Why is this forum full of so many hateful "Christians"?

[Heart2Soul]

I don't necessarily agree that criticizing Trump is out of the question because he has rightly earned that criticism. However, disagreement doesn't have to include malicious name-calling or derogatory remarks to slander a person's character or question someone's Christian faith. For example, @April_Rose and I do not agree on politics at all. She's a true-blue Trump supporter and I'm obviously not. However, she and I have come to an understanding that we can disagree about Trump and still show each other respect and be kind toward one another. She and I are good friends.

BTW....criticizing Trump is doing exactly what you don't appreciate being done to you.
The emphasis I want to make is that to speak in a derogatory manner about anyone whether famous or not will cause some who are less mature to react the same.

 

[Heart2Soul]

Demonrats, children of Satan, baby butchers, Democrats will go to hell. I'm sure I could find more examples like these if I skimmed through the threads. I'm confident I would find several more in the "Is it a sin to vote for a Democrat?" thread. I'm not the only one who's spoken up there.

And if they were reported the post was deleted...yes?

 

[Seven of Nine]

I can think of a few members that do that too, and it's happened to me. I've been on Christian forums for years now and I like to think I've developed a thicker skin. But I still find myself getting offended. I realized it's all part of the social media experience.

It shouldn't be "all part of the social media experience" on a Christian message board, in the Christian Only sections.

 

[Seven of Nine]

BTW....criticizing Trump is doing exactly what you don't appreciate being done to you.
The emphasis I want to make is that to speak in a derogatory manner about anyone whether famous or not will cause some who a less mature to react the same.

I understand your point, but I don't refer to Donald Trump as a child of Satan or accuse him of being in league with Satan.

And if they were reported the post was deleted...yes?

Yes, some of these posts were deleted or edited.

 

[Heart2Soul]

I understand your point, but I don't refer to Donald Trump as a child of Satan or accuse him of being in league with Satan.



Yes, some of these posts were deleted or edited.

Ok...and that's the best we can do. The rules are posted and should be read by all new members and agreed upon when joining.
What gets posted is impossible to prevent but absolutely possible to correct.
God Bless

 

[dev553344]

It shouldn't be "all part of the social media experience" on a Christian message board, in the Christian Only sections.

Yeah you'd think so. I mean I don't see that kinda behavior at my Christian church.

 

[Heart2Soul]

Yeah you'd think so. I mean I don't see that kinda behavior at my Christian church.

Church settings are different than online Christian forums. You can't get away with acting out in a church as easily.
But as I have said the Christian Forums have many denominations and doctrines of faith being represented here and some of the differences are extreme. Example: Prophets exist today vs no modern day prophet exists.
Miracles today vs no miracles today....these get real heated sometimes.
And in a church setting all the attendees are in one denomination of faith...not multiple ones.

 

[Seven of Nine]

Ok...and that's the best we can do. The rules are posted and should be read by all new members and agreed upon when joining.
What gets posted is impossible to prevent but absolutely possible to correct.
God Bless

Thank you for taking the time to talk with me, Heart2Soul. I appreciate it very much. I initially replied in this thread because I sympathized with the OP and his posts struck a nerve in me. Please know that it wasn’t my intent to be rude or harsh in my replies to other posts. I was trying to be civil. God bless you too.

 

[Josho]

Church settings are different than online Christian forums. You can't get away with acting out in a church as easily.
But as I have said the Christian Forums have many denominations and doctrines of faith being represented here and some of the differences are extreme. Example: Prophets exist today vs no modern day prophet exists.
Miracles today vs no miracles today....these get real heated sometimes.
And in a church setting all the attendees are in one denomination of faith...not multiple ones.

Hehehe, if you go to a Church of a different denomination in real life they could very well start interrogating you to find out whether if you are saved or not.

 

[dev553344]

Hehehe, if you go to a Church of a different denomination in real life they could very well start interrogating you to find out whether if you are saved or not.

LOL, I feel like I need to be re-baptized now.

 

[Enoch111]

I will go through all your posts and review what you have claimed. I need to understand what you are talking about.

Seven of Nine came along to do some Trump-bashing, and did not find a warm reception for that kind of nonsense. The real haters are the Anti-Trumpers and the Never-Trumpers. Their slogan is "Orange Man Bad" no matter even if he has been nominated for the Nobel Prize (and rightly so).

 

[quietthinker]

In two different threads I asked simple, honest questions and was attacked immediately thereafter.

I believe that many Christians idolize themselves and view others with condescension. In other words, they have "haughty" eyes.

Your 'simple honest' questions are none other than feigned humility revealed by your arrogant and prideful answers you retorted with to my rebuke.

Putting the shoe on the right foot matters in every detail.

 

[Prayer Warrior]

Just curious.

There is some hatefulness, to be sure. But I have found that those who are accusing others of hatefulness have been hateful themselves. It's the three fingers pointing back at us when we point a finger at someone.

So...all we can do is check ourselves, and listen to the conviction of the Holy Spirit when we post.

If someone is being hateful toward us, we are not to be hateful in return. We can't control how others act, but we CAN control how we act.

 

[Heart2Soul]

Thank you for taking the time to talk with me, Heart2Soul. I appreciate it very much. I initially replied in this thread because I sympathized with the OP and his posts struck a nerve in me. Please know that it wasn’t my intent to be rude or harsh in my replies to other posts. I was trying to be civil. God bless you too.

You're very welcome! I never took anything you have posted as rude or harsh.

 

[FollowHim]

In two different threads I asked simple, honest questions and was attacked immediately thereafter.

I believe that many Christians idolize themselves and view others with condescension. In other words, they have "haughty" eyes.

You raise an interesting point. But maybe not very understanding. The problem with faith, is it is a definitive statement about the world and how it is structured. It defines what is right and wrong, what is acceptable and what is not.

This very structure to maintain itself has to define who falls within the camp as agreeable and who is outside as an enemy. So every group to survive has a culture of certain words or ideas that label you friend or foe. A forum such as this, though is open to discussion, is embedded with these assumptions. So if you come on forums and express points of view or questions that put you into the camp of the enemy, then you get some very extreme responses.

One group I found held a world view that all are sinners, hypocrites who fail constantly, and to suggest otherwise is to be a pharisee and evil, a deceiver and totally lost. This is a typical world view once adopted is impossible to get out of. One knows ones own struggles, so it is assumed everyone else has them likewise, so whatever view you take on these struggles, their view is there is never victory or change. They slot the gospel in as recognising Jesus is our saviour, which seals us into eternity, and to deny this is all there is, is to be a tool of satan. Once labelled as a tool of satan, there are no limits to what they can say and express against you.

There are many versions of this, this is just the most aggressive I have come across. I am unsure how to group such believers, because essentially love and the Holy Spirit transforming their lives from glory to glory is not their path, or even aspiration. And their heart is to tare down and agree with their fellow believers how well they have done this task when faced with a different perspective. A ring wrath appears to me to be close to their approach, sit with me in this slurry of despondency, and we can have a pity party together.

Other groups seem open and willing to share their perspectives because they tend not to demonise questioners or those just pondering the mysteries of scripture and life. God bless you

 

[FollowHim]

I can think of a few members that do that too, and it's happened to me. I've been on Christian forums for years now and I like to think I've developed a thicker skin. But I still find myself getting offended. I realized it's all part of the social media experience.

I find it interesting our offence is often linked to how deeply we feel the things we share, and often if they are rejected we feel rejected.
I once shared about as a teenager, putting my hand out to Jesus and it being taken and led into His truths.
Someone suggested it was not Jesus's hand I got, but the enemy. Now I would never project such a thing on another, because it is their emotional expression of need and being met. The one who suggested such a thing, could not cope with the expression of dependency on Jesus and our vulnerability and fragility, so wanted to suggest such an expression was innately evil. It took me months to get over such a suggestion, because of the spiritual implications of it.

What I had not realised was actually the challenge emotionally I was giving, which was very powerful.
And yes they were right to suggest I could have been deceived. Except Jesus called us to be like little children who reach out and trust their parents, so likewise we should our Father. If one has had an abused and betrayed childhood, this is very painful and often is putting ones hands into an evil intending parent.

I have to confess I have had a very protected and privileged life, never been abused or assaulted, or had violence in my life. I have had to face mental illness and dysfunctional family relationships, but nothing compared to some you meet on the internet. So I am humbled by the diversity and often unintended responses people come with out of their darkness and lostness in the church and wider world.

To love sinners takes time. I had an experience with someone having a panic attack. They would come out with very provocative statements to define the world and make it safe. To me these statements were hurtful so I gave some push back. I just wanted a reasonable conversation. What happened was total rejection and worse abuse. It took me sometime to realise the difference between words as facts and words as emotional declaration and defence. If the individual was using words to protect themselves, my giving push back was actually making them more vulnerable and unable to cope. So I decided to rather ignore the subject matter, and reinforce support of the individual and their challenges.

Over time the issues will work themselves through, but love for the individual and standing by them no matter what they said was more important. This makes conversations on forums much more difficult because of peoples emotional history, hatreds and loves.

We tend to think of people as factual creatures when actually we are emotional creatures who hold on to facts to bring support and sense to the world. God bless you

 

[lforrest]

Demonrats, children of Satan, baby butchers, Democrats will go to hell. I'm sure I could find more examples like these if I skimmed through the threads. I'm confident I would find several more in the "Is it a sin to vote for a Democrat?" thread. I'm not the only one who's spoken up there.

You have claimed to not side with either party. So why do you get personally offended when democrats are called demonrats, baby butchers, children of Satan... Seems the easiest solution is to not associate oneself with them and be lumped in with the insult.

 

[VictoryinJesus]

And if they were reported the post was deleted...yes?

if a post is deleted from being reported...does the member whose post was deleted, receive a warning they were reported?

 

[Heart2Soul]

if a post is deleted from being reported...does the member whose post was deleted, receive a warning they were reported?

No, but if you see the post deleted on the thread it was in then most likely it was reported. Sometimes when I am reading through a thread I come across an unreported post and delete it.
Not all reported or deleted posts warrants a warning point to a member. And some posts are simply edited.

 

[VictoryinJesus]

No, but if you see the post deleted on the thread it was in then most likely it was reported. Sometimes when I am reading through a thread I come across an unreported post and delete it.
Not all reported or deleted posts warrants a warning point to a member. And some posts are simply edited.

thank you. Didn’t know how it works
even after being here for three years. I received a warning the first day I came here, not another since then. Had two post deleted. Wasn’t sure if I should have taken that as warnings.