Posting Religious Blogs – ONE Pastor’s Take
Posting Religious Blogs – One Pastor’s Take
An invitation to all to read, Christian or not
Hey WA friends,
This is Pastor Tae. Yes, I am a Christian and an ordained minister for many years. And I would like to share a few of my (and mine alone) thoughts about the recent drama about the posting of religious blogs. But I want to respond in a more general way and not specific to any particular writing about it. And I certainly don't want to call anyone out for what they wrote.
And so, I won’t go into any detail here nor argue one way or the other. I have my thoughts about what happened and the lively exchanges thereafter. And I do have my own faith and I am committed to it.
But I am also committed to the WA community. I came here knowing full well what it was/is. The rules were set before I came and I can’t change them. Nor do I want to enter into a fight to change them. I am not going to die on that hill. I don’t have any battle gear on! Whoever chooses to be part of WA must show full respect to the established policies of WA set by the owners.
If I go to an Italian restaurant, I make the decision ahead of time to accept the type of food there and the policies of that place. I cannot go in there and demand that it serve me Mexican food. I have to accept it for what it is....lasagna not tacos. And if I am a bad customer who makes unreasonable demands and destroys the ambiance, the owners reserve the right not to serve me. That is their prerogative. And by the way, I love both Italian and Mexican food!
And so, my decision to create an account and sign up for a full year became my commitment to abide by the rules and be a good standing member of the community.
And speaking of the community, this is what I have come to value over and over again. So many people have come to my rescue time and time again and I am grateful.
And many of the people who helped me don’t share my faith and didn’t ask of my faith position before they helped me. And so I do the same in helping others regardless of their background. I value their friendship and kindness. And I don’t want anything to hurt these relationships. If the community is divided, WE ALL LOSE. The WA community is like that grahic above with papers of different sizes, shapes, and colors pushed into one WA corkboard and together it spells one word, community.
In the real world, there is hatred, racism, sexism, terrorism, and all kinds of fanaticism that divide and hurt people. WA must not be a reflection of that. I think most of us have come here and found it to be a haven of acceptance and support. Again, I have my faith and I do share it. After all, I am a pastor. But I'm trying hard to be a blessing here to everyone.
We should all be building bridges not burning them. The spirit of peace, unity, support, and cooperative effort is what we all value about WA, right?
And so, I went into my account and deleted all the overt religious blogs I posted. I wanted it to be my own decision. No one asked me to do it. And that immediately dropped my rankings but that’s fine. The community and my goals are more important. And when I do post ( and I will), I will focus on the many things I have learned in building my sites to help you and words of encouragement for you to keep going despite the arduous nature of our collective journey. (speaking of encouragement, did you see my blog with the snails?)
And if any one wants to read blogs about my faith journey, they can make the decision to go to any of my 4 sites. And I make no apologies for advertising them. We all should brazenly advertise our sites. WA encourages us to list them on our profile pages. And I wish more people did that. And when we go to each other's sites, we find there the passions and faith convictions that built those sites. And therein lies the niche concept that we have been encouraged to cultivate.
My hope is that we all will continue to build synergistic relationships. I will follow you and if you want, you can follow me. The way we pay it forward and help each other is the synergism that is foundational to the WA community. And together, we can make a difference in the real world. But we can’t be effective out there if we are divided in here.
WA has brought together a wild assortment of people from diverse backgrounds and beliefs to work together. Different people working towards the same goal. It is synergism and symbiosis.
The Ox Pecker and the Water Buffalo: The birds eat bugs and are satisfied. The buffalo is freed from parasites and pain and is satisfied. Both work together regardless of the differences and create a win-win situation. The WA community is to be a symbiotic relationship.
Remember that Kyle said that we are in the business of providing solutions and building trust and lasting relationships. I hope that the tensions will ease and that we learn from this and that we will continue to work towards solutions and build lasting relationships and trust.
With much love and respect for the entire WA community,
Pastor Tae
www.oppositeparentingstyles.com
Recent Comments
103
Brother Tae, Kudos for your wise decision. After I became aware of the trouble, I jumped in and did my best to set things straight. I spent over an hour, checking both blogs & both parties out & then responded, as I felt was right. You know my beliefs, since we've visited, but WA is NOT a place for solicitation or spam of any kind. I hope what I did helped, after dealing with both blogs, I returned to work. (-: Jon
The task for peace making is not easy. You entered when the fire was very hot. Very brave of you.
Yeah well I like a challenge. And the guy with the post really ticked me off with his methods, and attempts at manipulation. All's I did was try to defuse a bomb. Tricks like that will get him booted from WA anyway, IF he doesn't learn a valuable lesson from the whole episode. Have a great W/E Brother Tae. PM if you want to let me know the outcome. Bedtime for me... CWYL(chat with you later)(-: Jon
Jon, my goal is to bring both sides together...as is yours....my prayers are for everyone involved. Have a great weekend.
Thank you for a well expressed blog on the importance of honoring the rules of this organization that is giving so much to us. I am saddened that there is some sort of hullabaloo that has been going on, but gladdened that it didn't hasn't crossed my path.
While I am deeply engaged in my faith, I feel this in not a forum for religious discussions. I appreciate your sincere, appropriate and thoughtful words and concern.
Thank you!
yes, there was quite a hullabaloo....small skirmishes, hissifits, and hand grenades....and it did sadden me. It caused me to really think about my purpose of being here. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you. I was reading it over and over again before I posted it so that I would not offend but edify in a diplomatic way in hopes that all sides might come together and that the WA management might be pleased. Thank you for understanding my purpose.
yes, I did think about that. Especially right now when Kyle is busy in Vegas and Carson has to care for his sick son.
I have a very high respect for you based on this decision that you have made on your own. You are sacrificing a bit for the good of all in the community. From my perspective, you've made a very wise and helpful decision.
Thank you. I really took the time to think about this. I watched the heated exchange from a distance and was grieved by many things. I didn't want to get sucked in and lose the big picture and vision and purpose of why I am here. And it's not really a sacrifice, because we all have access to one another's sites. I've been on your baseball site many times. Very cool.
Very good Pastor Tae. I am not a pastor, for sure. I do believe very strongly in God and do believe Jesus was his son. Of course I also believe we are all Gods children. So I guess that makes Jesus yours and my brother.
Thing is, I don't think WA is the place to discuss or debate different faiths and beliefs. I really respect your position and your right to believe your own way.
You really said it very well in your post. Thank you for being strong enough to tell it how it is.
Thank you. I appreciate the kind interactions we have been having over the past month. You're a good man. Blessings on your journey
Well presented... this is a good community and I would like to continue to experience it without the need to see many of the conflicts and pain I've experienced offline (in the real world) Thank you for your presentation!
Agreed. I have been grieved by all this and want to go back to peace and unity and cooperation that I have enjoyed since day one. Thanks
Thanks. You're a good man and kind in your responses to me and to others. I'm sure you are much appreciated here.
I once put up a post and linked to a video presentation of the fairly well known poem an Interview with God! lol! At first I was told it was deleted and received this message - Please refrain from posting any promotions or posts with the purpose of clicking on external websites within the community going forward. With a link to the rules. Well I answered Kyle and shared with him it was just a poem and not a promotion and I hadn't used the you tube version because the one I chose was a better version and that I had recently seen several posts in line with my post so I hadn't seen an issue. I then asked him if it was okay to say Merry Christmas. He replied very kindly and said that was fine. So now I am cautious but still share as I am led! I actually had a lot of members contact me and express their desire to see the poem so I sent them the link via pm.
There are so many Christians here and really I have only noticed a few that protest. It is a shame in my opinion that they can't just choose not to follow those they are not in agreement with instead of being confrontational. We are freer in our dialogue! :) God's Blessings, Christa :)
I shut down around 1 am! I am on EST! So we have a 3 hour difference!:) I am sorry I missed the post that was in such question.
For me it is hard not to just have a casual conversation without often saying something like I felt led or He showed me etc. I know I am here at WA because He led me here. I wondered if the post I put up would be an issue. And I am disheartened that it is acceptable to quote anyone other then God. That frustrates me because He is not getting credit for the truths that are ultimately His! He wanted to teach me that I can still share about Him. I still talk about Him in most everything I write here. I share about Them in the context of who He/They are to me as it relates to what I write! So don't stop sharing about The Lord as He leads you even here at WA! This has created a wonderful discussion! God's Blessings, Christa
great post Tae!
I believe we all are here to help each other regardless of our personal beliefs.
See more comments
I haven't actually seen any of the issues you may be referring to, but I definitely agree with the discussions below. I am not religious. However I am not saying God or gods or whatever don't exist as I don't know everything in the universe! I do read most of your blogs and find your drift is to encourage people in whatever their beliefs are and this shouldn't insult anyone. So each to their own and if people don't want to read religious discussions then don't. It's like complaining to radio or TV stations to get their programs removed even when many people enjoy the program. Don't those whingers (whiners) know what the change channel, station or off button is!
Thanks, Helen for talking the time to read my blogs. We are a community here. Much success to you in the year.