This thread is a commentary - both comic and tragic - on what we are told is Christianity. It looks at what is happening on a micro-scale, to get an idea of what's really going on at a macro-scale. Here is "evidence" that Christ is not at all welcome in "Christian" circles, and if anyone ever did decide to actually "follow" Jesus, he would not at all be well-recieved in Christendom's domain, even if it just cyberspace. By comparison, this thread also praises the moderation of Baron and his team of mods. Let us all count our blessings. The following is based on a true story...er, as true as history can be.
So, I registered as Christ! , and introduced myself in the "Administration Office Intro" section, and made two or three other posts on the site. I - my intro post - was immediately, within hours, taken to the Psychotherapy Room The Pshychotherapy Room can't be seen by unregistered visitors to the site. I was restricted from posting in that thread to responders. When I tried to respond, I got a *nasty note* which is exposed four posts down. I was told by a mod in private message to change my name. "We don't want anyone use the name of the Lord here", it said. So I double checked the TOS and the "Campus Decorum" section, and could not see where I had broken any rules. But there I noticed the webmasters signed off with, "Thanks, Your TheologyWeb Overlords! So I changed my name to Overlord! That way, they could not argue that I was breaking a rule about using the name of the Lord. But by then it was too late. Within an hour after pm'ing me to change my name, they changed it to a number, user 19721. The mod also went into my profile and changed my "faith" designation from Christ! to "Christian (other)", and changed my "politics" profile from "I am Lord!" to "I am crazy". I was just glad she didn't mark me with the number of the beast! Well, somehow tall this moderation disabled the account so I couldn't post with or without their number. Since I was not explicitly banned, I opened another account, Overlord!, and posted a thread, "Why username Christ! should not be banned"...in the Apologetics 301 forum. Within hours, that was taken to the Psychotherapy Room because it was discussing moderation. So I opened another thread titled, "Identity Theology...an apology"...in the Apologetics 301 forum. It opened with a single paragraph, promising answers to Identity Theology to anyone interested. That thread too was briskly swept away into the Psychotherapy Room. Then they began to throw down the gavel, saying that I broke TOS by opening another account...and they banned me. I explained the situation, saying they had disabled my other account, and that I just wanted an account that worked, with which to post under the name Overlord! Somehow I convinced them to lift the ban, and roll Overlord! into one account that worked. Thereafter, I opened no new threads, just commenting on topic. I started to answer comments on my "Why username Christ! should not be banned" thread in the Psychotherapy Room. After a while, the mod that told me not to use the Lord's name told me to stop posting in that thread. So I asked someone in the thread to open a thread for me in Apologetics 301 or Christianity 201. He said he would go with the first choice, because Christianity 201 was more for the "inside circle". I had no clue what he was talking about. Other than posting under the correct heading, and staying on topic, I had no concept what "inside circle" could possibly mean on a website that advertizes on its banner, "We debate theology...seriously!". But then, how seriously can you take a theology site that involuntarily commits people to a Psychotherapy Room, and has other forums like "Game Room" and "Animal Husbandry". So I didn't bother to read the extra rules that come with each forum. So I joined in discussions in the Christianity 201 thread and stayed on topic, generally answering open questions by the OP. I posted twice there. A day or two later, I get two pm's issuing me an "infraction" for violating Christianity 201 rules. Not one infraction, two infractions, one for each post. I got 1 point deducted for the first infraction, and two points deducted for the secong - repeat - infraction. So I read the rules as follows: Ok, I'm a Christ Christian, who believes that Jesus was a man as much as any man is a man, and rose from the dead unlike any man because he was really the Son of God. But I suppose I fall short of the glory of the other requirements so I moved on...to "Theology 201".
This time, in "Theology 201" i decided to read the special rules...rules that go beyond just staying on topic ect. Here they are: I believe that the Son of God made and unmade the whole world of time and mass in the blink of an eye. This viewpoint makes the regular theists look like atheists! So I figured I was good to go. A contributed two on-topic posts and next day I was hit with two more "infractions", accumulating 7 more point deductions for repeat offenses. So I was banned...for two weeks! A few hours after I was banned for two weeks, I got another email from another mod about my posts in the "Biblical Languages" forum citing me with another "infraction" worth 3 points. The reason he gave was: "Unorthodox, disruptive". So I looked at the special rules for that section, which read as follows: It says nothing about "orthodox" interpretations, so I checked to see if I had strayed off of a biblical discussion. To the contrary, I found that I had posted to the OP's question about 1 John 3:2, and was arguing in favor of reading that passage in support of the atonement, which, I tried to explain, is the at-one-ment [joining, regathering, uniting] of all into the One Son of God. Well, someone had challenged me, saying that we do not become the Son of God, but "like" him. And I made my case using other biblical text, including the text he floated to shoot me down. I may even have included a reference to the gospel of Thomas. So the only other reason I could have gotten a three point "infraction" is because maybe the mod thought I was undermining the faith of others. Well of course I was! I was making a very strong case from their own scriptures! I can only guess that I made an enemy and got reported for undermining his faith in blood sacrifice for the perpetuation of many, instead of One reunited Son. Normally, when a mod gets involved, they remove text they don't like and put up a big red flag. They'll send the removed text in the email. So, I was suprised to go back to that thread and find that the mod had removed perhaps five posts I had made in that thread - all of them - without leaving so much as a trace...gone...as if they never existed. He also added in his infraction notice, "Your time in TWeb will be limited if you do not respect moderation - I have noted that you have been told off for similar misdemeanours before." "Told off"? So I wrote three replys, one for each set of "misdemeanours" from three sets of mods, the last one addressed to "to whom ever it may concern". I got an email back from the owner, or one of the owners of the website, which reads as follows...
So, I reread the three messages I sent to the mods to see if what I wrote warrented the label "obsessive" "spamming". Here are the three replies starting with the mod of "Biblical Languages 301":
I wish I could have been a fly on the wall when the TWeb mods were reading your "theological" presentations !
The following exchange, and others like it, is what got me a "misdemeanor" charge in the Biblical Languages 301 section. This "infraction" cost me three TheologyWeb points. Apparently, I disrespected the moderation...the mod, his rules...who knows what else. This was in a thread in which the OP was asking a question about 1 John 3:2, which reads: And here was my reply, which was deleted along with my other posts in the thread:
The following is the *nasty note* I got when I tried to reply to responses to my introductory thread, "Christ! is in the house! ...your undivided attention please". That thread was moved, inexplicably, to the Psychotherapy Room. When I clicked to reply to someone's post, this is what I got instead: Does anybody know what a "DLW" is?
That is just too hilarious. They have a Psychotherapy Room for fucks sake.. a bunch of psychotics built themselves a Psychotherapy Room. Dear god that is funny . "DL " stands for "Day Long" Iam, the "W" will be wanker. ..honestly , I hope for your sake you're just taking the piss with all this.
Jesus "vents"... Dear Jesus, It is a bad bad world out there. Signed, Michael the Archangel P.s I enjoy your posts and it is nice that ET does offer you a forum.