Anyone in need of a savior is a victim. Victims need to be saved.
What is with abusive atheists?
by Fernando 187 Replies latest jw friends
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THE GLADIATOR
Regarding the opening post, Christians believe they represent Christ, so they have to act in a way that proves they are moved by Christ’s spirit. On the other hand atheists only represent themselves and do not have beliefs that need to be defended. The only consideration is what others on the board may think of them personally, if they are rude and offensive.
Attacking a Christian’s faith strengthens it. Opposition is expected and becomes further proof that they have truth. It is the least effective way of encouraging Christians or Jehovah's Witnesses to consider non-believers views.
At the end of the day we all choose to be here. If we don’t like a person’s comments we can choose to ignore them, respond in a polite way, or tell them to go to hell. No one is pulling our strings, we all have a choice. Me-thinks that many here enjoy heated debates and mud slinging. I have done my share of that in my time.
I guess we calm down once we have vented our rage and discharged the strong emotions that are a necessary part of moving on. This board provides an invaluable service as a place to work out our emotion. We owe Simon a huge thank you.
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FlyingHighNow
I want to point out that the OP acknowledges that he has had good, respectful conversations on JWN with atheists. He isn't addressing any and all atheists, but only the ones who in his estimation have been abusive. He mentions not just Christians, but believers in general in his OP. He hasn't said that atheists should not discuss atheism with believers on JWN. I'm writing this because I see a little bit of knee jerk reaction in some of the replies. Which is easy to do on any thread: read quickly and miss words and meanings in the posts. I forget that sometimes, to just slow down, read all words and think first before typing out a quick reply. How many times have I missed the real meaning of a post because I read to quickly.
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FlyingHighNow
At the end of the day we all choose to be here. If we don’t like a person’s comments we can choose to ignore them, respond in a polite way, or tell them to go to hell. No one is pulling our strings, we all have a choice. Me-thinks that many here enjoy heated debates and mud slinging. I have done my share of that in my time.
I agree. Some don't though and whether it be atheist or believer, there has been too much tension and it has hijacked the board at times in the past few months. I haven't read as much lately on JWN, but it seems like the Sparlock threads have come along and gotten exjw's back on track, working together with humor to combat the WTBTS. So the atheist vs believers vs atheists threads have reduced in numbers at least. I haven't been following New Chapter's ongoing thread lately to know what kind of tone it has taken, but it started out with some good questions and drew some intelligent commentary and exchanges. I don't think anyone wants to see the subject of atheism dropped from the board. I think people just want to see less tension, which goes on in both directions.
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caliber
I want to point out that the OP acknowledges that he has had good, respectful conversations on JWN with atheists. He isn't addressing any and all atheists, but only the ones who in his estimation have been abusive.
So true FHN another example , if a person posted "What is it with self-righteous Christians ? "
...if we are in a "defensive frame of mind" we would take offence and say "it is a generalization , he's including every Christian alive"
to assume to be able read everyone's intent, every time is not a good idea
The reasoning is "shoot now and ask questions later"
We could just ask a question... What are you trying to say here , could you please clarify ?
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NewChapter
I think it is time for me to start that thread titled: What is with the abusive Christians?
This will not be taken personally, and I will put a couple of weak after comments to the effect that: and it's wrong for atheists too.
Ohhhhhh such unreasonableness!
And for the record---there was never any problem with the number of atheist threads. There could have been 30 going at a time----why would that be a problem? You are always free to not click. WTF is the issue with the number of threads? It's like some cosmic accounting system---OMG there are SO MANY atheist threads---the balance is off the balance is off. I must jump on every single one of them, and lament how many there are.
Get Over It. Geez.
NC
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soft+gentle
thank you flyinghighnow for reminding us of Fernando's intentions. I have been sitting here for half and hour wondering how to reply to questions that have been directed to me and that I would like to expand on but the problem is that one has to first point out where there is a misunderstanding or a misreading and after that to aks is the intention just to paint believers as stupid victims or not? I don't have the patience of tec or aguest so have decided not to reply for now and let Fernando come in first to direct how he wants the thread to proceed.
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FlyingHighNow
soft + gentle, you are welcome.
I'm like you, I don't have as much patience and diplomacy as Tec. She sets an example for us all.
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palmtree67
Yup.
A barely-there, slipped in comment along the lines of, "Oh, yea and it's wrong for believers, too...." always seems to come way too late. Silence condones.
And any believer has yet to address this fact: Believers have name-called and used foul language to a far greater degree than non-believers here. I don't care anymore if you feel disrespected or personally attacked. What has been done to non-believers goes far beyond anything that has been done to believers here.
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FlyingHighNow
I don't think anyone wants to see the subject of atheism dropped from the board. I think people just want to see less tension, which goes on in both directions. FHN