I was born into a family where I was taught that Jesus died for me. It's probably the one thing that wasn't taught by beatings. What wasn't taught was the love of God, instead that was beaten out of us. The general thinking among I and my six siblings was that our parents got everything else wrong, they probably had religion wrong, too. We were taught that Christ loved you and family members love each other... and spent every day watching our parents hate each other, each others parents, and us... they played us against each other so we hated each other as well. Meanwhile we got constant, regulation religious instruction, including more beatings.
We are all entering our 60s and are only now beginning to early reach out to each other, but we've all got so many defenses up we're like cactus, so it's slow going. To my knowledge I am the only one who believes (consciously) in God. I am trying by example to show the others that there goodness to be found in faith in God. I PRAY that none of them stumbles across this forum, because it would only undo any progress I've made.
It was a Damascus road experience that brought me back to trust in God. I've prayed since that day to find a similar trust in Jesus, and before the ram-it-down-their-throats folks chimed in I was getting somewhere in this forum. I couldn't figure why there was so little going on on here until I saw in old posts that every thread is beaten to death by the ram it folks. I'm desperately in need of spiritual support so I feel resentment that a few are permitted to destroy the potential benefit to the many.
The devil, I read, often comes clothed as a being of light when he is devastating the souls of the lost who are seeking God. It seems entirely possible that one could be the instrument of Satan unknowingly...
This entire website is aimed at people who are ill. Many, if not most, have been so for a long time and are discouraged, weak, and weary. Religious debate is not on their agenda, spiritual support is. IF God is three people then the holy spirit would be the watchdog of this forum. There is a forum dedicated to debate. This isn't it.
You can't convey the love of Christ to me by telling me how stupid, lazy, and un-learned I am. You can't show me the love of Christ by letting me read as you tear other searching people to shreds. There's no wonder they post once and don't come back. Coming on here feels like venturing out into the street in a religion war zone.
I'm requesting that posters who consistently show no understanding of the needs of those seeking spiritual support, who consistently deride the intelligence and dedication to seeking the truth of other posters, who turn every discussion into a battle in which they effectively "shout down" (shoot down) those who don't crumble immediately from their initial onslaught, who have no compassion or caring for the frailty of people who are hoping merely to find God, who don't understand that the gospel is a story not an argument and that their JOB as Christians is simply to plant the seed and leave what grows and how it grows to God (ripping out a fledgling faith and then trying to stuff full-grown Christianity in the resulting whole doesn't sound Godly to me)... I'm requesting that those destructive posters be banned from this forum.
If, for some reason, that's out of the moderators' hands, then I will continue to post (because I need to be here), but I will utterly and completely ignore dogmatic posts and will discontinue watching any thread they are being permitted, unrestrained, to dominate.
I'm crying out to God when I come here. I will turn away from a harsh reply. I suspect I'm typical of any human being, so I believe that these harsh posts are not of God.
Thank you, to all of you who have responded to my posts with love and understanding. I've learned much in a short time and I'm grateful.