Can we make MN less hostile?

[Bootstrap]

I will note that much ink gets spilled about the “hardship” and “oppression” of lgbt people. Why don’t single people get nearly as much attention and care and concern? It’s hard to be single and lonely and get older as the years go by. I would be more impressed if such people got anywhere close to the amount of attention that lgbt people who desire to engage in immorality do.

Or married people in difficult relationships.

Many people don't have a righteous way to have sex. Christians should be up-front about that. And about how hard it is. And how we should honor and walk with people who are struggling with this.

[Bootstrap]

For example?

Robert has flagged some examples.

There's one in particular that really caught my attention, I'll post it later today. (My break is over.)

[temporal1]

boot:
When we study a Bible passage together, we tend to act like Christians.

curious.
is there a reason you mostly ignore other members’ Biblical topics? (there are so many!)

when you use “we” are you talking to Anabaptists or forum members in general?
often, it seems when you use the word “we” or “our” the intent is “my” topic, “my” understanding, “my” leadership ..
again, there are so many threads by so many members to get into. do you only notice when it’s you leading the topic?

i’m not suggesting this as a character flaw, just trying to understand how your brain is wired on certain things.
when i read “we” i first think of that as including me, not always the case.

i love visiting older topics, from 2016.
i enjoy renewing and/or adding to existing topics, rather than duplicating, or refreshing to add depth to new topics.
this forum is a treasure-trove of wisdom and inspiration, available for the visit.

[ohio jones]

boot:
When we study a Bible passage together, we tend to act like Christians.

curious.
is there a reason you mostly ignore other members’ Biblical topics? (there are so many!)

Really? There are hardly any that actually focus on discussing the biblical text. The recent ones I could find had plenty of engagement from Bootstrap, not so much from you.

(Exception: The Philippians series, which sort of fizzled when people weren't willing to follow the OP's structure/format/schedule; neither of you participated much in that)

[temporal1]

boot:
When we study a Bible passage together, we tend to act like Christians.

curious.
is there a reason you mostly ignore other members’ Biblical topics? (there are so many!)

Really? There are hardly any that actually focus on discussing the biblical text. The recent ones I could find had plenty of engagement from Bootstrap, not so much from you.

(Exception: The Philippians series, which sort of fizzled when people weren't willing to follow the OP's structure/format/schedule; neither of you participated much in that)

i didn’t intend to imply i lead a lot of biblical texts. i usually read others’ threads, i don’t always post.
members don’t reply a lot to me, esp not wrt biblical topics, like the recent LONGSUFFERING, which i really like.

i don’t expect response. it is what it is. there are so many topics that have 0 response. that doesn’t make them useless.
(possibly The Phillippians series got confused, no one wanted to overstep or interfere?)

i was glad to see boot’s recent thread. basically, Robert has advised him to do this for years.

just searching in Christian Theology, Anabaptist Theology, there are pages+pages of great topics from lots of members -
topics that don’t grow old. imho

i hope that helps explain my questions.

[ohio jones]

i don’t always post.

13,228 could easily be just a speck in the rearview mirror.

[temporal1]

i don’t always post.

13,228 could easily be just a speck in the rearview mirror.

yeah. i could have said, BELIEVE IT OR NOT - i don’t always post.
i’ve been postng too much recently. winter doldrums.

i added to LONGSUFFERING. just for the fun of it.

[Robert]

Sometimes hostility can come from a flood of posts. This can elevate one voice way above others.

This is why I suggested that Ken read posts a little better and slow down on responses. It would do well for others to do the same.

I wish Paul would have written something in one of his letters about this. Something about slow to anger and slow to speak.

[Bootstrap]

Really? There are hardly any that actually focus on discussing the biblical text. The recent ones I could find had plenty of engagement from Bootstrap, not so much from you.

I think I have often been engaged on threads that discuss the biblical text, every since I joined in the old MennoDiscuss days. There were a lot more of them back then. I care a lot about the Bible, I think those threads are among the best.

(Exception: The Philippians series, which sort of fizzled when people weren't willing to follow the OP's structure/format/schedule; neither of you participated much in that)

I followed along, but I didn't really know how to participate usefully in that thread. Other people did. Different people have different styles.

Temp - I hadn't realized the Longsuffering thread was a Bible study. I just posted in it twice. It's a good topic. And directly related to this thread.

[Bootstrap]

For example?

Robert has flagged some examples.

There's one in particular that really caught my attention, I'll post it later today. (My break is over.)

Here's one that I felt was particularly over the top:

http://forum.mennonet.com/posting.php?m ... 9&p=175395

I honestly don't see the point in talking with you. I experience most of our interactions here as rather toxic.

Saying our interactions are toxic is just a self-victimizing way of saying you don’t like how you feel in our interactions. This makes sense, because I call out your hypocritical dissonant ideology that represents a danger to the young minds you have influence over.

Why force him to talk to you? If he doesn't want to talk to you, he doesn't have to. And what's the whole self-victimizing thing about? Szdfan is not a whiner. He doesn't play the victim, I don't think, and I really don't think he was doing that in that particular thread. He is being clear and direct: he doesn't want to talk to you. You persist, and he gives you a reason. Other people have also flagged some of your posts as toxic, including some moderators.

What bothered me the most about this: here he is saying he doesn't want to talk to you because he finds these interactions toxic, and you tell him that he has no right to not talk to you, no right to feel however he feels and factor that in.

I agree with you on an awful lot when it comes to LGBTQ, but I don't think that justifies talking to Szdfan this way. And I suspect that if the two of you were just talking with each other over coffee, without an audience, you wouldn't talk to him like this. To me, this feels more like playground bullying than anything else. Szdfan is treating you a lot better than you are treating him in this post.

I’m sorry it doesn’t feel good when you get trapped in obvious logical fallacies, but maybe you should reconsider your stance instead of just shouting nonsense?

Personally, when someone tells me how logical they are and how illogical I am by screaming abusive language, that makes me trust my logic more than the other person's. Just saying. And mocking someone else's feelings with an audience is what I call bullying. That's not Christlike at all.

Also, I think we should generally let other people decide who they think is being more logical. We don't get to grade our own contributions to a conversation.

If that’s too hard, maybe you could go to a forum where people all think like you and then you’d never have to have another “toxic” interaction that make you feel yucky again.

I think the moderators have made it clear that Szdfan is welcome on this forum. And in this post, you responded to him by demonstrating how toxic you can be sometimes. To me, posts like that don't make you seem logical or rational or Christlike.