Has anyone changed their mind...?

[Helen]

I was just wondering, as I see some of our threads here are 14 pages long x 20 posts a page...
Has coming to this forum, and reading other people's posts , thoughts, and argument ever changed your mind on what you perviously believed?

If we all come with a closed mind, what good do we do for each other?

I think in all the years that I have been here, I have only seen about two people mentioned that they have learned something from someone else!

I can say - I HAVE. There are about five brothers over the years ( some no long posting) but some still here, that I have learned from , and have caused me to 'pause'.
I do get blessed and challenged my some of the posters. :)
Thank you.

 

[Dave L]

I was just wondering, as I see some of our threads here are 14 pages long x 20 posts a page...
Has coming to this forum, and reading other people's posts , thoughts, and argument ever changed your mind on what you perviously believed?

If we all come with a closed mind, what good do we do for each other?

I think in all the years that I have been here, I have only seen about two people mentioned that they have learned something from someone else!

I can say - I HAVE. There are about five brothers over the years ( some no long posting) but some still here, that I have learned from , and have caused me to 'pause'.
I do get blessed and challenged my some of the posters. :)
Thank you.

I've learned lots about the different's views people have. And I also see the Spirit of Christ manifesting love and insight through some of the uplifting insights and posts. I have changed my views radically over the years. In part from what I've read coming from others who post to the forums, and the rest because of independent study in an attempt to answer questions gnawing at me. Most of what I've learned from this forum to date is in the definition of meekness and spirituality some manifest even if we disagree theologically.

 

[Willie T]

I don't know if it is just this forum, but over the past several years, I have come to be able to see opposite sides more objectively..... AND to realize that several sides can be both partially right and partially wrong, at the same time.

 

[Willie T]

One thing I have come to see is that many of us say: "I used to be POSITIVE that "A" was right. But I have learned, and now know, POSITIVELY, that "B" is right.

Yet, we entertain no possibility of the concept that perhaps two weeks from now, we will be POSITIVE that "C" is right.

 

[CoreIssue]

I was just wondering, as I see some of our threads here are 14 pages long x 20 posts a page...
Has coming to this forum, and reading other people's posts , thoughts, and argument ever changed your mind on what you perviously believed?

If we all come with a closed mind, what good do we do for each other?

I think in all the years that I have been here, I have only seen about two people mentioned that they have learned something from someone else!

I can say - I HAVE. There are about five brothers over the years ( some no long posting) but some still here, that I have learned from , and have caused me to 'pause'.
I do get blessed and challenged my some of the posters. :)
Thank you.

No. But after 58 years of study and participation for many years and debates why would you expect me to change a belief easily?

Put another way, I have yet to see anything I haven't seen before.

 

[Dave L]

No. But after 58 years of study and participation for many years and debates why would you expect me to change a belief easily?

Put another way, I have yet to see anything I haven't seen before.

I'm the complete opposite doctrinally from where I began with Christ. "I was a teenage Arminian Dispensationalist". Think "I was a teenage Werewolf", the 50's horror flick but worse. And then add Pentecostalism to this.

Today after 40+ years of study I'm the complete opposite. But I still have the same presence of Christ in my heart. Instead of Dispensationalism, I'm Amillennial. Instead of Arminian, I'm Calvinistic holding to the first three of the five points. Instead of Pentecostal I'm a cessationist.

 

[Episkopos]

What I normally see is partisan argumentation for one thing or the other when really they are taking something that is true to an extent but taking it too far so that it cancels out something else that's also true. Like grace but at the expense of the teachings of Jesus Christ. So then trying to show that there's more to it than meets the eye...normally gets me into trouble with quite a few here.

I think I'm here to just learn to be patient to present a balance ...in balance. IOW to avoid the temptation...not always successfully...of presenting the OTHER side of an equation but also agreeing with the person as much as possible. The truth can be a difficult proposition. The bible can be very vague on a variety of matters. So it's normal to proceed carefully and methodically using the whole counsel of God.

To me it's about LIFE in Christ. I think religion and dogmatism makes Christianity into another Islam or Judaism...just another dead religion for fanatics to fight over. But where's the love and the life of God in that?

I personally love the challenge that truth presents to us. I love that God helps us into the impossible. I love the archaeological digging into the word for life-giving truth. There are some posts that I am stimulated by. There is always something new to consider....or another way to look at something.

In the end you can learn from everybody....some things good and some things bad. Some people are examples of what is plain wrong. I tend to want to play in the sand box with people who have learned to get along with others.

 

[CoreIssue]

I'm the complete opposite doctrinally from where I began with Christ. "I was a teenage Arminian Dispensationalist". Think "I was a teenage Werewolf", the 50's horror flick but worse. And then add Pentecostalism to this.

Today after 40+ years of study I'm the complete opposite. But I still have the same presence of Christ in my heart. Instead of Dispensationalism, I'm Amillennial. Instead of Arminian, I'm Calvinistic holding to the first three of the five points. Instead of Pentecostal I'm a cessationist.

So in other words you
So you were never a Christian.

You reject the literal Bible, the gospel and the biblical God in Christ.

You now to define the gospel as God has assigned you to heaven or hell by his lottery system. And we are puppets on the string.

 

[Dave L]

So in other words you
So you were never a Christian.

You reject the literal Bible, the gospel and the biblical God in Christ.

You now to define the gospel as God has assigned you to heaven or hell by his lottery system. And we are puppets on the string.

No, I became a Christian before setting foot in a church. But the churches I attended deceived me. And it took years of independent study to free myself from their indoctrination. So today I try to liberate others who fell prey to the same deceptions.

 

[CoreIssue]

No, I became a Christian before setting foot in a church. But the churches I attended deceived me. And it took years of independent study to free myself from their indoctrination. So today I try to liberate others who fell prey to the same deceptions.

You reject the gospel, free will huge chunks of the Bible, proclaim your Christian.

 

[Nancy]

I was just wondering, as I see some of our threads here are 14 pages long x 20 posts a page...
Has coming to this forum, and reading other people's posts , thoughts, and argument ever changed your mind on what you perviously believed?

If we all come with a closed mind, what good do we do for each other?

I think in all the years that I have been here, I have only seen about two people mentioned that they have learned something from someone else!

I can say - I HAVE. There are about five brothers over the years ( some no long posting) but some still here, that I have learned from , and have caused me to 'pause'.
I do get blessed and challenged my some of the posters. :)
Thank you.

Hi Helen,
I can say yes indeed I have changed, or are pondering some of what I have believed. But, the core doctrines I have learned stay pretty firm. I do love the posts that make me think and research and study. And...I've received loads of encouragement from many on here ♥ I'm an average person, who got average grades in school and, I would say I am just an average Christian trying to do His will, and sometimes fail

 

[Helen]

Hi Helen,
I can say yes indeed I have changed, or are pondering some of what I have believed. But, the core doctrines I have learned stay pretty firm. I do love the posts that make me think and research and study. And...I've received loads of encouragement from many on here ♥ I'm an average person, who got average grades in school and, I would say I am just an average Christian trying to do His will, and sometimes fail

I can't even say that I got 'average' grades at school Nancy...
Which I regret now.
I was always a goof-off , and being sent to the Head Master for a caning... I was bad enough at age 11...by the time I was 15 I was often sent home..
Only AFTER I was out of school at at work, I wished that I had TRIED harder at school to learn something.

I feel sad now, because a few of our male teachers were just back from the war..and very easy to 'set off' and upset, which I did often to get laughs from the class. I was a fool and wasted those years. And made the lives of some of my teachers wretched.

bless you ...H

 

[Jane_Doe22]

I was just wondering, as I see some of our threads here are 14 pages long x 20 posts a page...
Has coming to this forum, and reading other people's posts , thoughts, and argument ever changed your mind on what you perviously believed?

If we all come with a closed mind, what good do we do for each other?

I think in all the years that I have been here, I have only seen about two people mentioned that they have learned something from someone else!

I can say - I HAVE. There are about five brothers over the years ( some no long posting) but some still here, that I have learned from , and have caused me to 'pause'.
I do get blessed and challenged my some of the posters. :)
Thank you.

It depends largely on who is doing the posting.

If someone is out just to attack others (bringing negativity to the table), no such attacks have never swayed me. However, I have learned a lot about psychology and I do observe how that person opperates.

If someone is respectfully sharing their views (brining positivity to the table), I have learned from them about those views. Some of those conversations have been quite wonderful. My knowledge, love, and respect for this other person has grown. As have my own perspectives (even if I still completely disagree with this viewpoint).

 

[CoreIssue]

It depends largely on who is going the posting.

If someone is out just to attack others (bringing negativity to the table), no such attacks have never swayed me. However, I have learned a lot about psychology and I do observe how that person opperates.

If someone is respectfully sharing their views (brining positivity to the table), I have learned from them about those views. Some of those conversations have been quite wonderful. My knowledge, love, and respect for this other person has grown. As have my own perspectives (even if I still completely disagree with this viewpoint).

I am positive that your Mormonism is a cult. You need to get out.

I remind you that this forum is for Christians only.

And isn't it strange that suddenly your posts no longer appear in alerts for me.

 

[CoreIssue]

I was just wondering, as I see some of our threads here are 14 pages long x 20 posts a page...

I am surprised, but should not be, that one thread I started is now 116 pages long and still going.

 

[Helen]

I don't know if it is just this forum, but over the past several years, I have come to be able to see opposite sides more objectively..... AND to realize that several sides can be both partially right and partially wrong, at the same time.

Me too!!
On this site I have seen over and over when people are arguing one side or the other...the answer is so often BOTH...depending on where you are viewing the discussion from.
That is one reason that I like more than a 'one man ministry' teaching...
The bible too seems to contradict it self...but when we get the full picture it is all part of the whole.
We so often polarize on one side or the other ...yet both can very well be correct in the right in context

 

[CoreIssue]

Me too!!
On this site I have seen over and over when people are arguing one side or the other...the answer is so often BOTH...depending on where you are viewing the discussion from.
That is one reason that I like more than a 'one man ministry' teaching...
The bible too seems to contradict it self...but when we get the full picture it is all part of the whole.
We so often polarize on one side or the other ...yet both can very well be correct in the right in context

What you are saying is fully in keeping with apostasy.

Shopping cart theology takes what it likes, spins it to what it believes and tries to force everything and everybody else to conform.

Compassion, correction, rebuking and teaching is taught in the Bible. Compromise is not.

So many declare God's love but forget in that love he is just. He will love those he puts in the lake because without justice what he offers in eternity would never work.

I struggled with that for a long time before understanding it.

 

[Helen]

I am positive that your Mormonism is a cult. You need to get out.

I remind you that this forum is for Christians only.

And isn't it strange that suddenly your posts no longer appear in alerts for me.

You will find that your continual attack on Catholics, Mormons, Calvanists etc are against the rules. Obviously we can post against a doctrine..but not tell the person themselves that they themselves are wrong.
I had to re-read the rules myself the other day to find if I had broken any.

I read this :-
QUOTE...
[*]Do not attack another member's character in any way. Address the post content, not the member's character, family, denominational affiliation or any other subject that may be perceived as a personal attack by the Christianity Board team and is not germane to the topic or post at hand.
[*]Do not state or imply that another member or group of members who have identified themselves as Christian are not Christians. If there is an issue where a member seems to have circumvented the basic tenants of the faith in order to join the community, please privately contact the Christianity Board Team to voice your concern. etc etc

Just saying...

 

[Helen]

@CoreIssue

Many are still eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of GOOD and evil.

ie...The tree of right and wrong!

What seems "right" = Good, ....can be totally wrong when it comes from a crooked heart and motivation.

God is all about LIFE and death...

Eating from the Tree of .." Good and evil " does not equate to eating of LIFE!

So many issues and NOT 'right or wrong'..but the issue is LIFE.

A word of correction with the wrong spirit is not life giving..
When God is anointing the words it brings for fruit.

 

[Willie T]

I think it is attributed to Abraham Lincoln that he said: "I don't think I like that man. I believe I will go over to him, and get to know him."