Kerux,
Apparently toes have been stepped upon. Perhaps two sets.
As a newcomer to the board you may want to go back and read your posts in terms of the tone and at points, pretty open condescension that several, not just one, have picked up on.
It might help as well to see the use of emoticons that were used to communicate the lightness of the comments.
Nevertheless, it appears that we have gotten off upon the wrong foot.
Let us start over.
My name is Bart. I am a moderator on this board. I pastored and worked with 3 different denominations over the past 20 year in the roles of Assistant Pastor, Senior Pastor, Elder, Board Chairman, Financial Administrator, Church Administrator and a denominational District Business Manager. I currently am on hiatus working as a Government Contractor consulting for the Dept of Homeland Security while I complete a Masters Degree in Organizational Leadership.
You may want to check our introductions threads to get to know others participating here. Further, it might be helpful for you to post there and let us know you a little bit. That always helps in my estimation to break the ice and open the conversation.
Welcome to our board. We are sincerely glad you are here and hope that you will find this board to be a place where you can both learn from others as well as challenge us with your learning and wisdom in the Christian Walk.
Here is a copy of our board Discussion Guidelines which we attempt to hold in our conversations.
Discussion Guidelines
These discussion guidelines have been developed to outline the purpose of this board and expected conduct of those who participate. Administrators and moderators are responsible for enforcing the rules, and can moderate at their discretion to ensure that the desired spirit at these boards is maintained. Such moderation may include messages being edited or removed with or without warning, and/or posters being suspended or banned.
Board Purpose (Please Read - Important!)
This board is a part of Evidence for God from Science (G&S), a Christian website, which serves to provide a defense and persuasive case for Christianity as well as encouragement and instruction for Christian people. Therefore, this message board is intended to reflect that spirit--serving as a place where sincere seekers can ask questions, and where faithful Christians can receive encouragement and instruction. This board is not for those who have already decisively made up their mind that Christ is "not" for them; who merely wish to debate and argue against Christianity, ignoring any and all reasons presented. Therefore, those who are Christian or haven't made up their minds are encouraged to join, while others who merely wish to attack and try to discredit Christianity are discouraged.
Language
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Mannerism
Within discussions, please be civil and courteous and do not resort to personal attacks. If you feel inappropriately attacked, please bring such cases privately to a moderator who can then intervene as necessary. While these instructions are likely unnecessary for the vast majority of participants, here is some biblical advice to help serve as a guide for conversations:
Write in a manner that you would want others to write to you - "in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you" (Matthew 7:12).
"But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth." (Colossians 3:8)
"Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned, as it were, with salt, so that you may know how you should respond to each person." (Colossians 4:6)
"In all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified, sound in speech which is beyond reproach, in order that the opponent may be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us." (Titus 2:7-8)
Constructive Discussions
To have a constructive discussion, there are at least four main requirements:
At Least Two People: This point should be obvious.
A Specific Topic: All conversations should have one specific topic, and as such should remain on that topic. Any new topic that forks out and is too far removed, should be started as a new thread or brought to a moderator's attention.
Knowledge: It is not expected that you should be thoroughly educated on an issue before commenting about it. At the same token, it is impossible for us to know everything. So if a topic is new to you or you don't know much about it, then it is good to spend some time researching to increase your knowledge before writing.
Self-control: Chances are you will disagree with someone, and it is at this point discussions can turn nasty. Please remember to be respectful to others and keep to the topic rather than resorting to personal attacks.
Plagiarism, References, and Misquoting
Plagiarism is not accepted here. Any information gotten from another source must be referenced in some way. In most cases, all that is expected is a single link along with who you quoted. All Bible quotes must also be cited.
The trustworthiness of sources and quality of references should also be determined, otherwise you might end up embarrassed. There are many ideas floating around on the Web, and the quality can generally be judged by where it came from. For example, you should be wary of sources that are predominately "opinionative", don't appear "educated" on the issue, or lack "professionalism". In addition, refrain from continually using references that have already been outrightly shown as false.
Misquoting is also frowned upon and will be cause for intervention by a moderator. It is best to quote an entire sentence, even paragraph if possible. However, quoting a few middle words where the authors intention clearly does not support your case is dishonest so will not be accepted.
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Spam will not be accepted. By "spam" we mean links advertising a website, posts that only contain links, quoted articles, or massive amounts of text uninspiring to discussions. Such posts will be moved into the "Garbage Bin" or deleted by a moderator at their discretion. If one can't spend the time discussing such links or articles, then others shouldn't be expected to bother either.
Moderating
A moderator reserves the right to deal with any post they deem inappropriate, including for reasons not specifically mentioned here. If you feel unjustly dealt with, please contact the moderator in question directly and privately. If you have any questions on issues not covered here, please contact a moderator for advice. Comments regarding these rules of conduct are also welcome as long as they are constructive.
I could go back through your posts and demonstrate where to me and others, the terseness, tone and dismissiveness has given rise to the impressions taken. You've already indicate your frustration.
Let's let it drop and begin over. Sometimes first impressions both ways can be unfair and wrongly perceived.
So, welcome and let's start again, shall we?
Regards,
Bart
Dogmatism is the comfortable intellectual framework of self-righteousness. Self-righteousness is more decadent than the worst sexual sin. ~ Dan Allender
