Are Online Christian Forums Cults?

[Mayflower]

I think you're real, but I'm not so sure about me.

I need to find a good picture of a gas lamp.

LOL. I had lambs for the longest time, representing Psalm 23 and my kids, but I make better decisions in what I am looking at with this picture. And this is who I am.

 

[farouk]

LOL. I had lambs for the longest time, representing Psalm 23 and my kids, but I make better decisions in what I am looking at with this picture. And this is who I am.

@Mayflower Being sound on the Person and Word of Christ is what really counts.

(Sometimes ppl can give the appearance of being weird, even if they are truly sound on the Person and Work of Christ.)

Wonderful Psalm there, No. 23....

 

[marks]

I may need to do that, and because my flesh is weak, I may need to take extra steps to enforce that decision. But not yet.

Social Media IS like an addiction, with a complex system of rewards to keep the user hooked. Those rewards include the "Like" system, the verbal affirmation of others, the pride of triumphing over someone you disagree with, and peculiar to religious forums, the sense of doing something for God. I think it was you who said that addictions rewire the brain. I have concerns about the stability of systems whose firmware has the capability of overwriting its own programming. I have come to question my own stability. If I wanted an addiction, I should've stuck with sniffing glue.

Thank you for the affirmation, though. I appreciated it!

And . . . since this forum allows some divergent views on the basic doctrines like Jesus' deity, there is almost always some contraversy going on.

I don't have any illusions of my own stability, and I trust Jesus daily to keep my mind going the right way. I just need to examine myself routinely to make sure the choices I'm making of what to respond to, and how to respond, that these choices are made on a basis of what is loving.

If I wanted an addiction, I should've stuck with sniffing glue.

LOL!!!

Much love!

 

[GaryAnderson]

Nice to meet you, Gary. This place has a gaslight effect on me; it's good to know you're real. You always make neat threads. Thank you for the kind words.

Brother, never doubt yourself. When I hear strange ideas here or in real life, i don’t get existential anxiety but I simply laugh them off and my conviction remains unshaken.

With all of that being said, I simply packed off one day and left other forums in the past and never came back. Being in IT means that I also used to manage online forums many times before so you could say that I have many internet miles under my belt and don’t consider it an addiction since it used to be part of my job before
Now that I do Microsoft-related cloud stuff, I come here to relax …. Until one day where I might buy a one way ticket and check out.

 

[Lambano]

And . . . since this forum allows some divergent views on the basic doctrines like Jesus' deity, there is almost always some contraversy going on.

The sheer size and diversity of this place may actually be a strength in that it makes it more difficult for a small number of strong individuals to take it over and actually become like a cult.

 

[Brakelite]

I crave fellowship, and will take it anywhere I can, so long as they all play nice. I use to think I was a loner. There was a time before I became a Christian that I could sit on a beach by myself days on end and be quite content. Not today. I need people around me, and if I can't see their faces, I'll read their thoughts online.
There are many very cool people on this forum, and hardly any of them agree with me on most things. And that's okay. Because we're friends. I think that if we met outside in person, with snacks, refreshments, and a sunny day, we'd all have a great time. And that's the beautiful thing about the body of Christ. Jesus brings together a whole bunch of divergent disparate strangers and gives them common ground to share and develop their love and patience. And now and again, some of those strangers decide to actually listen to others, learn, and miracle of miracles, change their mind about something. But better than that, is our recognition of Christ in those we disagree with. And we later contemplate the glorious grace of God that Christ could love that guy, and be willing to admit that far out, I was once worse than him, and Jesus loves me!
In the end, Christ is glorified and wins the battle. And that's all that matters.

 

[marks]

The sheer size and diversity of this place may actually be a strength in that it makes it more difficult for a small number of strong individuals to take it over and actually become like a cult.

Yes. And as you learn which parts you prefer to engage in, and through sometimes the use of "Ignore", it becomes more customized to your tastes.

Much love!

 

[marks]

I use to think I was a loner. There was a time before I became a Christian that I could sit on a beach by myself days on end and be quite content.

That was totally me too! Literally! I'd spend my free days alone on the beach, for years. Now God has change me.

I could have written your entire post! Just like me.

I think online fellowship, and I see this as much more than social media, being just a small part of a personal relationship, is unable to be moderated by personal tone and posture, cannot be contextualized into life experience, and therefore, just like what you were saying, in person, we'd all get along great I think!

Put us all together serving soup to the homeless, I'd bet we'd be like peas in a pod! And even the doctrinal differences might get sorted in time!

Much love!

 

[Hidden In Him]

More seriously, I'm finding this IS addictive and has become a distraction when I'm supposed to be working.

Don't look now but you could already be hooked, Lol. A few people quit and never come back, but from what I've seen, most just leave for a little while and inevitably come back. I have no idea quite why it is so addictive but it is; MUCH more addictive than regular face to face gatherings for some reason. Then again, I think the kind of intensity and interactions you have on forums couldn't really be sustained in real life, so this is about the only place where you can engage in this sort of religious interaction without things getting out of hand.

But there's just this survival of the fittest thing that kicks in, and the ones who adapt to it and learn to survive and stand their ground start to find it strengthens them, and ever-increasingly solidifies them in their walk with God. I never liked the expression "iron sharpens iron," but I suppose it does fit when it comes to the forums.

 

[GaryAnderson]

Put us all together serving soup to the homeless, I'd bet we'd be like peas in a pod! And even the doctrinal differences might get sorted in time!

Much love!

‘I like this idea Mark but I don’t think I can hang out with conspiracy theory folks in real life.
Than, they’d ask things like :

Is this really soup? No! This is poison by the big-pharma trying to kill us all and create a one-world government kitchen!

 

[Hidden In Him]

I don't meet any other Christians in my daily life so this place is a place to encourage and be encouraged

I don't either, and that's why I place great value on preserving Christian forums like this from corruption so that they can be there for those in similar circumstances.

Can you imagine how many people there are out there in a similar place? I think it's part of why there's always at least 4 times as many people viewing as there are members logged on. I think they just don't know if they want to get in the middle of it or not.

 

[Hidden In Him]

I want you to do whatever is good for you, but I think you are a good addition, for whatever that's worth!

Told him so in private as well.

I found this place is just like church...it's full of people! Lol...ouch!

Yes, Lol. Only in church the pastor is usually doing so much of the talking that people don't have time to start clobbering one another over the head with their Bibles.

Here, it's like a non-stop, UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas.

Social Media IS like an addiction, with a complex system of rewards to keep the user hooked. Those rewards include the "Like" system, the verbal affirmation of others, the pride of triumphing over someone you disagree with

Discussing what the rewards for each person are would make for an interesting discussion. I'm guessing for many it is the joy of fellowship, and for others it's the mental stimulation of it all. Only these morphs into other things; unsavory things that we could all do without. But it still doesn't stop people.

 

[Hidden In Him]

I use to think I was a loner. There was a time before I became a Christian that I could sit on a beach by myself days on end and be quite content.

That was totally me too! Literally! I'd spend my free days alone on the beach, for years.

Heck, I woke up this morning meditating on if I'm STILL gonna be a loner for the rest of my life, despite posting like a machine here on a daily basis, LoL. But it's cool. I'm laughing about it as I write, Lol. In the end, the fellowship is good, and the opportunity for ministry is priceless. But the Lord should still and always be our primary relationship, even if we partner with others in ministry or spend larger amounts of time in personal fellowship.

P.S. I never had a beach, so consider both yourselves lucky.

 

[marks]

‘I like this idea Mark but I don’t think I can hang out with conspiracy theory folks in real life.
Than, they’d ask things like :

Is this really soup? No! This is poison by the big-pharma trying to kill us all and create a one-world government kitchen!

Let them be the cooks.

 

[farouk]

Properly speaking, a cult has wrong doctrine about the Person or work of the Lord Jesus.

Sometimes the trapping and exterior of even soundly based groups and people can give the appearance of being somewhat weird, even if the strange outward aspect does not really reflect the sound interior at all.

 

[Hidden In Him]

The sheer size and diversity of this place may actually be a strength in that it makes it more difficult for a small number of strong individuals to take it over and actually become like a cult.

Several groups have tried, but it never works.

We once had a member here a few years ago (won't mention his name), but he posted concerning another friend of his who tended to vaunt himself as a great "teacher" here that his friend should become the official pastor of the site, and he would be his right hand man.

I responded with, "You're kidding, right?," and then reminded him that there have been numerous attempts by people to take over this site in the past and every one of them flopped like a pancake in a frying pan; that there were just too many diverging opinions, and that even the best teachers here (his friend not among them) would never dream of attempting such a thing.

He backed off that idea in a hurry, and his friend has since meandered off to someplace else now.

 

[amadeus]

Since I'm relatively new here, I'm still learning where the "Here be there tygres" and "Please do not feed the dragon" signs ought to be.

Perhaps all of us are "tygres" or "dragons" to someone else, at times, or even all of the time! When does the open expression of beastly ways move over the line to where a moderator needs to temporarily or permanently gag us?

This forum has drawn the lines and moderators are able to impose sanctions on any line-crossers. Does this make all line-crossers members of some cult? I would go very slow to identify anyone as being part of a cult simply because their beliefs, in some measure, do not match our own.

 

[Cassandra]

This forum is a learning tool.I don't know how many times someone has mentioned something, and I have to go looking around the internet to get more information. I learn something new every day.

It is also an excellent place to test out "Iron sharpens iron".
Proverbs 27:17 proclaims: “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another”.
As you can see, it takes more than one. We can read and study for ourselves, but someone else may have insight we don't have. Perhaps this iis one of the reasons we are told "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching."

We need to be grounded in what we believe, and not just passingly believe it. This is a great place to debate those truths we hold dear, if they are truths. We are free to ask questions, comment. It's fine.

For those of us who are not attending church now, for one reason or another, perhaps the Lord has provided this forum for us to come together.

 

[Brakelite]

There is coming a time when many of us will be brought before kings and magistrates in order to give answers regarding our faith, and on what grounds we lay claim to that support our apparent rebelliousness against the world's common mindset.
In that context, and at that time, the holy Spirit will bring to our minds scripture, truth, and inspiration to shame our adversaries. But first we need to have those matters settled in our hearts. The holy Spirit can't remind us of things that were never there.

 

[Hidden In Him]

This forum is a learning tool.I don't know how many times someone has mentioned something, and I have to go looking around the internet to get more information. I learn something new every day.

It is also an excellent place to test out "Iron sharpens iron".
Proverbs 27:17 proclaims: “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another”.
As you can see, it takes more than one. We can read and study for ourselves, but someone else may have insight we don't have. Perhaps this iis one of the reasons we are told "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching."

We need to be grounded in what we believe, and not just passingly believe it. This is a great place to debate those truths we hold dear, if they are truths. We are free to ask questions, comment. It's fine.

For those of us who are not attending church now, for one reason or another, perhaps the Lord has provided this forum for us to come together.

It's also a place for developing spiritual maturity. In churches where there is not a lot of exchange of thought (which its most of them IMO), people never know how mature they are yet. As James said, "Whoever is the wise man among you, let him show it through meekness of wisdom." The blessing here are members you can do that with. For instance, Marks and I are used to each other now (as are Backlit and I, Amadeus and I, and others as well), and right now Marks and I are debating a passage of scripture quite seriously, yet in the same breath talking about Christmas get togethers and stuff.

It doesn't have to be the end of the world disagreeing on scripture and hashing things out politely. It's just that when you get the ones who are REALLY teaching dangerous stuff and they become hostile, the command to be meek goes out the window, IMO. That's when you have to take a more serious stand, and as Paul said, "Shall I bring peace, or the sword?" Edward Gordon was a good example of when it can no longer be "Kumbaya, and give peace a chance." That sorta stuff has to be confronted, and then people get ugly, and then you find out how well you can take being insulted, ridiculed, mocked, everything under the sun and still stand for the truth. And then when somebody finally pulls your last string and you lose your patience, then you find out how quickly you can forgive and move on from it in a right Spirit once again.

None of that usually happens in a church setting, at least not today. It did during New Testament times more as is obvious from the epistles. But for us today, if you want to find out how spiritually mature you are, how strong you are in the word, how much spiritual authority you walk in, etc, the place to find out is on the forums IMO. No place better.