of Bible Study, one book at a time. I don't see that here. But then, I can't find anything online like that. In addition, my first impression was quite negative. More about that later...

I read some of the ADMIN statements about Denominations and found them interesting. I like the way the Administrators and Moderators try to keep this site in order. I have had a look at the Blog section. I don't quite understand the "Media" section. I'll look at it again.

Questions about the Blog section: is each article a separate post? Or can I use it like a 'blog site' and make successive posts on different topics?

Question about the forums: Can I ask members to read a section of the Bible and then post their comments? Or has that been tried and it does not work? I ask because the threads I looked at under "Bible Study" could easily fit in other forums. I guess I'm asking what is the criteria for placing a thread in the "Bible Study" section?

I have found some things here that look productive and worthwhile. I hope to learn more about my Savior and, along the way, make a few friends.

Just FYI: I'm retired. I'm working on a novel and two books of short stories. I have not published anything yet. I'm married to a wonderful Christian lady. I go to the best church in the world :). And I am Charismatic, Evangelical and Liturgical. o_O

BTW, I will, on occasion, make some of the worst puns you've ever heard. You've been warned!:D

And now, about my first impression:

Many of you do not have any idea what some of these threads/posts look like to Pagans that wander into the site. Nor do you realize that some Christians, like me, are stunned by the attitudes displayed. About fifteen years ago I joined a writer's forum and found that they were insincere in their posts. They attacked each other over very silly things. I found it difficult to get serious information. Each author saw the other authors as competitors. They were posting to promote themselves. So, I quit the forums for a while. I did join a different writer's forum a few years ago and it was a productive experience. But it takes up a lot of time. Which is one of my concerns about this forum.

The first thread I looked at was one posted by a person who was introductiing himself as a new member. He made comments that were designed to "punch your buttons" and then he would feed on your responses. Normally, I would not read such stuff, but I wanted to know what this forum was like. I followed that with a couple of other threads that seemed equally poor in Christian attitude. Then I saw the thread about "Christians slandering Christians" and thought there might be some small bit of hope. Searching further, I found the "Scripture with Scripture" thread. And I realized that there are some good Christian attitudes here.

Please understand that the following comments are offered by an outsider, not to attack anyone, but in hopes that they will be productive. What I see in some of the threads/posts on this site is that some of you don't really know what you believe. Some of you know only what others have told you. And you exhibit fear that you may not have it right. So you lash out. I see fear behind the accusations like, "You don't understand the Trinity" or "You're totally wrong about infant baptism" or "Read this scripture and explain (your errors) to me." All of this can be summed up with "I'm right and you're wrong because I was taught this and I'm heavily invested in the concept." All of this is part of that big filing drawer called, "We've Always Done It This Way." Now, it's okay to believe as you do. There's Holy Scripture to back you up. However, outside of the Basic Elements of Christianity (see "Mere Christianity" by C. S. Lewis or the Nicene Creed for examples of that), I would ask you to understand that it is REALLY OKAY to disagree.

Let me put it this way: How vital is it that the communion bread be made with or without leaven? Which is more important, the state of your heart or the contents of the bread?

Now for my confession: I do know what I'm talking about because I used to do exactly what I see you doing. Once I was engaged in e-mail correspondance with a Christian Brother and I treated him badly. I could not respect his difficulties with some of my beliefs. And I refused to let him explain himself in his own terms. Had I let him explain himself in his own terms, I would now have a much better understanding of my own faith. The Lord chastized me for the way I treated this man. And that's just one example of my folly. I really did think I knew something. The Lord has shown me that I don't even know the right questions.

Yet even as I write this, I'm tempted to punch some of your buttons. It's fun to watch you squirm. But it's not nice. It's not Christian. And it saddens my Savior when I do such things. Now, I always thought that these Christian websites were full of 'Super-Christians' who would never do such things. So I avoided them. Yeah, I did not like it when the pagan writers did it to me, but I enjoyed do it to others.

However, I have learned a few things. And I will share what I know when the Lord tells me it's okay to do that. Like this. I believe He gave me the okay to write this, but He censored much of what I wanted to say. He knows me really well!

So, because of my temptation to punch people's buttons and because I did not find what I was hoping to find (a specific type of Bible Study) and because I actually though a Christian Forum would not have members who 'took shots' at each other but this one did, I did not want to join this forum group. Yet, I do think the Lord is directing me here. I'm not sure why.

Rejoice Always!
Uisdean (Oos-jun)
 

Stranger

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The decision to join your group has been difficult. What I wanted to find was a place where Christians were reading specific books of the Bible and then commenting on them. That's currently my idea of Bible Study, one book at a time. I don't see that here. But then, I can't find anything online like that. In addition, my first impression was quite negative. More about that later...

I read some of the ADMIN statements about Denominations and found them interesting. I like the way the Administrators and Moderators try to keep this site in order. I have had a look at the Blog section. I don't quite understand the "Media" section. I'll look at it again.

Questions about the Blog section: is each article a separate post? Or can I use it like a 'blog site' and make successive posts on different topics?

Question about the forums: Can I ask members to read a section of the Bible and then post their comments? Or has that been tried and it does not work? I ask because the threads I looked at under "Bible Study" could easily fit in other forums. I guess I'm asking what is the criteria for placing a thread in the "Bible Study" section?

I have found some things here that look productive and worthwhile. I hope to learn more about my Savior and, along the way, make a few friends.

Just FYI: I'm retired. I'm working on a novel and two books of short stories. I have not published anything yet. I'm married to a wonderful Christian lady. I go to the best church in the world :). And I am Charismatic, Evangelical and Liturgical. o_O

BTW, I will, on occasion, make some of the worst puns you've ever heard. You've been warned!:D

And now, about my first impression:

Many of you do not have any idea what some of these threads/posts look like to Pagans that wander into the site. Nor do you realize that some Christians, like me, are stunned by the attitudes displayed. About fifteen years ago I joined a writer's forum and found that they were insincere in their posts. They attacked each other over very silly things. I found it difficult to get serious information. Each author saw the other authors as competitors. They were posting to promote themselves. So, I quit the forums for a while. I did join a different writer's forum a few years ago and it was a productive experience. But it takes up a lot of time. Which is one of my concerns about this forum.

The first thread I looked at was one posted by a person who was introductiing himself as a new member. He made comments that were designed to "punch your buttons" and then he would feed on your responses. Normally, I would not read such stuff, but I wanted to know what this forum was like. I followed that with a couple of other threads that seemed equally poor in Christian attitude. Then I saw the thread about "Christians slandering Christians" and thought there might be some small bit of hope. Searching further, I found the "Scripture with Scripture" thread. And I realized that there are some good Christian attitudes here.

Please understand that the following comments are offered by an outsider, not to attack anyone, but in hopes that they will be productive. What I see in some of the threads/posts on this site is that some of you don't really know what you believe. Some of you know only what others have told you. And you exhibit fear that you may not have it right. So you lash out. I see fear behind the accusations like, "You don't understand the Trinity" or "You're totally wrong about infant baptism" or "Read this scripture and explain (your errors) to me." All of this can be summed up with "I'm right and you're wrong because I was taught this and I'm heavily invested in the concept." All of this is part of that big filing drawer called, "We've Always Done It This Way." Now, it's okay to believe as you do. There's Holy Scripture to back you up. However, outside of the Basic Elements of Christianity (see "Mere Christianity" by C. S. Lewis or the Nicene Creed for examples of that), I would ask you to understand that it is REALLY OKAY to disagree.

Let me put it this way: How vital is it that the communion bread be made with or without leaven? Which is more important, the state of your heart or the contents of the bread?

Now for my confession: I do know what I'm talking about because I used to do exactly what I see you doing. Once I was engaged in e-mail correspondance with a Christian Brother and I treated him badly. I could not respect his difficulties with some of my beliefs. And I refused to let him explain himself in his own terms. Had I let him explain himself in his own terms, I would now have a much better understanding of my own faith. The Lord chastized me for the way I treated this man. And that's just one example of my folly. I really did think I knew something. The Lord has shown me that I don't even know the right questions.

Yet even as I write this, I'm tempted to punch some of your buttons. It's fun to watch you squirm. But it's not nice. It's not Christian. And it saddens my Savior when I do such things. Now, I always thought that these Christian websites were full of 'Super-Christians' who would never do such things. So I avoided them. Yeah, I did not like it when the pagan writers did it to me, but I enjoyed do it to others.

However, I have learned a few things. And I will share what I know when the Lord tells me it's okay to do that. Like this. I believe He gave me the okay to write this, but He censored much of what I wanted to say. He knows me really well!

So, because of my temptation to punch people's buttons and because I did not find what I was hoping to find (a specific type of Bible Study) and because I actually though a Christian Forum would not have members who 'took shots' at each other but this one did, I did not want to join this forum group. Yet, I do think the Lord is directing me here. I'm not sure why.

Rejoice Always!
Uisdean (Oos-jun)

Feel free to punch buttons. Apparently you don't want to be here, but God is forcing you to be here for everyone else's benefit. If you don't know why, neither does anyone else.

And, welcome.

Stranger
 

Willie T

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I'm just a fat man on my way to Heaven, and I am doing things different all the time... but the way I think I am being led. So, I am looking forward to one more person telling me their views.
 
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Jane_Doe22

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Hi welcome to the forums!

I am relatively new here too, and have thus far enjoyed a (generally) loving Christian attitude here. Yes, there are some folks that like to bitter and push buttons, but... frankly I just ignore them and continue having a good time.
 

Truth

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The decision to join your group has been difficult. What I wanted to find was a place where Christians were reading specific books of the Bible and then commenting on them. That's currently my idea of Bible Study, one book at a time. I don't see that here. But then, I can't find anything online like that. In addition, my first impression was quite negative. More about that later...

I read some of the ADMIN statements about Denominations and found them interesting. I like the way the Administrators and Moderators try to keep this site in order. I have had a look at the Blog section. I don't quite understand the "Media" section. I'll look at it again.

Questions about the Blog section: is each article a separate post? Or can I use it like a 'blog site' and make successive posts on different topics?

Question about the forums: Can I ask members to read a section of the Bible and then post their comments? Or has that been tried and it does not work? I ask because the threads I looked at under "Bible Study" could easily fit in other forums. I guess I'm asking what is the criteria for placing a thread in the "Bible Study" section?

I have found some things here that look productive and worthwhile. I hope to learn more about my Savior and, along the way, make a few friends.

Just FYI: I'm retired. I'm working on a novel and two books of short stories. I have not published anything yet. I'm married to a wonderful Christian lady. I go to the best church in the world :). And I am Charismatic, Evangelical and Liturgical. o_O

BTW, I will, on occasion, make some of the worst puns you've ever heard. You've been warned!:D

And now, about my first impression:

Many of you do not have any idea what some of these threads/posts look like to Pagans that wander into the site. Nor do you realize that some Christians, like me, are stunned by the attitudes displayed. About fifteen years ago I joined a writer's forum and found that they were insincere in their posts. They attacked each other over very silly things. I found it difficult to get serious information. Each author saw the other authors as competitors. They were posting to promote themselves. So, I quit the forums for a while. I did join a different writer's forum a few years ago and it was a productive experience. But it takes up a lot of time. Which is one of my concerns about this forum.

The first thread I looked at was one posted by a person who was introductiing himself as a new member. He made comments that were designed to "punch your buttons" and then he would feed on your responses. Normally, I would not read such stuff, but I wanted to know what this forum was like. I followed that with a couple of other threads that seemed equally poor in Christian attitude. Then I saw the thread about "Christians slandering Christians" and thought there might be some small bit of hope. Searching further, I found the "Scripture with Scripture" thread. And I realized that there are some good Christian attitudes here.

Please understand that the following comments are offered by an outsider, not to attack anyone, but in hopes that they will be productive. What I see in some of the threads/posts on this site is that some of you don't really know what you believe. Some of you know only what others have told you. And you exhibit fear that you may not have it right. So you lash out. I see fear behind the accusations like, "You don't understand the Trinity" or "You're totally wrong about infant baptism" or "Read this scripture and explain (your errors) to me." All of this can be summed up with "I'm right and you're wrong because I was taught this and I'm heavily invested in the concept." All of this is part of that big filing drawer called, "We've Always Done It This Way." Now, it's okay to believe as you do. There's Holy Scripture to back you up. However, outside of the Basic Elements of Christianity (see "Mere Christianity" by C. S. Lewis or the Nicene Creed for examples of that), I would ask you to understand that it is REALLY OKAY to disagree.

Let me put it this way: How vital is it that the communion bread be made with or without leaven? Which is more important, the state of your heart or the contents of the bread?

Now for my confession: I do know what I'm talking about because I used to do exactly what I see you doing. Once I was engaged in e-mail correspondance with a Christian Brother and I treated him badly. I could not respect his difficulties with some of my beliefs. And I refused to let him explain himself in his own terms. Had I let him explain himself in his own terms, I would now have a much better understanding of my own faith. The Lord chastized me for the way I treated this man. And that's just one example of my folly. I really did think I knew something. The Lord has shown me that I don't even know the right questions.

Yet even as I write this, I'm tempted to punch some of your buttons. It's fun to watch you squirm. But it's not nice. It's not Christian. And it saddens my Savior when I do such things. Now, I always thought that these Christian websites were full of 'Super-Christians' who would never do such things. So I avoided them. Yeah, I did not like it when the pagan writers did it to me, but I enjoyed do it to others.

However, I have learned a few things. And I will share what I know when the Lord tells me it's okay to do that. Like this. I believe He gave me the okay to write this, but He censored much of what I wanted to say. He knows me really well!

So, because of my temptation to punch people's buttons and because I did not find what I was hoping to find (a specific type of Bible Study) and because I actually though a Christian Forum would not have members who 'took shots' at each other but this one did, I did not want to join this forum group. Yet, I do think the Lord is directing me here. I'm not sure why.

Rejoice Always!
Uisdean (Oos-jun)

WELCOME ! Try to make the best of it!!!!!!!
 

Mayflower

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Thanks Y'All for your welcome.

Yessssss!!!!! Are you from Texas? I don't live there now, but I was born and raised there, so I say write "y'all" and "yes maam," "yes sir," etc. :)

I am fairly new. I was excited to see you are a writer, because I just started an rpg thread. Like a story you write with a specific character. It is in fellowship games and it was sort of Like a test run to see who would be interested. I am unsure the best format for a forum though, but it has been really good so far!!!! I was just fixing to make a new thread for it. So happy to see another writer!!!!!

And I would love to join your Bible study!!!! Just post how you like yours done in the first post, because one of my first impressions were people love debating here. :) I am giving the topics a break myself for awhile. I love to write, but am not too fond of reading things a little over my head. But the areas I am unsure on, there is some good discussion...I think I need to stop "talking" though at times and just read. Because there are areas I am unsure on. But one thing I know and that is Jesus Christ is my Savior and I want to live and serve Him. I hope that Christ does shine through me.

And I do see Christ shine through people here. Overall, I felt drawn right away to this Board.

So welcome Uisdean! Thank you for your thoughtful look at the board and for giving it a chance. I love to meet new people and you sound like a nice person!
 

Harvest 1874

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I have had a look at the Blog section. I don't quite understand the "Media" section. I'll look at it again.

Questions about the Blog section: is each article a separate post? Or can I use it like a 'blog site' and make successive posts on different topics?

The "Media" section is where you can post pictures, just make sure you're getting your pics from a secure site otherwise when you post your pic you may just wine up with little box's with an X in them.

Most of the search engines now days are only allowing secure content to be transferred from website to website. I had to convert my own personal blog to the new format in order to make it secure. You can tell if a site is secure by the little green lock at the top of the page and also by the https if its just http its generally not secure, but even then like my own blog sometimes it still says its not totally secure, I think its because I may have downloaded something prior to reformatting which was from an insecure site.

As for the blogs on this forum they work generally just like a typical blog, and yes you can add successive post on the same blog if you like, and should you like to keep a certain subject separate from the rest of your material you can simply add another blog. This is what I do one blog for general subjects, and one for a specific subject. I believe you can have as many blogs as you can maintain one of the members on this forum I believe has 8 blogs.
 

Uisdean

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Yessssss!!!!! Are you from Texas? I don't live there now, but I was born and raised there, so I say write "y'all" and "yes maam," "yes sir," etc. :)

I am fairly new. I was excited to see you are a writer, because I just started an rpg thread. Like a story you write with a specific character. It is in fellowship games and it was sort of Like a test run to see who would be interested. I am unsure the best format for a forum though, but it has been really good so far!!!! I was just fixing to make a new thread for it. So happy to see another writer!!!!!

And I would love to join your Bible study!!!! Just post how you like yours done in the first post, because one of my first impressions were people love debating here. :) I am giving the topics a break myself for awhile. I love to write, but am not too fond of reading things a little over my head. But the areas I am unsure on, there is some good discussion...I think I need to stop "talking" though at times and just read. Because there are areas I am unsure on. But one thing I know and that is Jesus Christ is my Savior and I want to live and serve Him. I hope that Christ does shine through me.

And I do see Christ shine through people here. Overall, I felt drawn right away to this Board.

So welcome Uisdean! Thank you for your thoughtful look at the board and for giving it a chance. I love to meet new people and you sound like a nice person!

NC... Where we do know why God made the sky Carolina Blue. :D ...but I lived in Florida long enough to get a speech impediment. :oops:

Took me a minute to figure out that 'rpg' is 'role playing game'. I always thought 'rpg' was a computer game, like Zork only more complex. Then I saw an episode of "Big Bang Theory" and realized that you don't need a computer. We did that sort of thing as kids, but it was just "playing in the yard" stuff. Cowboys & Indians, Cops & Robbers, Army, Pirates, etc. There were no formal rules like Dungeons & Dragons. We just made up 'rules' or 'proceedures' as we needed them. Mark Twain depicted Tom and Huck doing the same thing. Nothing new under the sun. Just different packaging.

I was hoping to participate in an ongoing Bible Study. I'm not interested in debating...God said it and that settles it. I don't want to try to convince you that I am right. That's ego. And it's a waste of time. (Unless you're Pagan...and then I need to witness to you.) But I do understand that God did not explain everything. So I enjoy participating in serious discussion about those topics. The real problem with debate is that both side are trying to win the argument. However, you can win the argument and be completely wrong. Or, you can offend your opponent to the point that he/she won't talk to you.

...Well, you said you would "...love to join your Bible study!" I'll pray and think about that. I wasn't looking to start one. And I'm not sure how the forum format would work for that. That's what I was searching the Internet to find. I wanted to see how it would work. I attend a small church and it's difficult to find a convenient time. I wanted to see if there was a way to do it on our website. So I'll pray about it.

And, yes, I do see Christian Love here.
 

Uisdean

Active Member
Aug 12, 2018
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United States
The "Media" section is where you can post pictures, just make sure you're getting your pics from a secure site otherwise when you post your pic you may just wine up with little box's with an X in them.

Most of the search engines now days are only allowing secure content to be transferred from website to website. I had to convert my own personal blog to the new format in order to make it secure. You can tell if a site is secure by the little green lock at the top of the page and also by the https if its just http its generally not secure, but even then like my own blog sometimes it still says its not totally secure, I think its because I may have downloaded something prior to reformatting which was from an insecure site.

As for the blogs on this forum they work generally just like a typical blog, and yes you can add successive post on the same blog if you like, and should you like to keep a certain subject separate from the rest of your material you can simply add another blog. This is what I do one blog for general subjects, and one for a specific subject. I believe you can have as many blogs as you can maintain one of the members on this forum I believe has 8 blogs.

Thanks. I looked at WordPress and other web/blog software but I didn't know how much I'd write and if it would be worthwhile. This might be a good place to start. And, yes, browsers are starting to get finicky about secure sites. FireFox, Chrome and Opera keep posting error messages that the site I picked does not have a good certificate. And these are supposedly business websites. They could be scam sites; but why, for example, would someone design a scam website that sells clock parts? But you are right, the Internet is becoming much more paranoid about security. Good thing, too. Probably like the introduction of the driver license. The more traffic uses the highway, the more regulation is needed to keep things safe.

I guess the "Media" section is like Pinterest or Facebook. Maybe, one day, if I have a great photo, I'll post it.