This is not quite a banning; but it is my favourite moment.
I was enrolled at a forum run by Jason Gastrich. Jason at some point posted an interesting forum guideline: nonbelievers were welcome, but if they were still nonbelievers after some time limit (500 posts, or 12 months) then they would be banned.
The forum has an
enormous list of rules. The rule in question is:
quote:
As of September 1, 2003, atheists and non-Christians are allowed a maximum of 500 posts or 1 year of membership (whichever comes first). If the non-Christian member still rejects the biblical God after that time, they will be banned from the forum.
The JCSM Forum is not designed for Christians to become unequally yoked with the world by spending thousands of hours mingling with the same, unrepentant sinners. It wasn't designed for believers to form intimate, unscriptural relationships with unbelievers. Christ told His disciples to move on if people rejected them, so giving non-Christians 500 posts or 1 year of membership is ample time for them to repent and believe, trust, and accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
I discontinued myself the same day the rule came into effect, with no hard feelings and never a backwards glance.
Cheers -- Sylas
PS. I'm still enrolled as a member. What do you know. Here is my last post (Sept 2, 2003)
quote:
Bye Silas. Thanks for coming and posting.
The rejection you may feel now will be nothing compared to the rejection that you will feel at judgment day if you continue to reject God.
Most atheists that take years and years to repent bounce around from one Christian group to another. We hope you bounce to a another, solid one and repent and trust Christ. That is the most important thing in life.
Thanks for making me welcome. This breaks my previous comment about being a last post, but a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds... :-)
I don't want to let my last word here be by default Jason's comment that I feel "rejected". I don't feel rejected; I've been made welcome here, and so I assure you that there is no problem or resentment on my part. You are, I repeat, welcome to make your rules as you see fit, to get the kind of forum you want. I've called myself a "Christian-friendly atheist" in my profile; and part of that is not imposing myself where I am not wanted.
I've already had some misgivings about participation here in any case. My attempts at dialog have not worked out; fairly straightforward questions just don't get answered. Again; no problem. But if it means people are not interested then I probably should take that into account.
One theological comment, however.... the threat of judgment is a lousy way to encourage one to examine their beliefs with integrity. It is, fairly transparently, mainly effective as a device to make believers afraid to question; not as a device to persuade unbelievers.
I'm not anti-Christian by any means. At the risk of sounding a cliche, some of my best friends are Christians; and I have zero interest in dissuading them of their beliefs. Christianity can have good effects, and bad effects. Conversion to Christianity for an unbeliever, or loss of faith by a believer, can be associated with good and bad effects as well.
One common negative effect of Christianity is fear; fear of judgement and in particular a paralysing fear of examining ones own faith. This is not universal, of course; but I'd be cautious of encouraging that aspect! People may be more likely to retain faith give such influences; but the faith is less likely to be empowering for their life.
There is plenty of scope for forums and discussions where diverse people share as equals. However, not everyone wants that engagement, and consider that the biblical injunction about "unequally yoked" actually deprecates and constrains such engagement. Again; no problem. That is a choice, and I don't rebel against it.
So really... no hard feelings, no rejection, no anger or resentment. Just hail fellow, well met, thanks for the fish, best of luck to you all... and farewell.
-- Silas
This message has been edited by Sylas, 02-27-2005 23:10 AM
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