A Call to Moral Excellence...Can AFFers Take the Challenge?

[OP_Carl]

Amen or oh, me?

Oh, me!

You are correct that these commandments remain in the book, and not in our hearts, but it isn't just on the internet. The anonymity, the unlikelihood of meeting those we interact with online, and the greatly reduced chance to receive a punch in the nose all tend to bring out in people anything between friskiness and orneriness. And it isn't just on this forum. This forum is tame compared to non-religious forums.

In some ways, this forum serves as a safety valve for people, allowing them to say to virtual strangers things they'd never say in person. It doesn't feel like we've said it - we've only typed it!

More than half the battle lies not in the writing, but in the reading. Words and phrases written and intended in one frame of mind are interpreted by the reader through the lens of the frame of mind they are in at the time they read it. We can't see each others faces to tell whether we have mis-spoken or brought up a painful topic. We can't make those mid-sentence course corrections. We simply blast away obliviously.

There is no easy solution. You can see the great extent to which smilies are provided in an effort to convey extra meaning.

There is, however, an easy answer.

If you are thin-skinned and easily offended:

A) Stop reading stuff here.
B) Cancel your internet service.
C) Take an axe to your computer.

If you are veritibly consumed with concern about the folly, idle words, carnality, and other anti-Christian behavior here, you can:use the online behavior of individuals to determine who is not following these commandments, and presume that such behavior only hints at the shallowness of their salvation so you can:

A) Feel smug and a vast sense of superiority, knowing that you aren't one of those weak Christians.
B) Compose a list of people to pray for.
C) Sleuth their true identities so you can write letters of concern to their pastor and family.
D) Get over it. It's very rare that people's lives are meaningfully influenced on the internet.