For a long time now I have had two bully sites often visiting my blog. It seems their whole purpose is to sabotage Christian fundamentalist's values. It took me awhile to realize this. I was getting many dissenting comments on my blog that made my blog not such a fun place to visit. I finally figured out what was going on and had to put my comments on moderation. Much of the following is adapted from something Ken recently wrote to a disagreeing friend which captures the spirit of what I need to lovingly say to my detractors, affectionately called my trolls.
The picture above is of my two cats who patiently watch me eat breakfast just to pounce on any scraps that I may inadvertently miss. It seems that some people are so set on destruction that they grab every little thing to attack, distract, and try to destroy the heart intent and meaning of what I am sharing. If I get up from the table they pounce on my food and eat it because they have no compass based on the authority and integrity of God's Word.
We can go round and round with their mean comments, but I have learned to effectively use the delete button and not publish their distractions. Their non-conservative bias is obvious, along with their inability to see, believe or understand the authority of God's Word. Often their thoughts have a good basis in objectivity until one realizes the foundation on which they stand is the quicksand of an era moving away from God; "and everyone did what was right in their own eyes." Intellectual arguments will not change God's Word. It is called God's Word because that is what He intends for mankind and we will all be held accountable for living by it... to the degree of knowledge we possess concerning the scriptures.
There is so much I disagree with my trolls on, and they obviously disagree with the time tested wisdom based on God's Word. That's OK for us to disagree, and to realize that we cannot meet in the middle because our circles do no intersect. The scriptures are filled with warnings to not exult man's wisdom {which they call objectivity} over His wisdom and His exclusive right to be God.
Ken and I do not claim to speak on His behalf, nor do we think we know it all. My blog is intended for the followers of Jesus Christ who choose to live their lives according to faith in God and His Word, and those who are seeking. I unapologetically believe God's Word in a much more literal and all inclusive way than my detractors will accept.
I do not know if my trolls throw out all of God's Word, or if some truly love God and are saved by His grace, but have bought into a mindset that a conservative faith is somehow destructive to people and our society. They cannot reconcile some things in God's Word with how they perceive an "advanced and accepting society should live." We do not disagree that there are some things that are hard to comprehend in God's Word and that is why both
Ken and I have made it our life's ambition to know His Word intimately. Context will resolve most issues with the scriptures, especially the understanding that God takes mankind through history and grows up a people who love Him and desire to be with Him throughout eternity. A cave man's ability to know God's will, an Israelite's ability and a modern day Christian's ability will be different because of the degree of knowledge that God has granted each historical dispensation by His Word.
I can see my trolls affirming that statement and wanting me to go further and say that because slavery is in the Bible is wrong, polygamy, mass wars, kings and kingdoms, all evolving to a much better understanding of the heart of God, that somehow we will some day appreciate that God created the new modern era of "love wins all." Many, and some who call themselves christians, want to redact large portions of the scriptures to boil it all down to "the Words of Jesus alone." If that is not enough, because it misses their goal of loving acceptance of all manners of life, they will even say, "we just do not know exactly what Jesus said because it wasn't written down until long after he died, but we know that Jesus loves sinners and died for all peoples!"
No way, no how, never never, will we who believe in God's Word buy into a system that allows each person to create their own understanding of what is true or not true about God and His desires for mankind. Perhaps we have a faulty premise that our God chooses a personal relationship with us, and to have such a personal relationship He would speak clearly to us in His Word, not some book that He expects each person to carve up and redact to meet their own world view. We fundamentally believe God to be loving and powerful enough to not leave us with confusing instructions, and further more He says:
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
2 Timothy 3:16
I do not want my trolls to misunderstand, but they will, that Ken and I have no ill will towards them. Actually, we are often amused and entertained by some of their comments, and find it fascinating that particularly one troll can be so prolific in what they write, just to have it find the trash can without being published, and often not even read. It is amazing how many ip addresses and false email addresses the same troll can use to disguise who they are. If the comments are somewhat objective and modestly fair, I have no qualms with publishing them. But to spew unkind attacks and liberal rhetoric all over my blog in the name of making me more loving and open minded is not happening.
For some reason it makes no difference to the trolls what purpose a blog has, because their purpose is destruction, just because they disagree. Just as I have the power to delete, they too have the power to not read the words of strong believers. No, something attracts them to the words of joyful, loving, committed believers who have proven lives of success living full out for Jesus. Is it the words they detest, or are their lives so miserable they want everyone in the gutter with them, wallowing in the mud and filth of their language?
If we get to heaven and find out that somehow others who are not students of God's Word were more enlightened than we are, then so be it. I can hold my head low and humbly acknowledge that apart from Jesus I am nothing. I am called to do my best for Him, and to please Him in all things. This is the mission of our lives. The purpose of my blog is to train Christian women in the ways of God's Word, sharing how my disobedience led to destruction and my obedience to a fabulous marriage and a life filled with joy.
There are many others out there who may agree with the trolls, but few who hold Jesus in as high an esteem, or with the desire to truly please Him in all things. It is most likely at the cross of Jesus we fundamentally disagree, and for that, I have no arguments that can convince the detractors. Only an urging to read God's Word and let God Himself speak into their lives.
With all my love, my hopes and my prayers I ask God to bless your lives as much as He has blessed me as I try to live in obedience to every word He has died to give me. Yes, when you find Jesus with His nail scared hands embracing your life completely, only then will much of what I write begin to make sense to you. Until then, I only ask for your kind tolerance of a different world view. The same tolerance you so strongly advocate for your non-conservative worldview which has yet to be tested by time, and I fear is the ultimate destruction of the family and society as we know it.
There is so much I disagree with my trolls on, and they obviously disagree with the time tested wisdom based on God's Word. That's OK for us to disagree, and to realize that we cannot meet in the middle because our circles do no intersect. The scriptures are filled with warnings to not exult man's wisdom {which they call objectivity} over His wisdom and His exclusive right to be God.
Ken and I do not claim to speak on His behalf, nor do we think we know it all. My blog is intended for the followers of Jesus Christ who choose to live their lives according to faith in God and His Word, and those who are seeking. I unapologetically believe God's Word in a much more literal and all inclusive way than my detractors will accept.
I do not know if my trolls throw out all of God's Word, or if some truly love God and are saved by His grace, but have bought into a mindset that a conservative faith is somehow destructive to people and our society. They cannot reconcile some things in God's Word with how they perceive an "advanced and accepting society should live." We do not disagree that there are some things that are hard to comprehend in God's Word and that is why both
Ken and I have made it our life's ambition to know His Word intimately. Context will resolve most issues with the scriptures, especially the understanding that God takes mankind through history and grows up a people who love Him and desire to be with Him throughout eternity. A cave man's ability to know God's will, an Israelite's ability and a modern day Christian's ability will be different because of the degree of knowledge that God has granted each historical dispensation by His Word.
I can see my trolls affirming that statement and wanting me to go further and say that because slavery is in the Bible is wrong, polygamy, mass wars, kings and kingdoms, all evolving to a much better understanding of the heart of God, that somehow we will some day appreciate that God created the new modern era of "love wins all." Many, and some who call themselves christians, want to redact large portions of the scriptures to boil it all down to "the Words of Jesus alone." If that is not enough, because it misses their goal of loving acceptance of all manners of life, they will even say, "we just do not know exactly what Jesus said because it wasn't written down until long after he died, but we know that Jesus loves sinners and died for all peoples!"
No way, no how, never never, will we who believe in God's Word buy into a system that allows each person to create their own understanding of what is true or not true about God and His desires for mankind. Perhaps we have a faulty premise that our God chooses a personal relationship with us, and to have such a personal relationship He would speak clearly to us in His Word, not some book that He expects each person to carve up and redact to meet their own world view. We fundamentally believe God to be loving and powerful enough to not leave us with confusing instructions, and further more He says:
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
2 Timothy 3:16
I do not want my trolls to misunderstand, but they will, that Ken and I have no ill will towards them. Actually, we are often amused and entertained by some of their comments, and find it fascinating that particularly one troll can be so prolific in what they write, just to have it find the trash can without being published, and often not even read. It is amazing how many ip addresses and false email addresses the same troll can use to disguise who they are. If the comments are somewhat objective and modestly fair, I have no qualms with publishing them. But to spew unkind attacks and liberal rhetoric all over my blog in the name of making me more loving and open minded is not happening.
For some reason it makes no difference to the trolls what purpose a blog has, because their purpose is destruction, just because they disagree. Just as I have the power to delete, they too have the power to not read the words of strong believers. No, something attracts them to the words of joyful, loving, committed believers who have proven lives of success living full out for Jesus. Is it the words they detest, or are their lives so miserable they want everyone in the gutter with them, wallowing in the mud and filth of their language?
If we get to heaven and find out that somehow others who are not students of God's Word were more enlightened than we are, then so be it. I can hold my head low and humbly acknowledge that apart from Jesus I am nothing. I am called to do my best for Him, and to please Him in all things. This is the mission of our lives. The purpose of my blog is to train Christian women in the ways of God's Word, sharing how my disobedience led to destruction and my obedience to a fabulous marriage and a life filled with joy.
There are many others out there who may agree with the trolls, but few who hold Jesus in as high an esteem, or with the desire to truly please Him in all things. It is most likely at the cross of Jesus we fundamentally disagree, and for that, I have no arguments that can convince the detractors. Only an urging to read God's Word and let God Himself speak into their lives.
With all my love, my hopes and my prayers I ask God to bless your lives as much as He has blessed me as I try to live in obedience to every word He has died to give me. Yes, when you find Jesus with His nail scared hands embracing your life completely, only then will much of what I write begin to make sense to you. Until then, I only ask for your kind tolerance of a different world view. The same tolerance you so strongly advocate for your non-conservative worldview which has yet to be tested by time, and I fear is the ultimate destruction of the family and society as we know it.
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