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 Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2014 11:10 pm
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I have some suggestions. Please read this before you decide to delete it. OR ask the other members what they think.
The guild is cluttered, if no one has posted in there in over three months move it to the inactive subforum. If is has been a year or more, just delete it. Consider putting a MYTHS BUSTED/DEBATED topic where all of the links that are about what is or is not a sin or is or is not possible all together in one place, maybe even all the links in one post there. I have had a hard time figuring things out myself. Some of the subforums would make good topics, and some topics could be moved to subforums. Some subforums could also be combined. Just condense it. People who are not 'Bible Thumpers' will have an easier time finding what they want or need or where to post.
Make this guild more social. Have several sub-forums for just hanging out, chatting, role-playing, talking about life and games. Outside of a biblical context, but still following Christian ideals. It makes it a much more pleasant place to be yourself and hang out, even if you are not ready to plunge into dissecting the Bible in graphic and opinionated detail. It also makes it a lot easier for people who are here to ask questions, who are not saved, to make friends and hear what they need without feeling attacked. This felt like it was advertised as a wonderful place to be with people of the faith and to learn about it in a peaceful social environment if you were not a Christian. I am saved, and I even feel like I am being attacked with the things I read. Having a fun and judgment free environment makes people open up to each other. BE FRIENDS not a group of Christians that meet up online the same way they do at church, all dolled up and recently read.
Make a subforum just for the people who are not saved. For them to talk to each other, and for them to post questions and discuss the answers that the crew give them to think about. Always accompanied by verses of course, or multiple links to a variety of proofs. It will make them feel accepted to have a place of their own where they do not have to worry about the entire guild replying on their questions, so long as it is designed right.
If someone is in the wrong, in the guild or other wise, do not shame them. There are posts about someone saying something and being 'wrong' even though they are 'christian' they are not upholding the faith. maybe the meaning behind their words were wrong? If people really want to talk about Christianity in Mainstream Media have a subforum for people to talk about the Pope, CS Lewis, and those tele-evangelist.
Basically, there are too many topics that as similar, and most of them could be condensed into one, or at least put into a subforum, the subforums could either be condensed into a single topic so they could be used for something else or several could be condensed into one subforum, and there needs to be some areas where the Bible is not brought up outside of the Crew reminding people they are outside the rules with their topic, language, or behavior.
Sorry this is so long. But I found a lot of problems with the guild set up and how it was ran and did not know where to post this. I joined yesterday, and left today. I just felt like the entire guild was not a hostility and judgment free environment and was geared around forcing the Bible into people and debate.
And one more thing, unless the crew is split up into sections of duty where they PM users to help keep them interested and active, relocated topics, reply to certain topics, delete topics, and enforce rules, it is confusing on who to talk to if the captain is not available.
These are my opinions as to what is wrong with the guild and how I would fix it. I wish you the best, and i hope that if I am not the only one feeling this way that others will speak up so it can be fixed and this guild can become something great, a beacon to gaiaonline and the online world
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Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2014 7:19 am
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Thank you for the feedback. Don't worry, your post will not be deleted. I appreciate you taking the time to write this to us with your concerns, despite leaving. Feedback is what prevents us from doing our own thing, and being separated from the body. A branch separated from the stem. Nobody wants to be that (at least I hope not). Nobody wants to be so autonomous that they are completely left to their own devices. It is not healthy in any part of life, including and most importantly the spiritual aspects of life. That is why it is so important to be plugged into a community of other believers. If we prefer the company of the world over that of our own brothers and sister, we should examine our foundation. What kind of foundation we are building on? What kind of foundation are we built on? What kind of ideals do we have?
What kind of spirit do we follow?
I am going to attempt to implement some of the things you brought up, because they seem like genuine concerns and would make it easier for members to contact us with whatever issues they might have, others I feel I need to comment on in order to make things more transparent. We are not doing things by whatever falls into our heads, or to impose our will and understanding on those around us.
On the topic of shame; It is really hard in our society where everything is true, to not make someone embarrassed if you do not agree with their point of view, or actions. As Christians we believe we are in touch with something beyond everyday relativistic truths. That means something. It means there are things that are wrong. Especially wrong, if those things are in conflict or denying aspects of what is true. This is not popular in our world today, where we are urged to be so accepting of everything. If we say everything is true, and everything is acceptable, we are in way undermining the truth.
Allowing something to be unchallenged if it is wrong, could potentially be destructive for someone who comes across it and doesn't bother to check on whether it is true or not, or have the capacity and ability to fact-check.
As a guild dedicated to the Truth. Not our truth, not my truth, it becomes all the more important that people are orthodox (Greek - orthos "right", "true", "straight") when dealing with Jesus, who is the same today, as He was yesterday, and He will continue being the same forever (Hebrews 13:8.).
Who is the author and finisher of our Faith (Hebrews 12:2). It should be tremendously important to us how people present our King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. Jesus is the same Jesus He was during the first century. He doesn't change. What He did on the cross, and His Resurrection from the grave still carries through the centuries the same importance, the same meaning, the same call to repentance.
In light of this - what is shame? In light of THE TRUTH what is a moment of feeling awkward?
If someone publicly announces, in a very open, and challenging way a view that is as far from orthodoxy as the North is from the South how can we be true to our Lord, true to who He is without speaking up? This is the edge we are balancing on in the guild. On one hand we have the Bible, which our good Lord told us is about Him (The whole Bible is about Jesus - John 5:39 ), and on the other we have people who call themselves brothers and sister, yet reject our Lord's witness. If you have Jesus wrong, if you have atonement wrong, if you have faith wrong are you saved? If your spread your position and knowledge around, how loving would it be of someone to allow what you are saying to be left uncontested? The Bible is quite clear on how to respond, and what is loving, and what is not loving.
It says nothing about avoiding to embarrass people, but it does tell us to be respectful, and at the same time publicly correct people who publicly have done something that requires correction in public.
Galatians 2:14
When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, "You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?
Did Paul make Cephas feel shameful? Was he wrong in pointing it out in public? Did the people Cephas attempted to force into Jewish customs need to hear what Paul had to say?
We truly believe that true love can only be experienced, and shared because God loved us first (1 John 4:19). The expression of that love, is praying for one another, caring for one another, building up one another through kind words, through correction when we are damaging ourselves, or those around us. Love is not only acceptance of other peoples shortcomings (realizing the weakness of the human condition in relation to sin), but stepping in and helping out. It is saying that you don't agree, and giving reason to why you don't agree. You don't have to always agree, or be quiet when you don't agree to love someone. If we see someone not acting in line with the Gospel - is it sin for us to point it out?
Now I agree that there should be a place where people can talk without too heavy moderation, and more one on one, because there should be a place like that for those who desire more personal space. I am planning on making one. It is going to have to come with disclaimers, and its own set of rules and regulations. How I am going to go about doing that I am not sure. I think it is going to be more of a talk about your day, yourself and get to know a friend kind of place.
We are going to attempt to designate areas of responsibility,
and moderators to the most frequented sub-forums, and give someone a second and third contact-person position. I think this was a good idea. To crew: anyone reading this, and wanting something to do - please send me message.
The reason why we do not delete threads, or move them to trash, or into sub-forums marked dead/old threads, is because it may have value to someone who is new to the guild. Since we are making posts that touch on things that have eternal impact, it seems right that it shouldn't be stored away, hidden somewhere. I agree that there is an almost insurmountable amount of threads, or seems to be at least, and that to a new person it is going to be confusing, because you don't know where everything is, or where everything goes, but that is true of many aspects of life. Until we have gotten to know how a school, as an example, does things, we are going to think that it is a lot of new information, and that we, if we could would organize things better, but once we have spent some time familiarizing ourselves with the different layouts of the school, the computer programs etc it becomes familiar to us, and we do it as easily as we would make toast in the morning. I think partly our objection to anything hard, that requires us to figure something out on our own, something that is not chewed for us, is that we live in a society where we are constantly fed easy meals. We get an easy meal kind of mind ingrained in us. Everything is chewed and regurgitated, ready for consumption. Short clips, short movies, short-books, microwave dinners, quick and easy. If you have to look for something more than a minute it is not worth looking for. It is as much a critique of my own attitude towards what is hard to digest, or not readily accessible, as anyone else. It is just a reflection.
Thank you again for commenting on the guild, and how we do things.
I hope this cleared some things up, and that if I have not cleared, or solved all the things you brought up, that you at least feel you have received an honest answer.
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Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2014 9:35 am
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Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2014 1:01 pm
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Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2014 9:32 pm
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Reply
