You have been here longer and know better. I made a similar prediction but yours is way more accurate
First, an apology to GFR7. Then, about growing a TOL-grade thick skin.
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You have been here longer and know better. I made a similar prediction but yours is way more accurate
well, let's make sure we're speaking the same language
"faggots" refers to those perverts who want their perversion to be seen as normal and accepted
"faggots" does not refer to those perverts who recognize that their perverted actions and desires are perverted and disgusting and are seeking help to change their wicked ways
"retards" refers to those who are too prideful to accept God's Word
God calls them fools
"Christ-hating"?
see "retards"
annabenedetti
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I can see that to a point, and it's a point I've heard before and tried to use to balance what I see here - with less and less success. I can't help but wonder if this place provides an outlet for what a lot of people are thinking but not saying in real life. Whether it's about gays, or liberals, or people on welfare, or blacks, or women - and Christians, people with differing creeds or doctrinal beliefs. Some of those threads in the religion forum are scary.
when you and annabananahead have a prideful, resistant, retarded, perverted Christ- hating faggot in front of you, feel free to try any approach you like :idunno:
Or it could be nothing more than forum life reflecting political activism these days, which is to say you tend to see the loudest and more extreme members along any ideological line while most people go about quieter lives of adoration.
It all boils down to the context we choose, optimism or cynicism. I don't know how we can love our neighbor and suspect him of being the worst sort, on average.
:cheers:
Good post. I see more people speaking this way. TOL needs that. Praise God, His Spirit Is Moving. Grace Abounds all the More - :idea:
Of course there is you.... a knuckle-dragging, vulgar, classless troglodyte right here before me!
A clod filled with hatred and judgment for those to whom you would deny humanity.
It is behavior that can be influenced. Perhaps there is hope for you to come into the light of God's bountiful love and stop hating on people?
I feel bad for you if you don't recognize trolling after a couple years.
The only moral authority is Gods also.
You contradicted your own position on that last line also.
Welcome to TOL.
PureX
Well-known member
Sadly, I think this is very often the case. The internet's anonymity allows people to express those ugly inclinations that would otherwise be kept hidden from the general public.
And moreover, I think the medium reveals the things that a really going on in people's minds and hearts more clearly than those people very often realize. I have noted for a long time, now, how a person's writing reflects their thinking (including my own). If the writing is muddled and confused, so is the thinking it's attempting to express. If the writing is deliberately misleading, misrepresentative, and disingenuous, so is the thinking that inspired it. If the writing is both defensive and abrasive to excess, it's meant to protect the writer's ego rather than communicate with others.
On and on it goes.
If the eyes are windows into the soul, our writing is a window into our minds. And via the mind, into the heart. Sadly, what I think you are seeing here on TOL, is what is really in people's minds and hearts, much of the time.
annabenedetti
like marbles on glass
More weary of it than anything. And pretty immune to it all by now, and I honestly don't know if that's a benefit or a deficit. Being desensitized is good for some things, not so good for others.
But is that what a Christian forum should be about? Desensitizing people to insulting language and bully behavior?
I don't doubt that's true for some. But how many? :idunno:
But I think this is a good post and can be a factor in all of this too.Or it could be nothing more than forum life reflecting political activism these days, which is to say you tend to see the loudest and more extreme members along any ideological line while most people go about quieter lives of adoration.
It all boils down to the context we choose, optimism or cynicism. I don't know how we can love our neighbor and suspect him of being the worst sort, on average.
:cheers:
My 'real life' experience speaks louder than TOL and perhaps we need to have a healthy dose of optimism as well.
And maybe some beer too. :cheers:
:noid:
Alexa
New member
i wasn't talking about trolling tho so no need to feel sorry for me
not sure how but if you feel like pointing it out to me i'd be happy to respond.
thanks (and you too, patrick jane)
can tell there'll be plenty of excitement here
How are you defining 'trolling' and 'genuine' in the context of this thread?
Because I think Granite's point is that the meanness people display on TOL is genuine, and how they act outside the internet is tempered because of the potential consequences.
have you ever actually read the Bible?
Genuine as in how they are, not putting on a show (genuine), vs some here just to troll people and get a rise out of others for sport (trolling)
I was and you responded to my post about it.i wasn't talking about trolling tho so no need to feel sorry for me
here:
i mentioned in another thread that i post in different forums i've been a regular on some for years... i have recognised at least one person here from another forum who most certainly isn't genuine. Personally, i don't particularly care about this person's reputation... The way i see it... unless someone posts from the position of moral authority it doesn't matter how genuine they are, all that matters is their arguments, to bring up their failings outside of the immediate posts/thread would be an ad hominem, so why pretend that you know them...
compare the 2 bolded statements, thats the contradiction.
annabenedetti
like marbles on glass
Good questions, kmo.
This is what I think, others may think differently. To me, a thick skin means learning, through repeated exposure to a negative behavior, to become desensitized to that behavior.
Is it healthy to accept desensitization as a new normal? It depends. In this particular scenario, I don't think so.
The first few times someone called me something hurtful - it hurt. I'll admit, it brought tears to my eyes. But I learned - boy did I learn. Now, they can say pretty much anything and it doesn't bother me at all. I know I'm not fat, I know what my sexual identity is, I know I'm not a pig, or a whore, or a retard or a silly little girl, or any number of other things that don't come to mind at the moment. It certainly won't keep me from saying what I think, which I believe is their motivation behind what they do. To shut down anyone with whom they don't agree. And that comes back to my OP: if what they believe is correct and true, they should be able to defend it in such a way that it draws rather than repels.
It's certainly good to know how to ignore, and I've ignored quite a lot. But when does ignoring become conveniently blind to what's going on around me so I don't have to deal with it, particularly with regard to others being treated the same way or worse? (Because I certainly haven't had the worst of it.) Is looking the other way a sort of tacit acquiescence?
Letting things roll off your back... yes, having a good sense of humor allows for that give and take,, so I know what you're saying there, but that would apply more to those who fight clean, with a humor that sometimes lightens things up.
You're very good at that, by the way.
I've wondered about those who think they no longer sin. Is it that belief which allows them to say the things they say?
I'm trying to keep that in mind.I'd encourage you to not let it change your view. At least not too much. Does it reflect certain circles of the larger world of Christianity? Sure, I imagine it does. But in 'real life' I can't say I've encountered anyone like some of the worst of TOLers. Some people in the fundamental circles may come close. But in my experience Christians aren't like what you describe. Whether it's Pentecostal/Charismatic, Episcopal, Mennonites (if I ever saw a Menno call someone a faggot :shocked
I think part of what we see on TOL is caused by what Granite said. It's easy to spout off through the internet.
annabenedetti
like marbles on glass
The first reason I made this thread was because I needed to make an apology for not being a fine person.
lain:But when I started writing the OP, a lot that has been on my mind came along. I said something to someone recently about not being afraid to do some introspection, to check himself, check his motivations. I had to do the same thing too, I can't just tell other people to do it and not do it myself.
annabenedetti
like marbles on glass
I don't believe in having a tough skin, or in developing one.
To the contrary, I believe that we need to develop sensitivity, gentleness, compassion, long-suffering, and to receive from Christ the peace that He has said that He has left us. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. John 14:27
It is this very peace within which negates the need for a tough skin.
The long-suffering allows, as defined by the online dictionary: having or showing patience in spite of troubles, especially those caused by other people. We are told that patience when fully developed makes a perfect (whole, complete, mature, whole lacking nothing) person. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. James 1:4
Now, those who are thought we might need a tough skin from are they very ones who need to develop that gentleness and compassion. For if any of those qualities were possessed for any other than their own, no one would have to have a thick skin. They, who are like this, I fear for their soul. (Matthew 18:6)
I also do not believe in love carefully concealed.
Only the insecure have to look down on others. If they could only know how much God loves them, other than intellectually, and how much God loves other people, no insecurity would play out with cliques and their inherent appearance of superiority causing others hurt and the thoughts of needing a thick skin.
I could probably go on... but I don't care for extremely long posts; therefore, in order to not be a hypocrite
For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:14-19
Amen.
Thank you, Levolor. That was a beautiful post.
annabenedetti
like marbles on glass
I pretty much agree with all of that, PureX. Thank you.
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