Life without News on Apostolic Friends has become

[stmatthew]

Originally Posted by revrandy

somewhat stagnant... Nothing to have fun with...talk about...discuss...or get the engines revving...

Are people actually being asked not to Post?? or being restricted on what is posted?

Has the Ownership of this Forum been in Hot Water by others therefore "cracking" down on posters??

Without "Flavor or Salt" the food is getting somewhat tasteless around here??

imo....

As an Owner and the Head admin of this forum, I think I can speak as knowledgeable as anyone here.

So..... On to the questions!


Q. Are people actually being asked not to Post?? or being restricted on what is posted?

A. To my knowledge there has been no one officially asked to not post here. I know several, myself included, has stated to someone in the heat of a conversation that if they don't like it here, then go somewhere else and post. That is about it.

The only restrictions that were put on here are within the general rules that some never read to begin with. YES, we recently enforced the fact that we will not allow Jesus name baptism and Oneness to be debated. These tenants of faith are the reason the majority of us are here. They are off limits as far as their biblically soundness. We DO however, give leeway for the diversity within these tenants to be debated.

AND just so everyone knows, while we closed a few threads that were debating these, no one was banned, as everyone had shown a good spirit in their posting.


Q. Has the Ownership of this Forum been in Hot Water by others therefore "cracking" down on posters??

A. I have no idea what you are talking about. I personally am not influenced by anyone on this forum, owners or posters. I do most of the recommendations, and most of the rules are my handy work. To be honest, the other owners have been very silent on most things unless I have asked for their input. Much of the "controlling" that is being cried about really isn't happening. I am sure we have over moderated some. And then I am also sure we have under moderated at times as well.



I think that answers your initial questions. While I wish you had followed the rules and PMed me instead of posting outright, I have not had a problem to this day in answering as to what is happening on the forum openly. Maybe some will be as good as RevRandy now to bring their beefs out in public so we can work through it and move on, and not leave it all in PM.

Originally Posted by stmatthew

As an Owner and the Head admin of this forum, I think I can speak as knowledgeable as anyone here.

So..... On to the questions!


Q. Are people actually being asked not to Post?? or being restricted on what is posted?

A. To my knowledge there has been no one officially asked to not post here. I know several, myself included, has stated to someone in the heat of a conversation that if they don't like it here, then go somewhere else and post. That is about it.

The only restrictions that were put on here are within the general rules that some never read to begin with. YES, we recently enforced the fact that we will not allow Jesus name baptism and Oneness to be debated. These tenants of faith are the reason the majority of us are here. They are off limits as far as their biblically soundness. We DO however, give leeway for the diversity within these tenants to be debated.

AND just so everyone knows, while we closed a few threads that were debating these, no one was banned, as everyone had shown a good spirit in their posting.


Q. Has the Ownership of this Forum been in Hot Water by others therefore "cracking" down on posters??

A. I have no idea what you are talking about. I personally am not influenced by anyone on this forum, owners or posters. I do most of the recommendations, and most of the rules are my handy work. To be honest, the other owners have been very silent on most things unless I have asked for their input. Much of the "controlling" that is being cried about really isn't happening. I am sure we have over moderated some. And then I am also sure we have under moderated at times as well.



I think that answers your initial questions. While I wish you had followed the rules and PMed me instead of posting outright, I have not had a problem to this day in answering as to what is happening on the forum openly. Maybe some will be as good as RevRandy now to bring their beefs out in public so we can work through it and move on, and not leave it all in PM.

Well, that about sums it up to me! Whole lot of drama over a little bit of nothing. Way to go, StMatt... just go ahead and ruin all the conspiracy theories about an illuminati of Apostolic forum leaders!

[Barb]

Originally Posted by stmatthew

As an Owner and the Head admin of this forum, I think I can speak as knowledgeable as anyone here.

So..... On to the questions!


Q. Are people actually being asked not to Post?? or being restricted on what is posted?

A. To my knowledge there has been no one officially asked to not post here. I know several, myself included, has stated to someone in the heat of a conversation that if they don't like it here, then go somewhere else and post. That is about it.

The only restrictions that were put on here are within the general rules that some never read to begin with. YES, we recently enforced the fact that we will not allow Jesus name baptism and Oneness to be debated. These tenants of faith are the reason the majority of us are here. They are off limits as far as their biblically soundness. We DO however, give leeway for the diversity within these tenants to be debated.

AND just so everyone knows, while we closed a few threads that were debating these, no one was banned, as everyone had shown a good spirit in their posting.


Q. Has the Ownership of this Forum been in Hot Water by others therefore "cracking" down on posters??

A. I have no idea what you are talking about. I personally am not influenced by anyone on this forum, owners or posters. I do most of the recommendations, and most of the rules are my handy work. To be honest, the other owners have been very silent on most things unless I have asked for their input. Much of the "controlling" that is being cried about really isn't happening. I am sure we have over moderated some. And then I am also sure we have under moderated at times as well.



I think that answers your initial questions. While I wish you had followed the rules and PMed me instead of posting outright, I have not had a problem to this day in answering as to what is happening on the forum openly. Maybe some will be as good as RevRandy now to bring their beefs out in public so we can work through it and move on, and not leave it all in PM.

Matt, I guess I don't understand the bolded portion...

While I am Oneness to the bone and firmly believe Jesus Name baptism to be essential to salvation, I do not understand not being able to "debate" these points with those who may have questions or doubts.

And just how far does the "leeway for diversity" extend?!

[Sarah]

Originally Posted by Barb

Matt, I guess I don't understand the bolded portion...

While I am Oneness to the bone and firmly believe Jesus Name baptism to be essential to salvation, I do not understand not being able to "debate" these points with those who may have questions or doubts.

And just how far does the "leeway for diversity" extend?!

My feelings too, Barb. How great it would be if some person who does not understand the oneness of God could come on here and have a good,intelligent conversation with one of our 'scholars', and find truth.

We DO have it right, you know. ONE LORD!

[stmatthew]

Originally Posted by Sarah

My feelings too, Barb. How great it would be if some person who does not understand the oneness of God could come on here and have a good,intelligent conversation with one of our 'scholars', and find truth.

We DO have it right, you know. ONE LORD!

The problem we have found to be true in several years of doing this, is that MOST of those coming here have no intentions of seeking truth, but only are coming here to give their brand of truth.

I do understand the desire, but this format is basically geared for Apostolics to fellowship and discuss the differences in within the Apostolic ranks, and come to a better understanding of one another.

[Hoovie]

Originally Posted by Barb

Matt, I guess I don't understand the bolded portion...

While I am Oneness to the bone and firmly believe Jesus Name baptism to be essential to salvation, I do not understand not being able to "debate" these points with those who may have questions or doubts.

And just how far does the "leeway for diversity" extend?!

Right. I do think we can use a bit of clarity.

Matt, those who do not believe all non Oneness Pentecostals are lost, but are Oneness Pentecostals themseves (this is me) are not restricted in discussing their beliefs on AFF, correct?

[stmatthew]

Originally Posted by Barb

Matt, I guess I don't understand the bolded portion...

While I am Oneness to the bone and firmly believe Jesus Name baptism to be essential to salvation, I do not understand not being able to "debate" these points with those who may have questions or doubts.

And just how far does the "leeway for diversity" extend?!

Barb,

The ownership of this forum from the beginning wanted this to be a place where Apostolics could come and discuss issues within the Apostolic realm. To be honest, this idealism goes all the way back to Jim Yohe and the original FCF. We give leeway within the Apostolic ranks to debate the differences within the Apostolic ranks. Both the PCI/PAJC views are presented all the time here. Standards and anti standards threads are posted here. We have folks that are very conservative like Bro Epley and Old Paths that posts here, and those that are more liberal like JCoop and Sandra that are welcome too.

I am having a hard time with folks calling censorship and that the admin team is "leaning Conservative". It is a smoking mirror, as we still have many liberal posters like CC1, Pianoman, Sandra, JCoop, Dan A, AtlantaBishop, J-Roc, and a slew of others that are pretty regular posters here. To be honest, the conservative posters are becoming more in the minority here, as most of them are tired of the continuous tearing down of doctrine that they hold dear. It is no longer debated with respect for each other. many now have a certain venom and disdain within their posts that many Cons, as well as some libs, have noticed, and have backed away from posting. This as well as the normal fact that some are just to busy to post, has brought some of the changes in the forum.


If I didn't answer your question, please let me know, as I just got to posting my feelings there.

[CC1]

Originally Posted by Barb

Matt, I guess I don't understand the bolded portion...

While I am Oneness to the bone and firmly believe Jesus Name baptism to be essential to salvation, I do not understand not being able to "debate" these points with those who may have questions or doubts.

And just how far does the "leeway for diversity" extend?!

Barb, I support the concept that the board have as it's core assumption as commonality of belief in Jesus Name baptism and the Oneness doctrine.

Any forum has to have a focus or purpose. For AFF it is that it is a place for Oneness Apostolic / Pentecostals to have a place to discuss issues, etc WITHIN that paradigm.

Every forum needs a common shared bond or point of view for it's members to come from and for AFF Oneness Pentecostalism and Jesus name baptism is it. That is the starting point of agreement from which all other discussion flows!

If a person wants to debate Oneness or Jesus Name baptism there are plenty Christian forums that will be happy to do that.

Originally Posted by CC1

Barb, I support the concept that the board have as it's core assumption as commonality of belief in Jesus Name baptism and the Oneness doctrine.

Any forum has to have a focus or purpose. For AFF it is that it is a place for Oneness Apostolic / Pentecostals to have a place to discuss issues, etc WITHIN that paradigm.

Every forum needs a common shared bond or point of view for it's members to come from and for AFF Oneness Pentecostalism and Jesus name baptism is it. That is the starting point of agreement from which all other discussion flows!

If a person wants to debate Oneness or Jesus Name baptism there are plenty Christian forums that will be happy to do that.

GREAT post, CC1. That is pretty much exactly how I feel about it. If I want to debate oneness and Jesus Name baptism all I have to do is pretty much walk outside of my front door every day as this is what the world provides us.

The idea of a forum that discuss Apostolic ideas in Apostolic arenas is a priority to me.

[Coonskinner]

Originally Posted by Steadfast

GREAT post, CC1. That is pretty much exactly how I feel about it. If I want to debate oneness and Jesus Name baptism all I have to do is pretty much walk outside of my front door every day as this is what the world provides us.

The idea of a forum that discuss Apostolic ideas in Apostolic arenas is a priority to me.

I second that.