Serious Business- Yeah, you better believe this is serious

Alright, this is to the point where I've had enough. At at my limit now, I can't take anymore of this crap. Serious Discussion has turned into absolute ****

I am sick and tired of seeing every thread be turned into a Christian bashing. Whether it's due to some person people don't like or just because this whole place is becoming anti-Christian, the topics quickly turn from the point, to lets degrade a religion. Whichever way, it's pathetic. This is a forum where all opinions are allowed, this is a board where we're supposed to respect our beliefs. I'm not seeing that at all, especially with my religion

Everyone can say as much as they want, but whether you like it or not, it is us Christians that take the beatings. Many morons on this board have gotten the idea that because two people they don't like are Christians, that all are like that, and because of it, they begin to insult my religion. This entire board has stereotyped my Faith, one such good example of a fool who spoke at towards the end of the "Gay genes found?" thread, it's a perfect example, and I'm glad he has a big enough mouth to say it, because he proves my point-

And all those gay people now should live their lives in fear because you guys are going after them with pitchforks now, right? After all, you are LOVING them!

After endless times that I've proven these people wrong, explaining clearly how Christians do not hate homosexuals, he pulls this outta his *** and blatantly accuses me of prejudice.

This is insane. That board is complete garbage now, and nothing's been done about it. Mods have locked thread after thread, and God knows how many discussions have been turned into bashings on my religion, and nothing is done. I don't know about you guys, but that's not a mod's job to lock, it's to correct the problem and make sure it never happens again

And that's not been done. But I want something done. I want this to end and and it to end now. I want this hatred and spiteful anti-Christian feeling and acting outta this place, whether it be through verbal warnings, or actual attonement. This is not a complaint, this is not a rant, this is a demand

I've done nothing to harm others on here, and neither have my Christian brothers. You can say that they've offended you, but it's no where near how we are now. There are Christians on here that the majority of people do not hate; me, BBD, bob etc. and yet our Religion and Faith is still verbally trashed and disrespected. We've done nothing to you, and we have to suffer because of peoples' immaturity, stupidity, arrogance and obvious ignorance.

This has gone on too long, and nothing's been done. I've held it in for many occasions, but now, this is too much, and it will not go on. It's as simple as this- I'm not gonna let this stand

Heh, Mirren, wake up. That board turned to garbage as soon as it was created. We may as well just stick them all in the Battle Arena and leave it at that, because I'm sure if someone else doesn't go for Wind or Rena first, Mad Hatter will.

No one has done harm, people are just stupid. The best you can do here is ignore what they say, or be one of the smart ones and avoid the board almost all together. There is WAY too much sensless flaming there, but it can't be helped, the board has been created. It might be a welcome change to remove it or hide it from all users for a while, though.

I completely agree... but for those people who do not... well, you may have just created another doomed Serious Bussiness thread yourself Mirren...

What do you want us to do then, Mirren? Lock the whole board up? As long as it exists, people will continue screaming out their beliefs. It's sad that people can't respect each other, yes. And it's not good that the Christians are constantly under flame either. Some of you (yes, I'm going to put it like that) act well, know how to behave and to carry out a good argument. Then there's those that want to shove their opinions down everyone's throats. These people exist on both sides, I admit. But as long as there's someone saying "I'm right, you're wrong. Do what I say or die." then people will respond in just the same way.

We could hand out warnings, but I somehow doubt it would help. It won't change people, will it? Now, I'm not in there all too often, only to lock a thread or two from time to time, so I'll leave it to others to explain better. I've never been good with words anyways.

So change the Serious Discussion board to a protected forum, one you need to be granted access to in order to view. It's an easy way to prevent the immature and ignorant from talking out of their asses.

I'm well aware of all the Christian bashing that occurs all over; believe me, it's not a problem restricted to ZU, and because of it I've been turned off from Serious Discussion boards everywhere. I myself am a very proud Christian, and I'm proud to say I don't hate anyone; however, many other people have apparently lost the ability to see past stereotypes, and sadly feel no remorse when it comes to voicing opinions steeped in bias. Worse still is that many people do not have any desire to see past the few bad apples and understand that Christians are good people.

Making it an exclusive forum is not a good idea. There is no fair way to determine who can view such a forum, and even if there were some way to do that, people would still act as they do. People are people.

There will always, no matter what you do, be some people who shove their ideas down everyone's throats (as Lioness put it), and there's no way to avoid it.

I have tried all kinds of methods to try and get people to stop. Nothing is effective, as it is simply part of human nature. I'd have to say the easiest way to deal with it is to not take it personally. Step back from the discussion, consider what the close-minded individuals are saying, and laugh.

It also helps to ignore those who are incapable of listening to opposition, or at least fail to reply.

At the beginning when the SD board was being contemplated, a general agreement was reached whereas stricter modding was supposed to be enforced with warnings handed out to the offenders who do not stay on topic and/or flame others. But I saw none of that happening, and even IF it did, was very rare.

Locking a thread will simply channel the current argument to another thread. If strict procedures are taken against indiVIDUals then maybe the others will take heed.
*shrugs*

Mirren, why is it that we always need to relearn lessons? We certainly ARE weak...

Remember how you realized it was a wonderful thing that we were being attacked? Don't let go of that lesson. You're going to be brought back to it, at the end, so might as well bypass more struggles and hold onto the lesson instead of having to relearn it.

And please guard your words. Do you believe that it is the love and gentleness that gets "bashed"? I wish that it were. You speak against a stereotype, and yet you feed it as if it were your lifeline. You have One Lifeline, Mirren. His Words should proceed from your mouth, not Satan's--which are envy, hatred, strife. . .

Remember, "out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks."

If you call someone a fool, you are in danger of the Hellfire. It is a Serious Business, Mirren. "The tongue is a flame, set itself on fire by Hell." With it we bless God, and with it we curse our brethren.

Embrace the Fire.

Originally posted by Lioness
What do you want us to do then, Mirren?

What AQ said seemed like what was the solution- stricter moderation. Yet I see none of that. All I see are Christianity and Christians being bashed, and you mods locking the threads. All you do is halt the problem, you don't correct, hell, you don't even make an attempt to correct it. I would honestly say that it is getting close that there is prejudice here against a certain religion and it's followers. Are you mods and super mods gonna let that slide? When it's against our forum rules?

I see newbs being pounded on several occasions for breaking a rule, and yet while a religion is being tormented, you sit back and preclude one argument. That's all

Originally posted by Big Bro Davidia
Mirren, why is it that we always need to relearn lessons? We certainly ARE weak...

Remember how you realized it was a wonderful thing that we were being attacked? Don't let go of that lesson. You're going to be brought back to it, at the end, so might as well bypass more struggles and hold onto the lesson instead of having to relearn it.

And please guard your words. Do you believe that it is the love and gentleness that gets "bashed"? I wish that it were. You speak against a stereotype, and yet you feed it as if it were your lifeline. You have One Lifeline, Mirren. His Words should proceed from your mouth, not Satan's--which are envy, hatred, strife. . .

Remember, "out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks."

If you call someone a fool, you are in danger of the Hellfire. It is a Serious Business, Mirren. "The tongue is a flame, set itself on fire by Hell." With it we bless God, and with it we curse our brethren.

Embrace the Fire.

I never learned that lesson, BBD. I told you I did, but shortly, I came to disagree with it. Forgive me for the lie

But I'll explain myself. I am not weak. We are not weak. We are strong, just as Jesus was. Our Hearts are mighty, and our Souls are powerful. We have senses of Good and Evil, and we fight to save others from it. Spiritually, we are stalwart.

I'm zealous. I believe to have some of St. Simon's vigor in me, that I use to defend our Faith, and God's People. To tell me to let not only our religion, but us now to be abused, is something I cannot listen to. It is telling me to abandon the role I believe I have in our Faith, besides to worship God and love others. I am a defender, a protector of his Word and his Creations, as you are a Teacher, giving explanations of his Word and making people learned of them. I'm sorry BBD, but I cannot accept that just yet. This has gone from Christianity disrespect, to now us. I will not allow God's Law and Creatures to suffer, and in the process, I preach his Word, making known the truth of his Good Will, and that those who insult it are wrong.

Well, "if you do speak, speak as the oracles of God."

Perhaps someone trustworthy and with a history of keeping a balance in Serious Discussion should be appointed as a Section Mod.

;0)

Alright, Mirren. I'm not in the SD all too often, and I told the mod team such before the section even was created. Next time you see a post that you find offensive, to you, your religion, or to someone else, click on the Report a Post button. It'll give me a reason to venture into the Boards of ..."Serious Discussion" and see what's going on. Me, or some other mod.

*nod* I thank you, as for your cooperation. I will only report what I see as extremley offensive.

I appreciate your understanding

After endless times that I've proven these people wrong, explaining clearly how Christians do not hate homosexuals, he pulls this outta his *** and blatantly accuses me of prejudice.

Hate the sin and not the sinner, yes? Do we remember when we were taught lessons about how these two things cannot logically be seperated? No, we don't, do we.

Never, ever make any claims about other people's ignorance, kid. Pot-calling-kettle.

I've had to deal with other people bull**** all my life because I'm queer - every Christian on this board at one time or another has tried to convince me I'm destined for Hell if I don't change my ways.

How do you justify using the "Gay Gene" thread as an example of oppressed Christians? Because for three and half pages I had to tolerate reading hate packaged as belief. You have no right, divinely-inspired or not, to judge me, and you do, you all do. But the moment you're called out for it you cry bigotry.

Your problem is you see every argument against Christianity as wrong. You're a hysterical child who wants the world one way. It doesn't work like that. You have no right to demand anything.

But I'll explain myself. I am not weak. We are not weak. We are strong, just as Jesus was. Our Hearts are mighty, and our Souls are powerful. We have senses of Good and Evil, and we fight to save others from it. Spiritually, we are stalwart.

I will not allow God's Law and Creatures to suffer, and in the process, I preach his Word, making known the truth of his Good Will, and that those who insult it are wrong.

BBD lives by example. His Faith is his armour. I, an absolute heathen, respect him mightily for that.

But you use your Faith as a weapon.

I find that disgusting.

Originally posted by pipking
Hate the sin and not the sinner, yes? Do we remember when we were taught lessons about how these two things cannot logically be seperated? No, we don't, do we.

Can you please explain a little further? I don't want to go off on something I don't clearly understand yet

I've had to deal with other people bull**** all my life because I'm queer - every Christian on this board at one time or another has tried to convince me I'm destined for Hell if I don't change my ways.

Gimme a break pip. You know damn-well that there's many who haven't. I for example. I respect you from the bottom of my heart, I probably have more respect for you than anyone else on this board. Have I ever shown any hate to you for being who you are? No, and you know it dammit. You know that I've never even tried to preach to anyone on this board literally, much less say you're going to hell for being gay. Seriously, for you to say that hurts me, because you think every Christian has, well guess what, I'm Christian, and I haven't, and I never will, to anyone.

How do you justify using the "Gay Gene" thread as an example of oppressed Christians? Because for three and half pages I had to tolerate reading hate packaged as belief. You have no right, divinely-inspired or not, to judge me, and you do, you all do. But the moment you're called out for it you cry bigotry.

It's not about Christians anymore pip, it's about Christianity. It's no longer about people going after whoever says something, they begin to trash my entire Faith. I know people hate omega and Wind, I know once in a while, they haven't expressed themselves in the best of ways, yet it's not them anymore who people speak out against. It's Christianity. My religion has done nothing to harm members on this board, it may be a select few Christians, but not the Faith itself.

I do not judge you morally pip, and you friggin' know that. I'll tell you though, I do judge you on other matters. I judge you on that you're a person I highly respect. You're someone I look up too, you're someone I look to for advice, especially for my writing. You're someone I wanna be like when it comes to the best damn talent I have. And now you go and crossly say "You have no right to judge me" when I have haven't judged a God-dang thing on your morally? I have but one question- What the hell pip?

Your problem is you see every argument against Christianity as wrong. You're a hysterical child who wants the world one way. It doesn't work like that. You have no right to demand anything.

Bull ****. Everyone on this board frickin' knows I am one of the more tolerant Christians, even Rena had friggin' admitted it. I do not preach my Faith, I explain it, and I defend it when it is insulted. I'ver never said anyone's going to hell, I've never flat out said "You're evil for your beliefs" I keep that to myself and I never let it ouy to that person because in my eyes, I'd rather have them choose for themselves what the hell to do, and if not, it's no matter to me. I live my life, you live your life. I explain my views, you explain your views. Arguments come, and I flip out only when my religion is insulted to a good degree. People on this board aren't just going after the people they dislike, but now the Faith, and I'm pissed pip, and I have every right to be.

BBD lives by example. His Faith is his armour. I, an absolute heathen, respect him mightily for that.

But you use your Faith as a weapon.

I find that disgusting.

Disgusting? Perhaps if you understood you'd use a more different way of words

Allow me to elucidate for anyone who hasn't seen how it truly is. I do not use my Faith as a weapon, I use my zeal as a weapon. I defend my Faith, I do not attack with it. I use knowledge of my Faith to defend it, to shut up those who do not agree with it, but go so far as to blatantly disrespect it and revile it.

Forgive me pip, if you see that my knowledge of my Beliefs is what I use to quiet the mouthes of those who do not understand, or those who choose not too, and trash my religion. Forgive me, if I do not have the b**** to preach, but instead simply explain my beliefs, and defend my Faith when it is oppressed.

You chose to use the "gay genes" thread as an example.

I'd like to point out that the entire purpose of the thread was to discuss 'nature vs. nurture'. Of couse, as is usual, a collection of morons decided to preach that homosexuality is wrong, rather than adress the topic. These people tend to be christian and use their faith as the sole backing for their argument. It's only natural that some people lash out against that.

Oh, yea, this is going straight in the right direction...

Some people are stupid and can't see the difference between the people and the faith. It happens.

If there are any problems, we have the "report bad post" function.

People are stupid: deal with it.

On that note, I've recently stepped up security in that forum, but I'll be keeping things even tighter from now on. I didn't bother reading through any of the discussion above because, frankly, I find it inane and useless, bearing in no way to the topic at hand.

So, there we have it. Stricter moderation for everybody, including much more frequent striking for flaming, insults, and general idiocy. I'm hoping this will resolve any issues you have, Mirren, as well as anyone else. Just note that the extra strictness goes both ways.