Jesus said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35)
At ChrisitanForums.net, we try our best to live this out and our staff is here to help set the tone and example of what it’s like to live out our faith in such a diverse community of believers where unity doesn’t mean uniformity but instead we spur one another to be transformed. (Romans 12:2)
As a member of this community, the staff will try and facilitate an environment where you can learn and grow in your faith as we build each other up (Ephesians 4:11-13). We understand that there are topics that some brothers and sisters feel very passionate about and if left untamed, create division within the body. At ChristianForums.net, our goal is to unite the Body of Christ, and teach biblical principals of unity within the body, not division. We are not discouraging debate in appropriate forums or discussions where disagreements exist, however there are respectful ways of communicating differing opinions and interpretations of scripture. We hope you will continue to engage with others where you see things differently but that you do so in a way that edifies and doesn’t tear down.
1 John 2:1-10 teaches us that as disciples of Jesus, we have a savior who is willing to forgive us when we stumble in the dark. He goes on to say that we will know if we are in Christ if we keep his commandments, and that we ought to walk as Jesus walked. We all stumble, but we must never stumble so far that we hate our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Our staff understands that disputes arise and the discussions are important to have. As a result, we feel it is important for you to know how you will be treated by staff when this occurs.
First, when a thread starts becoming heated, our staff will edit any offending posts that are targeted negatively toward another member or otherwise disrupt the flow. The staff member editing your post will send you a PM describing why the post(s) was edited. You will be sent a system notification with a brief description of why the message was deleted from the staff member who removed your post. If you start to have bad feelings toward your brother during a heated discussion we expect you to take your concern directly to that person in private message (Matthew 18:15). If the staff starts to see personal attacks toward members, we will remove those posts and send you a personal message telling you why your post was removed.
We understand that a heated discussion lends to the feeling of justification to act in a way that Jesus never acted. The staff is not here to take theological sides in these types of situations, but rather we are here to maintain a healthy environment that spurs and encourages growth by loving one another.
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things
If you cannot love your brother or Sister, you will be asked to remove yourself from the discussion. If your zeal causes you to loose your self control, you will be removed from the discussion through our forum tools and we will contact you in private message.
With the exception of spam or a an obvious troll, no member will be banned on the sole decision of a single staff member.
Any concerns can be discussed with the staff member who issued the warning, or a discussion can be opened in the Talk With The Staff forum.