Dear Brothers & Sisters,
I want to sincerely thank all who have responded to (and contemplated) the posts in this thread. My purpose in bringing this topic up was to help us all understand not only each other but also to underline the purpose of this Forum.
From "The Rules of this Forum"
This forum is primarily a place for people of a like mind to fellowship, and secondarily to discuss and question what they learn on bible-truths.com.
That really sums up what Ray & Dennis had in mind when they decided to provide us an outlet to share with like minded believers, this is truly a gift that should never be trivialized or taken for granted. With that being said I am confident that it was never thought that everyone would come together without the occasional hurt feelings and misunderstandings that appear whenever a diverse group of people attempt to come together and are limited by the written word less the human interaction, even meeting together in person where we can see the body language and all that comes with personal interaction would not guarantee peace and harmony every minute or even every day.
A big part of this earthly journey is to overcome our own personal desires and expectations and to submit to the example our Lord has shown us, what builds our spiritual strength more effectively, never being challenged or meeting challenges with patience, humility and compassion?
Let's not become offended if we feel we are not being properly (in our own minds) acknowledged, be willing to accept that we are all in different places on this journey and there will be times that we feel isolated, did Jesus not suffer acute isolation? Other than His Father (in Spirit) He was often alone in a crowd physically.
To be perfectly honest after being here for over 4 years I never know who might respond to something I might present but I do have a very strong feeling (from experience) who will not respond, it used to bother me until it finally hit home;
This is not about me!
The real spiritual blessings we receive from interacting with our Brothers and Sisters, here or anywhere is when we put them before us and when we feel under appreciated it is better to meditate on why we feel the way we do rather than dwell on why others are not responding to us as we would prefer, everything we experience is forming us into a Son or Daughter of God. This should comfort us in every situation.
Thank you all again.
Peace,
Joe