Bible Question: Are you sure it is wise for the Lockman Foundation to host a Bible debate forum? |
Bible Answer: I think this is a great question, and I'd like to leave some suggestions in case Longman is watching this question for input. First, it would be wise for Lockman to have some responsible, knowledgeable and respected people (either from their own staff or from among publicly recognized experts who would be willing to be counted upon to participate voluntarily) watching the list -- as well as someone to administrate by delegating questions to these watchers to see that all questions were covered. I don't believe it would be necessary to publicly identify these watchers as representatives of Lockman, and Lockman may already have some on the list. Perhaps they should have a "future" list to draw from as the numbers of questions and-or participants increase. These "watchers" could simply join in on the discussion whenever a question was left unanswered and-or answered incompletely or unbiblically. This would serve to help people get solid answers without shutting down participation. While I'm less concerned if there are some "bad" answers in the postings, it is definitely disconcerting when someone's careful question is left without an answer or when I dig for a question that I saw previously only to find that it disappeared without being completely answered or with only an answer that may be really way out there. This seems to happen very rarely, and there do seem to be people who try to watch the list to prevent this. It should probably be broadened and or (if not currently in practice) initiated more deliberately (behind the scenes) by the hosts themselves. I agree with others' suggestions that it would probably not be appropriate to filter postings before placing them on the forum. However, it would be helpful to have some official direction and intervention from Lockman (rather than simply members from among us who may at times appear to be self-appointed rule-makers whether they are truly self-appointed or not) regarding preferred methods of hermeneutics, netiquette, and such. It may also be helpful for certain gracious administrators to privately contact individuals for correction, as long as users are notified of this practice BEFORE it starts (and new users at the time of registration). In addition, I think it would be helpful for us to try and direct our replies to the person who asked the initial question and simply refer to previous postings. That way, the person who actually posted the question would be aware of the responses (assuming he or she had requested automatic notification of answers). Finally, it may be necessary or helpful to archive questions and their answers after a certain period of time (particularly as the list grows, and it becomes difficult to "watch" late additions to old questions to make sure that twisted theology isn't slipped in to the questioner with no corrective response after the guards are down. The official "watcher" (or watchers) for the question could briefly summarize or make final comments under a different officially-recognized Lockman name before archiving them. |