Results 1 - 3 of 3
|
|
|||||
Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | The Forum -- Your Opinion? | Romans | charis | 30609 | ||
Dear Hank and Forum Fellows, Greetings in Jesus' name! Good question(s)! I enjoy this forum very much! But I have to say that it is not a replacement for the local church or personal Bible study. It is a para-church ministry, a supplement, and sometimes (sadly) an illusion. The illusion part is the false sense of 'ministry' that is a characteristic of the internet medium. There is little or no real responsibility here, theory and opinion are portrayed as fact. One thing that we must all remember is that none of us are *here.* We are where God has set us, in the midst of a local assembly of believers, responsible to and responsible for others, sharing more than knowledge or opinion, but our lives. An internet forum will never be any kind of replacement for the local house and family of the Lord. I participate for a broader grasp of Christian thought and opinion. In this I am not disappointed! :-) This forum is more than I expected, and better than any other I have seen. My faith and commitment have definitely been strengthened. My bones are made fat! I think I have learned many worthwhile things. One thing I knew that has been reinforced is that people are bigoted! Personal opinions don't change easily, and Israel is not the only stiff-necked people. :-) I guess a leopard does not change his spots easily! I don't know if I think there IS a such thing as a bad advertisement for Jesus, as long as you spell His name correctly! :-) It is those that 'misspell' His name and His Gospel that do a disservice to the Lord. In the same manner that an internet forum is not 'real,' I do not think that much true damage can be done here. It is in the realm of personal interaction that our 'un-excellent' behavior causes most harm to the name of Christ. (IMHO) I DO recommend this site to many people! To a non-Christian, no. In any case, most non-Christians loggng into a cyber forum are there to do damage, not find God. (again IMHO) Good points are the fellowship of the saints. Bad points are the ingrained doctrines of man and the audacity to think our opinion is absolutely right, as compared to partially right, which is probably closer to the truth. Yes, my time is usually well spent. But I usually logon only when I'm up for dealing with the wide variance of truth and hogwash. :-) The overall degree of reliability is about average. Some prepare their posts with a great amount of objectivity, study, and insight from the Holy Spirit. Some just parrot what they learned elsewhere. Take a guess which ones I pay attention to. :-) Brother Hank, thank you for asking some very pertinent questions! I pray my answers were honest and at least a little bit interesting to read. Blessings to you and yours in Christ Jesus, charis |
||||||
2 | The Forum -- Your Opinion? | Romans | yokefellow | 30681 | ||
Greetings, Charis, I can offer only a hearty "AMEN" to everything you stated in your analysis of the forum with one exception. I cannot agree with your statement, "I do not think that much true damage can be done here." The reason for my disagreement is that we are promoting God's divine Word on this forum. If we were promoting anything else besides God's Word on this forum, I would agree 100 percent that our answers would probably make very little difference or impact in peoples' lives and most would not pay much attention to the answers we give anyway. In the teaching and pomoting of God's Word, however, we must realize that people all over the world are looking at our answers. Their eternal destiny depends on our correct analysis of the holy scriptures (2 Tim. 2:15). This can only be accomplished by interpretating scripture with scripture. If our interpretation is incorrect and it leads a non-Christian (or Christian) down the wrong spiritual road (Prov. 14:12; 16:25), God will not only hold those individuals that are reading our postings accountable on judgment day but will hold us as teachers of the Word accountable as well. James 3:1 states, "Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we shall incur a stricter (greater condemnation - KJV) judgment." (NASB). Blessings to you in Christ, Mike |
||||||
3 | The Forum -- Your Opinion? | Romans | charis | 30714 | ||
Dear Mike, Greetings in the name of Jesus! Friend, I do know what you are saying, but if you agree with my point that leopards don't easily change their spots, then you will know why I am not too worried about our accountability as teachers. Frankly, I don't think that many forum readers are going to *receive* bad teaching here. They will just ignore it! In fact, most ignore good teaching, too! :-( I do agree that those who teach have a greater responsibility, but I remain convinced that few will be much influenced by the ongoings at an internet forum. Surely there may be SOME influence, but little in comparison to the influence we receive in our 'real' lives. In addition, being an optimist, I will trust that the great majority of influence exerted here is good influence. Any bad influence will fall mostly in the category of disgust, not false teachings. :-) And many blessings to you in Christ Jesus, charis |
||||||