The team here at Christianity Board (CyB) would like to thank you for joining our community devoted to Jesus!
Recent trends as well as history have brought some key issues to the attention of the team here. We realize that the Administration has poorly defined some things as well as poorly enforced some other things, so this is the beginning of the CyB Team addressing some issues important not only to the community here, but issues that relate to the body, His church, as a whole.
Christianity Board's intentions continue to be a forum community. The word forum, comes from Greek, and simply means a place of airing discussions and even debate. That's definitely not an academic take on meaning, but simply a very basic understanding. The second part is the word community, which comes from the English word community. That word means that its a group of people living together. You can think of a small town or neighborhood inside of a larger city where people are brought together by some measure of sharing something in common. For a town, it's geography and maybe history. For CyB, it is our Savior, Jesus. I'm not a diversity for the sake of diversity champion, but we are blessed (I believe) to have a community with diverse viewpoints and perspectives. That's a good thing.
The problem the team has identified is that there are a number of ways in which our greatest commandments (Matthew 22:37-40) are going unfulfilled here at CyB. It is time, as believers to address this. We want to put God in the driverseat of this community, because we know that 5,000 members is nothing near what God can do to this community and the world if we live the way he desires for us to live.
I need your help in doing this, and it starts with how we treat one another. I want this community to morph into a church. I'm not talking buildings, offering plates, and hymns, but I am 100% talking about believers gathering together in fellowship. I realize that CyB can never replace the fellowship of a local body of Christ where you are physically involved, but it can go a long way still in building our walk with Jesus. As such, I need you to help me treat this community like a church, because when you're talking to another believer, you're talking to the church. We (I include myself here) seem to easily forget that we're not just a forum of believers engaged in discussions with one another, but that there are many thousands visiting this site each month, and your post/thread/status/shout/whatever might be the onlypicture of Christianity that they ever see! I know, for a fact based on traffic analytics, that we have visitors from all over the world - including places where being a Christian is dangerous, or even illegal.
So please, do this for no one other than Jesus. This has been placed on my heart and this is something we need to do together. This is not a call to water down truth, or just play nice, but this is a challenge to be a 360-degree, all-around, Christian.
We've assembled some things we all can do (myself & team members included) to glorify God:
#1 Stay on Topic!
We are going to enforce this one more strictly! If the topic is one thing, and you have a tangental thought about something else, please start a new topic. For example, if the discussion is on what Bible you use, and you end up talking about the rapture or about a woman's role in the church, start a new thread. It's disrespectful to both the community and especially the original poster (OP) if you divert attention from the original discussion. Keep in mind that you may confuse new believers or nonbelievers if you go off on another topic.
#2 Be respectful!
There are some problems on here with this one, unfortunately. We can agree to disagree without resorting to name calling, hateful remarks, or snide comments. Do try and remember that this is a public forum, meaning that everything you say can and will be held against Christianity in general. Andy Stanley has summed this up in a simple phrase: the goal is not to make a point, but to make a difference. People from all walks of life are reading your postings, and your tirade might be the only thing they ever see of Christianity. Ask yourself is the post I am about to make glorifying God? Will Jesus say, well done my faithful servant? Think before you speak. (James 1:19)
#3 Choose your words carefully!
This one builds on #2, but along with being respectful, you should make thoughtful and precise posts to get your point across. We implemented a fix to shorten the quote boxes to make sure that threads are more readable, but we need your help. Please don't feel like you need to quote an entire post. Instead, maybe address the main points. Use the person's username instead of quoting their entire post.
The other side of the coin is along the lines of the famous old quote: "brevity is the soul of wit." You're not trying to out volume your debate partner. So please, limit the quotes and word count as much as possible. We'll be soon introducing a character limit to help control some of the out of control posts. To be perfectly honest, no one really reads the 5 page essay that you posted for a Bible Study. Even worse, we've seen a number of copy and paste jobs from content you've already posted on other forums. Please just don't do that!
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None of the above are intended to be a personal attack on anyone. In fact, when writing them, we didn't have specific people in mind. These are general trends that the team here notices in our duties.
There will be an overhaul to the Rules here soon, as well as an updated Statement of Faith.
Stay tuned for those updates!
God Bless,
Recent trends as well as history have brought some key issues to the attention of the team here. We realize that the Administration has poorly defined some things as well as poorly enforced some other things, so this is the beginning of the CyB Team addressing some issues important not only to the community here, but issues that relate to the body, His church, as a whole.
Christianity Board's intentions continue to be a forum community. The word forum, comes from Greek, and simply means a place of airing discussions and even debate. That's definitely not an academic take on meaning, but simply a very basic understanding. The second part is the word community, which comes from the English word community. That word means that its a group of people living together. You can think of a small town or neighborhood inside of a larger city where people are brought together by some measure of sharing something in common. For a town, it's geography and maybe history. For CyB, it is our Savior, Jesus. I'm not a diversity for the sake of diversity champion, but we are blessed (I believe) to have a community with diverse viewpoints and perspectives. That's a good thing.
The problem the team has identified is that there are a number of ways in which our greatest commandments (Matthew 22:37-40) are going unfulfilled here at CyB. It is time, as believers to address this. We want to put God in the driverseat of this community, because we know that 5,000 members is nothing near what God can do to this community and the world if we live the way he desires for us to live.
I need your help in doing this, and it starts with how we treat one another. I want this community to morph into a church. I'm not talking buildings, offering plates, and hymns, but I am 100% talking about believers gathering together in fellowship. I realize that CyB can never replace the fellowship of a local body of Christ where you are physically involved, but it can go a long way still in building our walk with Jesus. As such, I need you to help me treat this community like a church, because when you're talking to another believer, you're talking to the church. We (I include myself here) seem to easily forget that we're not just a forum of believers engaged in discussions with one another, but that there are many thousands visiting this site each month, and your post/thread/status/shout/whatever might be the onlypicture of Christianity that they ever see! I know, for a fact based on traffic analytics, that we have visitors from all over the world - including places where being a Christian is dangerous, or even illegal.
So please, do this for no one other than Jesus. This has been placed on my heart and this is something we need to do together. This is not a call to water down truth, or just play nice, but this is a challenge to be a 360-degree, all-around, Christian.
We've assembled some things we all can do (myself & team members included) to glorify God:
#1 Stay on Topic!
We are going to enforce this one more strictly! If the topic is one thing, and you have a tangental thought about something else, please start a new topic. For example, if the discussion is on what Bible you use, and you end up talking about the rapture or about a woman's role in the church, start a new thread. It's disrespectful to both the community and especially the original poster (OP) if you divert attention from the original discussion. Keep in mind that you may confuse new believers or nonbelievers if you go off on another topic.
#2 Be respectful!
There are some problems on here with this one, unfortunately. We can agree to disagree without resorting to name calling, hateful remarks, or snide comments. Do try and remember that this is a public forum, meaning that everything you say can and will be held against Christianity in general. Andy Stanley has summed this up in a simple phrase: the goal is not to make a point, but to make a difference. People from all walks of life are reading your postings, and your tirade might be the only thing they ever see of Christianity. Ask yourself is the post I am about to make glorifying God? Will Jesus say, well done my faithful servant? Think before you speak. (James 1:19)
#3 Choose your words carefully!
This one builds on #2, but along with being respectful, you should make thoughtful and precise posts to get your point across. We implemented a fix to shorten the quote boxes to make sure that threads are more readable, but we need your help. Please don't feel like you need to quote an entire post. Instead, maybe address the main points. Use the person's username instead of quoting their entire post.
The other side of the coin is along the lines of the famous old quote: "brevity is the soul of wit." You're not trying to out volume your debate partner. So please, limit the quotes and word count as much as possible. We'll be soon introducing a character limit to help control some of the out of control posts. To be perfectly honest, no one really reads the 5 page essay that you posted for a Bible Study. Even worse, we've seen a number of copy and paste jobs from content you've already posted on other forums. Please just don't do that!
=============================================================================
None of the above are intended to be a personal attack on anyone. In fact, when writing them, we didn't have specific people in mind. These are general trends that the team here notices in our duties.
There will be an overhaul to the Rules here soon, as well as an updated Statement of Faith.
Stay tuned for those updates!
God Bless,
