Matthew 18:15

[dessa]

And if your brother sins (against you) go and reprove him in private, if he listens to you you have won your brother.
Doing this always smooths ruffled feelings.  Follow up with a couple others in private if the hard feelings persist and lastly make it public to the church.
Is this applicable with forum discussions?
Let us reason together.  Do I have a witness?
Shalom, dessa

[Deborah-Leigh]

Hello Dessa

I personally believe if a brother is out of line in public and an offense or remark is made that is personally offensive, this can and should be made publically known to have caused objection or hurt. That is not only the correct thing to do it is also provision for possible deeper understanding if the outcome is positive.

It is difficult to be vulnerable and say you are hurt (for me) and I believe it is necessary to make known that a comment or criticism is too personal if hurtfully received because it may be unintentional that offence be taken and matters may be cleared up.

There is such a thing as "perceived" injury where there is no hurt or injury intended at all. Where offense is obvious, direct, hostile and intended as slander it should be made known I believe to have been such and  if the offender can acknowledge their offense and repent then all and well. If not, then I believe to win any arguments through debate will just bait hate and the Beast within if the motives on either one of the contending sides is unforgiving or resistant to correction. In that case turning the other cheek is better than waging counterproductive wars. 

Being right for its own sake is not worth the effort but change through honesty, vulnerability and humble acceptance that we are all here to learn grow and encourage one another is worth our participation in these virtues that are pleasing to Christ Who is first and foremost.


Just my thoughts.

Peace to you

Arcturus

[gmik]

On the forum tho, maybe private mailing someone would help if there are differences.

Not attacking personally and using scripture helps discussion.
The written word cannot convey the way we are really "saying" something, so we need to be careful and precise.

Sometimes when an "active poster" just disappears I wonder if they misunderstood something as an attack on them and just left.

[LittleBear]

Gena,

I agree with you. I think forum life is different and new and it takes a while to understand it. Things can snowball in a thread and someone can feel hurt if they have been overlooked or feel they have been ganged up on. I think a PM even from someone who is not directly involved in the discussion can help to soothe hurt feelings.

Ursula

[sonofone]

I think that pm is a good tool to clear the air for as arcturus said some offenses are unintentional sso it is good to give a person the benefit of doubt where possible.