Take this thread. It was started with humor and lightheartedness. It became a deep dive into things. That is okay. Everyone approaches things differently.
If we understand Westerhoff's stages of faith, we learn that we all work at times from affiliated faith. This means we want people of like mind and "theology" around us. The challenge is, as individuals, we all come about things differently. So, at times, it is hard to find like minded people.
Discussion forums tend to motivate people of opposing sides to post. If you agree, it often just scroll past a comment. The little heart to "like" a post is one way to encourage like minded people to click an affirmation. Even with that, one can still feel alone in a post or stance. This is often because people are firmly grounded in their positions, even though the are opposing. Then when one does not "come over to the right way of thinking" our affiliated faith kicks and and we become tribal.
I was just explaining to Ken in a PM that I can be totally opposed to a person's position, but adamantly and passionately support and advocate for them to have the RIGHT to that position. Studying Westerhoff's stages of faith will help you understand how that can be, yet I, too, can be tribal. There are just times in life when you need to feel some have your back.
If a person comes to MN to prove their point and positions, they will find a disconnect. Seldom does that happen. If you come to MN to relate and learn, you will often find that often happens. While I go at Bootstrap and Ken dogmatically, I often find I learn a lot from them. I know I am not always right and have all the answers and they will remind me of that. When I am not int he mood to "joust" I stay out of the threads where that is going on.
MN is not a place to come to make everyone like us. It is a place to come to learn how others view and approach things of faith and life. It is a place to laugh and to cry as those we have learned to care for struggle with the brokenness of this world. MN is not worth the fight, but it is worth the love we feel for each other.
Lester, Wayne, Jim's son, and several others I carry grief and burdens for each day I see them posting, or times I reflect on their presence here. I can do little from where I am at, but I can care. That I do. If I see someone going through a struggle that has clicked a heart on one of my humorous posts, I feel I have done a little to bring some light into their lives during a challenging time.
I no longer see MN as a place I can get something from. I see it as a place to give a little, as I can.
Just be very careful not to say strawman around me. That was two years of obsession.
