A Request of Site Authorities about Member Forthcomingness

[Johnv]

The history of my denomination is littered with people who pretended to be one thing to influence the affairs of congregations they were not loyal to.

That's all well and good, but irrelevant to the topic.

I know that you are splitting hairs trying to justify something, namely continuing to present yourself Baptist even when you are committed to a non-Baptist congregation.

You accuse me falsely, since I'm an active member of a Baptist congregation.

Really? I thought you said you were attending a non-denominational congregation.

I said that I ONCE ATTENDED a nondenominational congretation. That was at least 10 or 15 years ago. I think you owe me a correction. You're seeing nonbaptist conspiracists in every corner.

 

[Darron Steele]

That's all well and good, but irrelevant to the topic.

You accuse me falsely, since I'm an active member of a Baptist congregation.

I said that I ONCE ATTENDED a nondenominational congretation. That was at least 10 or 15 years ago. I think you owe me a correction. You're seeing nonbaptist conspiracists in every corner.

I owe you no correction.

If you decide in the future that some non-Baptist congregation appeals to you, and you make it your congregation home, you allege you will still be entitled to claim to be Baptist if you want to.

Your accusation of me is baseless. I believe most members of this board have been honest and forthcoming about their affiliations.

My historical information was not irrelevant to this topic. It addressed the topic quite well -- by using a real historical situation as opposed to hypotheticals. The same was true for realistic scenarios that followed from it.

You claim that a person who is committed to a non-Baptist congregation has a right to claim to be Baptist if s/he wants to. To justify this, you say "Then, Darron, by your a Baptist attending a nonbaptist church is still a Baptist if the attending church is not his/her home congregation, and s/he is not loyal to that congregation." Being an honest person, I am not good at trapping people with their words nor anticipating attempts to trap me with my words. This illustrates the scenarios you are trying to suggest:

The history of my denomination is littered with people who pretended to be one thing to influence the affairs of congregations they were not loyal to. Back before the Brotherhood Restructure of the 1960's Disciples of Christ, we were one fellowship with what became the Independent Christian churches. Some congregations believed in cooperative enterprises and participated in them; others were opposed to them. People loyal to the non-cooperative congregations would join membership in cooperative congregations, get a measure passed withdrawing from cooperative enterprises -- and then promptly leave that congregation to do the same to another.

Attendance does not mean loyalty. These people were not attending non-cooperative congregations, but their loyalty was to non-cooperative congregations. Regardless of where they were, they had committed their loyalty to non-cooperative congregations. They had absolutely no business pretending to be part of the cooperative portion of the brotherhood.

I know that you are splitting hairs trying to justify something, namely continuing to present yourself Baptist even when you are committed to a non-Baptist congregation.

It ought to be evident to any reader that no amount of sophistry can make that okay.

If I was to attend my Disciples of Christ congregation, but decide that I want to call myself Baptist, and write to the nearest Baptist church and ask for membership privileges to be extended to me while I stayed at my congregation, would I be out of line? Yes I would. The Baptist congregation hopefully would expect me to attend their congregation regularly, then they would consider whether or not I could be a member and have membership privileges.

If I was to actually follow that directive, and go to the Baptist congregation regularly for home congregation, I would no longer be entitled to claim to be a Disciple of Christ. This would especially be the case if I was to place membership at the Baptist congregation. If I was to turn around, decide to go to the seminary in Indianapolis and register as a Disciple of Christ to get reduced tuition, while attending a Baptist congregation as a member, I would be in serious trouble. I would not be a Disciple, but a Baptist.

If a person is attending a non-Baptist congregation for home congregation, s/he has no business claiming to be Baptist here.

If you think you could go to a non-Baptist congregation, be a member there, go to a seminary that offers reduced tuition for Baptists, register as a Baptist, and convince legal authorities that you were entitled to do so, you are crazy. I do not care what kinds of word traps and sophistries you try: the law would judge on the side of reality, and you would lose.

As for the topic of this thread, most of your posts here are off-topic. I ought to know; I posted this thread.

 

[I Am Blessed 24]

I am an Independent Fundamental Baptist and attend Park Meadows Baptist Church. There. Now we all know where I stand. Actually, that has always been in my profile if anyone cared to look it up.

However, I seldom attend church anymore because of health issues. Does this mean that I'm no longer a Baptist? I think not! I have visited other churches from time to time. Does this mean I'm no longer a Baptist? I think not. :saint:

Johnv: We know you are a Baptist and it's good to see you posting again! :thumbs:

Being an administrator, I am part of a group who approves/rejects memberships.

We ask for certain information on the application, if a person says he is a Baptist (or whatever), we take him at his word until proven otherwise. Usually, if the person is dishonest, the truth comes out and that person (regardless of what the truth is) is banned for lying on his registration.

Darron: Conducting a poll of this nature does no good. We do not run the BB based on majority rules. We do our job to the best of our ability and it is a thankless job.

When I see an app that looks suspicious, I do investigate a little bit, but if I cannot find proof that this member is lying, I will allow him to join. I also look up IP numbers to see if that person has been banned before and is trying to come back under a different name. This is not as easy as it sounds. Some of them sneak back in because they are using a different computer, different location, have a dial-up connection (i.e. all of these will change the IP number).

However, it's great how our members help us 'police' this. They can usually spot a banned member right away just by his posting style. :smilewinkgrin:

Donna is correct. If you need to change your denomination, PM an administrator. I'm sure it can be done.

Thanks to all you members who give us a 'heads up' and help make our job easier. :love2:

 

[Darron Steele]

Darron: Conducting a poll of this nature does no good. We do not run the BB based on majority rules. We do our job to the best of our ability and it is a thankless job.

When I see an app that looks suspicious, I do investigate a little bit, but if I cannot find proof that this member is lying, I will allow him to join. I also look up IP numbers to see if that person has been banned before and is trying to come back under a different name. This is not as easy as it sounds. Some of them sneak back in because they are using a different computer, different location, have a dial-up connection (i.e. all of these will change the IP number).

However, it's great how our members help us 'police' this. They can usually spot a banned member right away just by his posting style. :smilewinkgrin:

I know you do not run this board by majority rules. I just wanted to put in numbers how much other members might feel similarly.

It is your board to do as you wish. I also know that you folks are reasonable and if we have concerns, you want us to share them.

I figured I was not the only person who has this concern. Hence, the thread rather than a private message.

There was no attempt on my part to tell you folks how to run this board. I did want to share a concern, make a suggestion, and see if we could put in numeric form how many people feel similarly enough to at least click a button.

I wanted you to be informed. I did not intend for you to feel pressured into making any change in board policy. You are the site authorities; you have a member suggestion and information, but it is your place to determine how to proceed or not.

If there was a misunderstanding, my apologies.

If you no longer want the thread around, please delete it. In fact, I would have preferred it be deleted when you folks decided it had served its purpose.