December 10, 2007
"Santa coming to town"
Withdrew the original post and attached comments. Apologize to those who commented, and feel I shouldn't have done that. However, the post started out as a sarcastic reaction to other comments, never a good idea. But I didn't withdraw the post because I feel my stands were wrong. On the contrary.
Most of all, I'm getting tired of the conflict which comes out when people, who don't really know each other, use the blogging forum to not just express opinions and even challenge each other, but jump right into questioning other's commitment to God. Frankly, it's not all about others, as just mentioned, I also don't like the sarcasm it brings out in me, and this post had let that out. So, as for my part I will control that. I'm also okay with disagreement, I welcome honest challenges. What I have less and less time for, is people who come out and the first words out of their mouth are, "How could you call yourself a Christian and...?" I'm not sure exactly how I'll handle those kinds of comments from now on, but I'm not going to get into useless arguments over them. I also don't want to do for others what I expect and desire from them, which isn't only not to misinterpret (that can happen to the best of us) but most of all, not to misjudge and mislabel.
I'll leave it at that...have a merry Christmas!
Posted by edWell it's better not to prejudge people who are innocently expressing their viewpoint. It's humbling to know we all have our baggage that gets in the way of receiving a correction in the spirit of love.
Posted by: SandyWith all the humility I can muster...I'd say, absolutely right, never good to prejudge people who are innocently expressing their view point. Having said that, things like tone and approach, usually make it very clear whether someone's innocently expressing their viewpoint, or whether it's something else. I will not argue that point, you always know the difference when someone's got a point to make or a bone to pick. With the latter if I challenge their statements, I don't believe that is prejudging.
And I also agree that it humbling to know we've all got baggage that gets in the way of receiving correction. That's true of all of us. I also know that many comments, unfortunately, perhaps most that are done in argument, are not comments that are made in the spirit of love. It's most often about me and what I think, than it is about offering another person what is God's best for them, not just what we think is God's best, but what God's best really is.
It makes sense to me, but it's late at night.
Posted by: ed