What is going on in Christian circles?

I think it is a byproduct of the era of talk radio, cable TV news commentary shows, and internet subscribed email newsletters. A lot of Christians listen to Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity and/or watch O'Reilly, Huckabee, etc. They get the daily political attack blurbs via emails and the attack attitude kind of permeates our spirit and then it manifests itself in our interaction with our brethren.

I quit listening to Limbaugh years ago and I never could stomach Glenn Beck. About the only political talk show I listen to nowadays is Dennis Prager, a couple times a week, maybe less.

Thirty years ago there was only Point/Counterpoint at the end of 60 minutes (once per week for five minutes), the McLaughlin Group on PBS (once per week for half hour), and newspaper op-ed pieces. The discussion was infrequent at best and they were much more civil.

You're right. When I first joined BB I was shocked at the amount of personal insults that got thrown around at people. Even threats of physical violence. This is a busy forum and it's tough to moderate. We should all remember the mods in our prayers. And we should read over what we type before hitting ENTER.

 

Bravo! I'd like the mods to look hard at the "I'm a better Christian than you" posts that also show up here.

Yep, exactly what I'm talkin' about!

Amen.

 

Great OP. This is the very reason that I don't post near as much as I did when I first joined the board....I came on board to learn, discuss, and occasionally debate. If we can calm down I may start posting again.

peace and prayers

 

I don't know that unChristlike behavior among those professing to be Christians is a new problem. Professing Christians used to kill one another over the same matters of doctrine that we are debating today.

James tells us that if a person can control his/her tongue, he/she will be in control of the whole body.

I have taken to telling my children that in any given conversation, it is almost always better to simply say nothing and listen.

That is certainly something I hope to strive for in my life.

peace to youraying:

 

Amen. I have noticed the same, but not just here. I am on the BB a lot less than I used to be of late, but I am seeing it elsewhere.

Along the same lines I am seeing Christianity attacked more vehemently than I have seen in a very long time. These attacks are coming from all sides... the media, atheists, fools, and even our own brothers and sisters.

 

Where does the Bible say that Christians will be known by there quiet spokeness and willingness to place error alongside of truth?

SOMETIMES, we can disagree in a gentle or "agreeable" way. Sometimes rebuke or harsh words are called for; that is actually one of the stated functions of scripture. Those who are gentle, when harshness is called for, are being hateful. Those who are harsh, when harshness is called for, are being loving.

Define "abusive"...we have Jesus in the scriptures openly rebuking others in an extremely harsh and confrontational manner, complete with name calling.

If you agree that it is O.K. to be like Jesus, then you would agree that it is o.k. for me to tell people they are "sons of hell," "Whitewashed tombs" and "snakes," right? To tell them, as Jesus said, that "You hate me because I speak the truth," while also telling the other person, "You lie like your father, the devil."

A person that rejects truth (and lets be honest; all disagreements in doctrine, including my own, are because of one or the other's own sinfulness and desire for a different "truth" that suits them better...not because it is not clear), needs to change their mind. Nowhere does the Bible say "Just agree to disagree..." That is an unbiblical concept. Sometimes changing a wrong mind is messy and harsh. And only a hateful, weak, and unfaithful servant, would agree to give space to falsehood, because contending for truth is too messy.

 

So something "seasoned with grace" can and should be harsh?

 

"Should"? As I said, at times. And its "with grace" and "seasoned with salt."

But yes, of course you can bestow unmerited favor upon a person, while administering a harsh rebuke. Jesus did it all the time, as did Paul, and even Stephen.

 

I know what it says, I was paraphrasing it in my words.

I guess the Holy Spirit should have substituted jalepeno's instead of salt.

I find your examples quite lacking.

 

To be fair, however, Jesus was speaking to self-righteous and obstinate lost people. To be that harsh to a brother or sister in Christ is much more difficult to justify.

 

True, to some extent. But then, again, one of the functions of scripture is the rebuking of the brethren (Titus 1:13). And Jesus did call Peter "Satan" and rebuked him pretty harshly.

I am not saying it should be an every day occurrence. I am saying that being harsh or gentle, and being "loving" or "hateful" are two completely different categories. One can be loving, and harsh, or gentle, and hateful (or vice versa). When the scriptures say "Preach the truth in love" it has nothing to do with being softspoken. It has to do with one's motivation.

 

There is no need to be harsh. Just speak the truth and God will take care of the rest.

 

Wrong. We are not to judge the heart of a man, but we are to judge their actions and their professed belief. I am not judging a person's heart, and neither was Jesus. He was judging their actions.

Moreover; according to Scripture, it was necessary for Jesus to become "in every way" like us. That means His actions were not in some special category, but rather, He was the epitome of a righteous man. If we pattern our lives in every way after Jesus (including His harshness), we would be doing exactly what we should do.

Jesus was not alone in his harshness. Paul was EXTREMELY harsh...like, Elijah and the prophets of Baal harsh....

"You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?


Then He struck him blind. Stephen, when he was "filled with the Holy Spirit" was also harsh...

Act 7:51 "You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.

There is not a harsher insult to use, then to use the word "uncircumcised" in regards to the Jews. Stephen was EXTREMELY harsh and offensive...and in fact, could not have been moreso.

Yes, it is. "Loving" manner, has nothing to do with harshness, or lack of it. It has to do with why you are saying what you are saying. This soft spoken get-alongism, is nothing but demonically inspired ecumenism. The Holy Spirit changes people's minds through us.

And, it is our job to love people, true. But that is not necessarily speaking soft spoken to people. That can be the most evil, hateful thing a person can do. Being harsh can be loving. You see, we are also commanded to REBUKE.

And> The anger and frustration, in a lot of instances, is simply people getting upset that people hold on to God dishonoring, man centered garbage, despite all evidence to the contrary.

 

Since Christ was fully God as well as fully man, I don't believe you can conclude that he was only judging actions. Therefore perhaps you should refrain from saying ABC is "wrong".

 

So it's a matter of, based on your examples, conservative politics?

 

We had a thread similiar to this one some time ago. As discussed in that thread, some of these problems are in response to what some consider good debating practices.

It was pointed out by some who love to debate, that misrepresenting what others believe is a good debating practice because it forces them to defend their belief and to distract them from the weaknesses of the misrepresentor's belief.

Many times these misrepresentations lead to a hostile response; which is the subject of this thread. I am not going to give examples of these misrepresentations; you can figure that out for yourself

I think that intentually misrepresenting what others believe should be discouraged to promote being respectful to others and to keep peace.

Some on here sound a little like the politicians in TV ads who misrepresent what the other side stands for.

BTW, this is the main reason that I stopped debating on BB.

 

No it's neither conservative or liberal politics, it's the nature of the the conversations on these types of commentary and debate shows. I could have included Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, and Ed Schultz from MSNBC as examples in my post as they are equally inflammatory but didn't because most evangelical Christians follow right wing commentators.

 

I judge ABC to be right... and man, that is harsh for me to say! lol