Who is "original" here when this forum was created?

amadeus said:

In the very early days of this forum I was mostly busy on other forums. One was that CF so many tell bad stories about...I was an early member there. They did not kick me out. Rather they demoted me to a second class Christian... This was one of the places I found looking for a new a better place to 'rest'.

Click to expand...

Denver was a cool person. While I was not sure of all his beliefs, he tolerated differing beliefs. I was a lot into lost tribes of Israel, their migrations, the Great PYramid, stars, and other such esoteric stuff. Also a lot of end time stuff. Most of the people that ended up on the other forum I mentioned held similar beliefs which is why we all ended up together after all. Some forums don't tolerate that, even if you only seek out kindred folks and keep it to yourselves. Being older now, I don't focus on these topics as much, but see them as one puzzle piece to the big picture. Not to downplay their importance, though.

Helen said:

hi there

Interesting post !

I was first here in 2007 ...under the name Follower2 ...for a couple of years ...then I lost my password by didn’t bother to hassle to get a new one. , then I came back more solidly in 2011 , been here on and off ever since .
Been more consistent over the last 5 years ( except when I got banned for about three months! But that’s water under the bridge now )
Seen far too many good people come and go...these days there are people here that I don’t even know at all ...
I’m always happy to see those that I do know.
Blessings ...H

Click to expand...

Yes, I think I remember your handle. I don't remember much about you, though, sorry to say (not intended as in insult)

JohnDB said:

I've been thinking about this subject...or at least a related one.

This summer things are going to begin to get back to normal. I'm going to be able to go back to church...start up with a Sunday School class again. Finally.

And it's going to be awkward. So many of us have been lost to the long quarantines and won't know how to find each other again. Leaders have quit. Others have had life changing events (like cancer or extreme career changes like me) .

Life has continued on even though I haven't had my friends on a weekly basis to learn and lean on during this past year.

I got to see most of them at Christmas. I drove to their houses to deliver a Christmas present of home made truffles and cookies.

And yes, at times we are a cliquish bunch...and apathetic...and annoying as all get out...but that's rather normal.

That comes with having friends.

But new groups are just as annoying for the same reasons. Although I have traversed several groups by just being around long enough to know several people in each group...and I apply a healthy dose of grace towards everyone.

I'm not really looking forward to this situation but excited at the same time for the prospects.

Change is the only constant. One I don't really appreciate unless I'm the one in control...and I never am.

Click to expand...

Pragmatically speaking about church, for the past several years I have been an advocate for "house churches" about the size of a bible study 10 maybe 15 people maximum. One should be careful who they invite. We had a good private bible study going, I and 3-4 other women(we are all old so it's not how it sounds. LOL) but the idea is it wasn't "church sponsored" only by the will of us as individuals. Unfortunately, the leader had elder care for her mom high in the 80's and it's been awhile since we gathered. Nevertheless, we all saw years ago that with a lot of the societal changes and lifestyles going on it was a matter of time before the state "told the church what to preach" lest we "offend" someone. And this COVID stuff is a prime example where the government exercised more control over churches than what the constitution allows. So we felt being underground was best. On a humorous note that I won't get into here, a lot of people asked "what if" they try to ban house churches? I had several humorous replies how to circumvent that. But yeah, before the COVID, the excuse for not having a home bible study was "too many cars in the driveway was a 'zoning' violation" or again "too many people in your home is a 'safety' fire concern" and other such nonsense to otherwise weasel into American citizen's private lives.