Armageddun Loc: The show me state

Ron Edmondson, Thoughts on Leadership, Church, and Culture
I wrote a post recently encouraging Christians to be less mean—especially online. It was called

“When Did Christians Become So Mean?”
It seems to me, we’ve lost some of our civility when it comes to what we post on social media. We are quick to blast a company that we feel has wronged us. We criticize people — right on their Facebook page. We load the comments of a blog post with crushing blows.

Surely you’ve seen it. The web has made it much easier to be a critic.
But, it’s also in public. I’ve seen Christians I know act like jerks in a restaurant or grocery store. I consistently hear of bosses who serve smiling on Sunday but are mean to employees during the week.

It all has to hurt our witness as Christians.
The post got a little attention.
Actually, some people, proved the need for the post by the way they responded. :)
Still others asked for some suggestions of how we could improve—some even wanted examples.

I decided not to share specific examples. In my opinion, that would be mean. So, you’re meanness will remain anonymous in this post. If you are mean, most likely others already know your name.
I did decide to share some ways we can be “less mean” online.

Here are a dozen suggestions:

Consider others better than yourself. (Philippians 2:3)

Forgive one another. (Ephesians 4:32)

Love one another. (John 13:34)

Be kind and compassionate to one another. (Ephesians 4:32)


Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. (James 1:19)

Treat others as you would want to be treated. (Luke 6:31)

Have the mind of Christ. (Philippians 2:5)

Remember kindness leads to repentance. (Romans 2:4)

Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. (Psalm 34:13)

Honor everyone. (1 Peter 2:17)

Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them. (Ephesians 4:29)

Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. (Romans 12:10)

Just a few of those should improve the quality of our online involvement.

And, finally, a bonus one:
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. (Colossians 3:12–14)

Those are some of my suggestions.

Got any others?

rumitoid

Not a single thing on that list of ten requires any effort or intent by a Christian.

Ve'hoe

Holding to their christian doctrine, makes them Mean huh,,, and you two geniuses wonder why they are on the defensive?

I dont consider myself a "good" christian, nor do I buy the "be the doormat for societies ills" bs that you two put out.

Christians are not to blame for the current state of America, nor the world, in fact we would have been better off had we been hardline rightwing,,, but like cesspool jones has said of late, we (as a society) were pussies and allowed mediocrity, weakness, and liberalism to get a foothold,,,

I think you are both wrong here, and trying to place the blame on a group of people who had nothing to do with the trajectory we as a country went off on.

Dummy Boy Loc: Michigan

Agreed, so see my post below:

Dummy Boy Loc: Michigan

Christian or Pharisee?:

Actions like Jesus:
• I listen to others to learn their story before telling them about my faith.
• In recent years, I have influenced multiple people to consider following Christ.
• I regularly choose to have meals with people with very different faith or morals from me.
• I try to discover the needs of non-Christians rather than waiting for them to come to me.
• I am personally spending time with non-believers to help them follow Jesus.
Attitudes like Jesus:
• I see God-given value in every person, regardless of their past or present condition.
• I believe God is for everyone.
• I see God working in people’s lives, even when they are not following him.
• It is more important to help people know God is for them than to make sure they know they are sinners.
• I feel compassion for people who are not following God and doing immoral things.
The 10 statements used to assess self-righteousness (like the Pharisees), included the following research items:
Self-Righteous Actions:
• I tell others the most important thing in my life is following God’s rules.
• I don’t talk about my sins or struggles. That’s between me and God.
• I try to avoid spending time with people who are openly gay or lesbian.
• I like to point out those who do not have the right theology or doctrine.
• I prefer to serve people who attend my church rather than those outside the church.
Self-Righteous Attitudes:
• I find it hard to be friends with people who seem to constantly do the wrong things.
• It’s not my responsibility to help people who won’t help themselves.
• I feel grateful to be a Christian when I see other people’s failures and flaws.
• I believe we should stand against those who are opposed to Christian values.
• People who follow God’s rules are better than those who do not.

Ve'hoe

Like Jesus or a Pharisee or Hitler:

I accept my sin, argue that it is not fixable and demand you change your morality and dogma to allow me to do what I want, not what the rules of the religion are.

I want you to accept my sin as normal and change your faith to fit with wh**ever morality I cannot seem to change.

I am a "good" person, though I sin, and wont stop, and unlike any other sin, accept my particular brand.

I dont like people telling me that my sin is a sin.. I refuse rebuke.

I demand that I have all the rights and freedoms of the established religion, while denying others their right to oppose me, or disbelieve in what I determine to be the right way to do things..

I deny the tenets of your religion, and seek to destroy your institutions, because of an action I choose to do...

I can be "spiritual" and twist the words of Jesus into anything I want,,, right now, that is a justification of my sin, but it may extend to persecution if I dont get my way.

Armageddun Loc: The show me state

I'm not sure I understand all of this. I will admit to being hard on Dummy early on. But I have been agreeing with most of his post as of late. As far as V goes I don't remember ever having and discourse about spiritual matters. I am friends with several several non believers and Atheist.

Just as I don't like same sex marriage shoved in my face. if that is what makes peoples socks go up and down so be it.

The only thing I believe is that we are free agents, we are free to believe or reject God.

Every choice we make has a consequence some good, some bad.
If I have offended you in any way I apologize and ask your forgiveness.

If you notice, this is a sample way for Christians to make comments, it is not a sermon. The article plainly refers to Christians being mean in their online discussions. I apologize for anything stupid or offensive I may have said but I will never apologize for who I believe in and what the Bible teaches.

Ve'hoe

Just like in the military, there are those who adhere to the regs and those who stretch them and those who flatly abuse them..
I know what is right, and I try to do it, some people know what is right and curtly try to get around it, others just stomp right through it,,,

The platitude-ish "what people should do to act like jesus" crap makes me laugh, when left leaning people employ the tactics of hitler claiming they are being "Christ-like"

When offered the "Crown of the Jews" Jesus said, my kingdom is not of this world,,,, that, I believe is still true,

So one fleabag l*****t, claiming the fleabag right-ist is mean, less Christian, or morally worse than the other is like two fleas arguing about who benefits the mangy assed dog they are on... since neither is Christ-like,, neither is worthy..


I get what you are saying,,, whenever I meet someone (and I am a "pretty-good" Christian,,, I have my days good and bad) who leads off, with a sneering smile and "Hi, I am a good Christian woman/man.....wh**ever" I immediately put my hand on my wallet...

However, when I look at the results of l*****t thought, the lack of rigidity to rules, and adherence to the rule of law, like is going on now,,, and I see the devastation of the black race, the Indians, the poor, the immigrants, a******n, the wars, the greed and corruption, and now the loss of "IRS emails" for only Lois Lerner,,, I know that these people are NOT guided by Jesus,,,

Jesus, would tell the t***h,,, he would not tell you what you wanted to hear, no matter how much it bothered you,,,

And most who thought they were good people were sorely disappointed,,, some got pissed, and it was the intellectuals, the governing elite, and the priests who k**led him, for threatening to topple their Ponzi scheme, and upset their base of power...

Armageddun Loc: The show me state

We are both on the same page we are just using different terms so lets just agree to say,"What is written is written" and be friends.

Ve'hoe

this "fight" developed because "The the people in Churches were no different than the people outside"

It has spread to our governing, and our lives in general,,, would we be better off if we were complete socialists for Jesus,,, you bet,, but even I would rebel against that,,,

It is human nature, to be "stiff-necked" we will not get away from that, until they plant us,,,

In that light, like you say,,, the argument/fight doesn't make any sense.. but it is NOT the religions fault, like I have said before,, it is humans fault,,,

Kind of like Gay Marriage,, "exactly what are they going to do to the institution that we heteros have not already defiled the institution , with?"