You bring up very good points not only for Christian conferencing, but for speaking/communicating in general.

And to Mr. Conrad’s remark regarding the choosing of blogs, you can invite others to subscribe to this blog. What a way to introduce Christ/God/COR to others!

Have a wonderful week ~ GB,
~Marla

The most powerful communion service that I’ve attended was at the 2007 Methodist Bloggers Meetup, when we gathered together and shared Holy Communion in a bar. We all disagreed on many things, but loved each other.

I am very glad you posted this blog. I think, perhaps, it should have been the first blog posted. Though this is my first time at blogging, I used to frequent chat rooms. Many of these had guidelines to follow. They were often enforced by banning people temporarily or permanently for repeatedly breaking the guidelines. Chat rooms without guidelines were usually chaotic. Eventually you would not even be sure what the topic of the room was.

I am not suggesting this website should be censored! If this page had been available when I first became a Christian, I probably would have been one of the most argumentative posters. But being that we are all here to discuss Christianity, I think the guidelines you just pointed out should be permanent guidelines, enforced by honor and refusal to react to inflammatory comments.

I do not wish to criticize you, because I know
I have no right to criticize anyone more than myself. However, it seems reasonable to me that a pastor, maybe, should not ask such a question as: Was Jesus A Democrat Or Republican? This statement seems to me to be an invitation to inflammatory comments. One should never be asked to answer such a question as “Is God On My Side or Yours?” No one should be asked that, and no one is qualified to answer.

You are often compared to a college professor in some aspects. In fact, this is what drew me in when I first started attending COR, but what kept me coming is that I knew all of your challenges and teachings were aimed at the goal of bringing us to a better understanding of God. College professors challenge people to reexamine their views by posing inflammatory comments. In my opinion, pastors should leave this method to the colleges.

All this said, I love this idea of blogging! I can hear and share with the full diversity of people in our church, even when I don’t have much time to spare! And, as I said, the outlines Wesley proposed should, in my opinion, be the adopted outline for how we share our understandings of Christ here in this blog.

And…having said all that, I hope that I am not embarrassed by being the first one to overstep what should be shared in discussion of Christ’s Truth:-) In fact, though I may not be the first, I am certain that I will overstep, and I would appreciate someone telling me, in Christian love, that I have done so. Thank you:-)

Also, I want to think Adam for guiding me, and helping me continually in seeking and finding a better understanding of Truth, of God, of The Way of Christ. It has changed my life in ways I could never before have imagined!

All said in Christ’s Love….

I also think that in terms of Wesley’s understanding of ministry that a blog may be a form of the market square - a place where one may openly talk about faith and discipleship where it is open for all to hear. One distinction is that one must choose to go to a particular blog as opposed to being exposed on a more informal basis.