Al, I would add criticize and immature to your list "fool, idiot, stupid, vapid, hypocritical, sanctimonious".
MM
You are certainly free to do so... and have.
I prefer to add to that list
jackass and
ninny.
That I find certain posters' criticisms to be immature is merely my opinion, and does not make it so. For that reason, I state it as opinion only and do not hold such posters answerable to me. I have, as previously stated, made more than my share of critical and immature posts, and have repented of the same.
I have been maligned on this board, called a liar, quoted as having said things I never said, and have not made an issue of it. Why? Because those who have said these things, and those who admire their posts, are predisposed to believe them and to disbelieve anything said in disagreement with them. On the other hand, those who genuinely seek God for knowledge of the truth will not be deceived, regardless of who is right or wrong. I am even foolish enough to pray toward this end.
I have neither received, nor asked for apologies, but have forgiven the offenders and pray for them. Why? because the Bible teaches doing so; because I don't hold any grudge against them; because they are still, despite some appearances, brethren in Christ and in the fellowship of the church, His bride-to-be; and because they are each answerable to the same Lord as I am and from Who I hope to be judged in mercy and not in anger.
Sanctimony? Vapid God-talk? Not my call... or yours. This is how I believe God wants me to live in His presence, and how I choose to obey Him. I encourage others to do so as well. He will judge me and reward me as He sees fit. If He does not, then I have been wrong about Him. Either way, I will bear the consequences of my actions.
Posted on: Today at 05:10:55 AM by: Brent T:
Where do you get off assuming I don't undertand this?
Assumption may not be the best foundation for a post, but neither is it a crime for which one has to "get off." Every one of us makes assumptions about others every day, for which we each must take personal responsibility before God.
To state one's assumption that another's heart and/or mind has engendered an insincere statement, then to accuse that same person of making an assumption about oneself seems oxymoronic; self-contradictory.
Oh, yes, it's all there in print for everyone to plainly see,
and interpret according to each's preconceptions.The science and art of natural (godless) humanity is to assume that all disagreement is of hostile intent and therefore to go on the attack. "The best defense is a strong offense," and all that. And if there's one thing mankind excels at, it is being offensive, both toward God and toward His image in our fellow-man.
I have known Tom Maddux since the late 1960s, and have butted heads with him off-and-on over nearly all that time. There are a few non-complimentary adjectives I could aim at Tom (as I'm sure he could toward me), but I would not express them publicly to humiliate him, simply because in all the time I have known him, he has never given me a reason to doubt his integrity. If Tom has more to see regarding his conduct on this board, he will eventually see it, and when he sees it, he will express himself as is needed and without hesitation. He will not, however, be coerced into "confessing" to something he does not see he is guilty of.
One may ask, "How can he not see it when it has been repeatedly spelled out so clearly?" Does it occur to the asker what an absurd situation would exist if we all saw the same things at the same time? Where then would be the need to exercise faith, to practice the New Testament's description of love, which believes,
in the face of doubt, the best about the object of affection: one's brother?
Let's be willing to get beyond the notion that our acquaintance in cyberspace, or from brief encounters in person, has allowed us to truly know each other. Our experience of living for years in close proximity to, and daily involvement with, a community of others of like faith, only to be amazed by their recent bizarre (
as we see it) behavior, should clue us in to the reality that none of us ever truly knows the heart and mind of another. I have never met a married couple, regardless of the length of their union, who are not either still getting more intimately acquainted or have given up on ever knowing what makes the other tick. Why should we think we can jugde the innermost workings of another soul, based upon a few posted paragraphs?
Each of us has a race of his own to run-- let us learn to run it for the pleasure of Him who both has assigned it and who enables us. And let our relationships be based upon pleasing Christ, and not upon justifying ourselves.
As He has loved us and shown us mercy,
al
