Thoughts and goodbyes

[melanie]

Just realised its been nearly 2 years since I've been here!!
If anyone has missed my usual mojo I tend to be pretty honest and call it as I see it.
So here it goes.....
I thought for a while meh I'm taking my ball and going home.
Thanks Rick and Audie for the colloquialism

It came to my realisation through some deliberate prodding due to my instinct that my place on this forum was in question.
Nothing nasty of course, the caliber of person on here is above that but more a general feeling I was getting.
I was faced with the realisation when you ask hard questions you may not get the answers you like.
If you don't want honest answers then don't ask.
So I am genuinely grateful for the honest response. I didn't like it. But I'm grateful for the candour and honesty.

But that leaves me wanting to take the closet exit.
I'm not your usual Christian, I'm not your usual anything
I question everything and challenge constantly. My own belief systems the most obvious thing in question. I search and research and internalise and try to be genuinely honest and heartfelt in my positions.
But I'm not going to compromise, or change or navigate who I am to suit the majority. I never have and I'm not about to start.
I have been saddened to realise but not surprised that my faith has been questioned on here. How grounded I am, my thoughts on Christ' divinity, and the most fundamental basics of my faith.
Whilst I believe I have always been very grounded in portraying such, it is secondary issues that have brought such questions to the forefront.
For that I make no apologies.
If it had been a year ago it may have been different because that was when I vocally questioned the Trinity as interpreted by the 'church'. Or even eternal torment/punishment which I'm just not sold on.
But it's more a reflection I believe to my views on gays, refugees, Muslims ect
I'm not towing the line to popular Christian thought, which is evident as such questioning is more evident in recent times.
It becomes an easier assessment to view my beliefs as wayward and not 'mainstream' and to place me in the troublesome category than to openly digest and converse the issues.
That sounds harsh and I'm not questioning that I'm respected on here but the truth is that my faith has been the subject of conversation on this forum by some mods.
That pisses me off.
I take my faith very seriously, it's the cornerstone of my world.
My faith is not the question and when it is made to be the issue then that is a serious problem.
The question is rather the interpretation of what our faith means.
No doubt there are differences as to what that entails and I don't shy away from my viewpoints.
But my faith, my Christianity is sacred. Not to be questioned or made redundant by anyone.
Questions as to its legitimacy or to how grounded it may be makes me feel like perhaps I'm not in the right place.
I like being challenged, always been a person up for debate but when my basic faith is in question it really makes the whole endeavour a mute point.
Which saddens me greatly.
This has been an awesome experience
But I cannot stay where I feel I am misunderstood and misinterpreted.
This is a fantastic community and not perfect but a community of loving Christians but a community that I find myself on the outskirts of and that's not a place I feel comfortable in.

Peace and love

[B. W.]

Mel please reconsider and not take the ball and go home. Please stay. You may not realize how you helped folks here, including myself.

So please reconsider and stick around!

Just realised its been nearly 2 years since I've been here!!
If anyone has missed my usual mojo I tend to be pretty honest and call it as I see it.
So here it goes.....
I thought for a while meh I'm taking my ball and going home.
Thanks Rick and Audie for the colloquialism

It came to my realisation through some deliberate prodding due to my instinct that my place on this forum was in question.
Nothing nasty of course, the caliber of person on here is above that but more a general feeling I was getting.
I was faced with the realisation when you ask hard questions you may not get the answers you like.
If you don't want honest answers then don't ask.
So I am genuinely grateful for the honest response. I didn't like it. But I'm grateful for the candour and honesty.

But that leaves me wanting to take the closet exit.
I'm not your usual Christian, I'm not your usual anything
I question everything and challenge constantly. My own belief systems the most obvious thing in question. I search and research and internalise and try to be genuinely honest and heartfelt in my positions.
But I'm not going to compromise, or change or navigate who I am to suit the majority. I never have and I'm not about to start.
I have been saddened to realise but not surprised that my faith has been questioned on here. How grounded I am, my thoughts on Christ' divinity, and the most fundamental basics of my faith.
Whilst I believe I have always been very grounded in portraying such, it is secondary issues that have brought such questions to the forefront.
For that I make no apologies.
If it had been a year ago it may have been different because that was when I vocally questioned the Trinity as interpreted by the 'church'. Or even eternal torment/punishment which I'm just not sold on.
But it's more a reflection I believe to my views on gays, refugees, Muslims ect
I'm not towing the line to popular Christian thought, which is evident as such questioning is more evident in recent times.
It becomes an easier assessment to view my beliefs as wayward and not 'mainstream' and to place me in the troublesome category than to openly digest and converse the issues.
That sounds harsh and I'm not questioning that I'm respected on here but the truth is that my faith has been the subject of conversation on this forum by some mods.
That pisses me off.
I take my faith very seriously, it's the cornerstone of my world.
My faith is not the question and when it is made to be the issue then that is a serious problem.
The question is rather the interpretation of what our faith means.
No doubt there are differences as to what that entails and I don't shy away from my viewpoints.
But my faith, my Christianity is sacred. Not to be questioned or made redundant by anyone.
Questions as to its legitimacy or to how grounded it may be makes me feel like perhaps I'm not in the right place.
I like being challenged, always been a person up for debate but when my basic faith is in question it really makes the whole endeavour a mute point.
Which saddens me greatly.
This has been an awesome experience
But I cannot stay where I feel I am misunderstood and misinterpreted.
This is a fantastic community and not perfect but a community of loving Christians but a community that I find myself on the outskirts of and that's not a place I feel comfortable in.

Peace and love

[EssentialSacrifice]

B. W. » Mon Apr 04, 2016 10:00 am

Mel please reconsider and not take the ball and go home. Please stay. You may not realize how you helped folks here, including myself.

So please reconsider and stick around!

no better words can be said. you are loved and would be missed hard and should consider and think on them instead of those who attempt to tear you down . Your faith Mel, is infinite. What do you care for the ephemeral words of others ?

your strength has always been in your independence. Your independence has always been your guide.
Your guidance has always been appreciated here.

So please reconsider and stick around!

[RickD]

Mel,

First, where was your faith questioned? Can you show the thread please?

Second, assuming it was questioned, mine has been too. As I'm sure others have had their faith questioned as well. It goes with the territory, I suppose.

Tbh, I'm not really seeing you being on the "outskirts". One thing I've noticed in my time here, is that we are a diverse group. All different kinds of beliefs within Christianity. It's like a family. Everyone is different. Which helps us all grow stronger in our faith. What a boring place this would be, if we all had the same beliefs about everything.

I'd like to know why you think your place here is in question. We have had discussions in the moderator forum, about different members. And nobody has questioned your place here.

Mel, if you don't want to post here, what you found in your prodding, please pm me or another mod. This is not acceptable if someone here is making you feel unwelcome. Being different is no reason to be unwelcome.

This board is supposed to be a place where all Christians are welcome. We have very strong disagreements with each other from time to time, but pushing other believers away because of differences within our faith, is not acceptable.

Please don't leave hastily. Let me know what I can do to help.

[PaulSacramento]

Mel, this place will be all the poorer without you posting.
Please reconsider.

[PaulSacramento]

Mel, you should know that is myself do not have 100% orthodox views and I have, at times, had my faith questioned by the very people I moderate with.
Even before I was a moderator.
It is right for those that care for us and about us to question views we may have that don't seem to "mesh" with orthodoxy.
If they didn't care, they wouldn't care.
The love they had for me, like the love we have for you, means that they wanted the best for me, just as we all want the best for you.
If we question your EXPRESSION of faith ( and by that I mean what you write and NOT how you love) then it is because we simply want clarification or we disagree and, guess what?
It's OK to disagree !!
Paul did it with Peter and James, the apostles didn't always see eye to eye and they KNEW Christ PERSONALLY and learned from Him DIRECTLY !

Mel, we care for you.

That said, if we overstep our bounds it's ok to tell us to back off and give us a wrist slap.

But don't go because we care enough to question.

[1over137]

Hey

[Philip]

Mel, you are very much appreciated and valued around here. Your heart for people and your love for the Lord are very clear. We all have learned a lot from you and your insights. Please don't make an urgent decision - please prayerfully reconsider. I think your perception is wrong over how you think people here view your salvation. And sometimes, in our attempts at "iron sharpening iron," we can offend people, in being direct with questions. Sometimes, that can be taken personally. I would imagine you would be the first person to not want to challenge a position over an issue that you find problematic. But so much directness and assertiveness can sometimes be read as being unwelcome - especially if a majority might espouse a position you don't take - it can make one feel like an outsider. The devil loves to divide and conquer, and you leaving would be a great and totally unnecessary tragedy. We LOVE you, Mel. PLEASE stay!

[RickD]

Mel,

I can't help but think there has been a misunderstanding or miscommunication somewhere along the line, that lead you to believe something that isn't true.

Please try to work this out.

[abelcainsbrother]

I hope you don't go Mel.Eventhough we have disagreements here it is good to have diverse views to discuss I think.I know I have been challenged many of times about some of my views but I just try to show why I think I'm right and leave it at that. You bring I think an important view from a Christian view and that is Christian love.

I do believe muslims are a threat to the west because everywhere muslims live in the world we see Islamic terrorism but at the same time I never want to get to a point we Christians hate muslims. I think it is important to protect our country from Islamic terrorism but at the same time it should be done with love and not all muslims are terrorists.

Still we see Islamic terrorist attacks more often than people know about and it has become a problem and we cannot follow and make the same mistakes Europe did. Sharia law has no place in America or the west and once muslims gain a big enough population in a country they desire Sharia law.Freedom of religion is not a suicide pact.

This is a very difficult situation that we face and we cannot please everybody no matter what we do. But the bottom line is out of all religions in the world only Islam is a threat to the west.It is not Christians,Hindus,Buddhists,etc that pose a threat to the west and we must face up to it and find out why and how to protect ourselves from it.I think it is mostly muslims coming from the middle east that pose a risk. More Christians have been killed by ISIS than at any other time in history and Islamic terrorists behead Christians,atheists,gay people,etc. I would think the peaceful muslims would be all for this too but we have too many situations where the muslim community is either ignoring it or harboring terrorists amongst them and then we have terrorist attacks.

Germany opened up their arms and showed these muslim Syrian refugees love and compassion and yet 100's of German were raped New Years Eve night.So they set up training centers for them and the women who worked there were sexually harrassed by them and constantly feared being raped by them or worse.They do not respect these women and do not listen to them and yet these people are doing exactly the right thing loving them and trying to help them and yet they feared for their life working there.They are being shown love and yet don't want it. They look at a woman like a piece of meat,they are savages and we need to find out why.

But then instead of the German government admitting it made a mistake no they tell German women they need to dress covered up more.We cannot make the same mistakes and just deal with it.We are not punishing ourselves.

Still,if you totally disagree with me? So what, you are still a sister in Christ and one who I think needs to be here. Try to set me straight if I am wrong and explain why and I will change my mind.You did change my mind one time about this but I started seeing more Islamic terrorist attacks and changed my mind again.