Hi Dennis,
I see others have now weighed in and I am glad.
The Forum belongs to all of us.
Hopefully the following will help clear things up for you. If not send me a PM and I will try to help.
I believe @jasonacts177 recently summed it up well when he was responding to Teren when he stated,
“Teren brother for the most part I concur with all you have espoused. Equally for the most part my experience - subjective, ethnographic and myopic as it may be - remains that this body and fellowship under Christ has and continues to exemplify and exercise God-gifted grace, forbearance, patience, kindness, gentleness to all who sojourn.
When it becomes objectively evident that division and disruption is potentially being sown repeatedly, deliberately and determinately in spite of reasonable and replete responses in the spirit of such aforementioned longsuffering, the question eventually emerges:
Is this serving God?
2 Tim 2:25-26 are well cited and well placed. As is 2 Tim 2:23.
Acts 15 saw Paul and Barnabas part ways over an issue of unreliability with Mark.
This rift was seemingly reconciled, aptly enough in light of your citations, in 2 Tim. 4:11.
Such is my hope for all believers regardless which point of the rapture (de)fence they currently sit on.
In Christ
Note Jason is following the “principles” laid out in in 2 Tim 2. That are also cited in our (TOS) They were just some of the principles that were being laid out to a young Pastor Timothy by the Apostle Paul. (Pastor to Pastor, Shepherd to Shepherd prior to Paul’s death) In part on how the Lord wants His “Body of Christ” to operate.
As such we adopt these “principles” on our Forum.
The biggest issue I see on the Forum is people failing to walk in the Spirit as mandated by the Apostle Paul. When we are walking in the Spirit, the Holy Spirit that indwells us all, will then produce the Fruits of the Spirit through us by speaking the Truth in LOVE.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (The Old NIV)
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Galatians 5:13-36 (The Old NIV)
13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.
18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;
20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions
21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
Our Mods track records speaks for themselves, and they are very lenient in their approach in keeping with how Pastor JD wants his Forum run.
You asked me “ Face it brother you tend to enjoy a hypertension conversation! I would say even at the expense of stirring up things. Confusing the forum by allowing someone to create a spiritual protest as their defense inside of the forum goes too far, don’t you agree?”
Well Dennis, I understand what you are saying, but I would phrase it very differently, with a very different intent.
I do “tug on hooks” occasionally to draw out a response from people to see where their heads are at. Then I consider the above in Galatians 5:13-36 and 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.
Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
Agape,
Ken