Message Board Verses Online Church
Aug 29, 2020 14:20:43 GMT -5
Cletus, ohhello, and 1 more like this
Post by John on Aug 29, 2020 14:20:43 GMT -5
We had someone say something that I feel is not accurate, about message boards and online churches. A message board is not a place where there is a free flow of information and people can hash out all their disagreements (iron sharpening iron). I have never come across a message board like that. Nearly every message board I have seen has a statement of faith and terms of service, which is especially true of Christian message boards. People are not free to take opinions that go against either.
As most of you know, I was a long time member at WCF, and they have a Statement of Faith and Terms of Service. We all understood we cannot spout out anything we feel if they oppose those things. Iron was not allowed to sharpen iron if it went against their core beliefs. My disagreement with how they run their place is that they have secret beliefs you cannot go against not seen in the statement of faith and TOS. If we simply could not go against their SOF and TOS, I would never have criticized them.
Lets go back to Narrow Way Forums, and our being a message board and online church. We have a statement of faith like everyone else. We also have a basic terms of service. If you do not push things against our statement of faith, and do not violate our terms of service, no problem. That means we are doing nothing different from just about every other Christian forum.
As far as the online church goes, everything is the same as in the forum. We have the same statement of faith. If you agree on those basic things, you are fine to be part of our online church. We do not require you to agree with any other beliefs we may hold outside of those basic things. Even if you do disagree, you may still be a member, but we will remove posts that go against them.
What is the issue that I have found is causing the recent strife? How we view scripture. We state in our Statement of Faith that we see the Bible as the inerrant Word of God. WCF states they see the Bible as the inerrant Word of God. You supposedly cannot disagree with the Bible in either forum. When someone says their views are above the dead letters of scripture, they are going against our SOF as a message board. We will not allow that. We take a literal view of the Bible, and we make that clear. When God says something in His Word, if we disagree, let God be true and every man a liar. God is right and we are wrong. This should be easy to understand for all.
To those looking for a Christian Message Board, you may be part of this one without calling it your church. To those needing a church, we are here for that too, and the same statement of faith and terms of service apply. Do I have additional beliefs not mentioned? Yes, but I do not punish people or silence them for going against them. If a time comes where we must modify the TOS or SOF, nothing done before the changes are made will be used against anyone. That is just common decency to me.
As most of you know, I was a long time member at WCF, and they have a Statement of Faith and Terms of Service. We all understood we cannot spout out anything we feel if they oppose those things. Iron was not allowed to sharpen iron if it went against their core beliefs. My disagreement with how they run their place is that they have secret beliefs you cannot go against not seen in the statement of faith and TOS. If we simply could not go against their SOF and TOS, I would never have criticized them.
Lets go back to Narrow Way Forums, and our being a message board and online church. We have a statement of faith like everyone else. We also have a basic terms of service. If you do not push things against our statement of faith, and do not violate our terms of service, no problem. That means we are doing nothing different from just about every other Christian forum.
As far as the online church goes, everything is the same as in the forum. We have the same statement of faith. If you agree on those basic things, you are fine to be part of our online church. We do not require you to agree with any other beliefs we may hold outside of those basic things. Even if you do disagree, you may still be a member, but we will remove posts that go against them.
What is the issue that I have found is causing the recent strife? How we view scripture. We state in our Statement of Faith that we see the Bible as the inerrant Word of God. WCF states they see the Bible as the inerrant Word of God. You supposedly cannot disagree with the Bible in either forum. When someone says their views are above the dead letters of scripture, they are going against our SOF as a message board. We will not allow that. We take a literal view of the Bible, and we make that clear. When God says something in His Word, if we disagree, let God be true and every man a liar. God is right and we are wrong. This should be easy to understand for all.
To those looking for a Christian Message Board, you may be part of this one without calling it your church. To those needing a church, we are here for that too, and the same statement of faith and terms of service apply. Do I have additional beliefs not mentioned? Yes, but I do not punish people or silence them for going against them. If a time comes where we must modify the TOS or SOF, nothing done before the changes are made will be used against anyone. That is just common decency to me.