This is kind of an awkward thread for this section but I believe I owe an apology to all.

John 6:29

To anyone pertaining to a faith other than my own or to those who do not have a faith or are uncertain:
I believe I owe each of you an apology. Although adamant about my beliefs, I have provoked many to anger and flustered many people with my claims. Though I wish all to take side and repent with faith in the Savior it does not excuse my anger and otherwise ruthlessness of some of my comments. I apologize for anyone that has taken offense to my claims in mocking your beliefs. I have wronged you and shamed the name of the one who has saved me.

To anyone pertaining to an equal faith as mine:
I have sinned against Christ for my anger and not presenting myself with gentle and kindness and have shamed the name of Christ and other believers not bearing fruits of the spirit. I apologize for the wrong I have done to you and to Christ.

A brother has rebuked me and the Lord has convicted me and I am going to withdraw from the forums for sometime (but not the chat

). I am sorry to anyone I have offended, it was not my intention. Though I have a strong conviction of wanting to see people come to Christ I know it is not my place to get ruthless over it and for this I am sorry.

I don't really expect forgiveness from some, but none the less I am sorry. I know this is a weird place to post it and I do feel awkward posting here I just want to indirectly apologize to anyone who was offended through my recent postings. So I am sorry. I ask any administrator or mod to please not delete this so that others may read, but you may lock it if you wish.

Thank you.

CanadaCraig

Hi Onion!!

Your message truly warmed my heart. For it was one of humility and love.

It takes tremendous courage - sometimes - to apologize. And it hurts when we finally come to know [As I have often known when it comes to what I sometimes say and/or sometimes do] that we need to put aside ourselves [Our egos, etc.] and say, 'I am sorry'. But the moment we do - we are acting in love. And that love liberates us and truly frees us from 'self'.

It's easy to get all worked up over something. I do that a lot. Especially when it comes to a topic that I hold so dear and so near to my heart. But sometimes I can get so wrapped up in MY way of thinking - MY way of seeing the world - that I lose sight of the bigger and more important 'picture'. I also become impatient and become consumed with feelings of failure because I was unable to persuade someone with my 'words' - with my 'arguments'. And it's when I start to feel that way that I NEED to take a 'time out' to gather my thoughts. Sometimes - I fail to do that before it's too late and I end up offending someone. [Which defeats the whole purpose of what I was trying to do in the first place]

What you have said is a lesson for all of us. For this isn't about 'religion'. It's about how we ought to treat one another.

GREAT BIG HUG
Craig!!

BigBL87

Quote:

Originally Posted by onion

[b]
A brother has rebuked me and the Lord has convicted me and I am going to withdraw from the forums for sometime (but not the chat

). I am sorry to anyone I have offended, it was not my intention.

You never offended me, even when we disagreed we did it respectfully.

I will say, however, that taking time away from the forums is a healthy thing to do. I took alot of time away from the site, and kind of tend to "hit and run" in the Religion and Philosophy forum any more. It can be very frustrating in here sometimes, I'm sure from every religious and non-religious perspective. I think you'll find the time away refreshing.

Double X

I disagree! Even though it can be frustrating, I would rather have frustrating discussions instead of looking at a dead forum. Discussions encourage intellectual advancement.

blueraider0

Agreed, apology accepted. Check your inbox for a further note.

PhoenixAlive

Apology accepted Onion. I know that you do mean well, and your beliefs have never offended me personally. I hope to see you again on the forums soon. Also, I apologize for the harshness of my PM, however I hope you get something constructive out of it.

Xujhan

I can't speak for anyone else, but as vehemently as I've argued against you all over the religion forum - I mean, it often feels like we're taking the place over

- I've never felt personally offended by anything you've said. You have your beliefs, and you're presenting them and arguments for them in a forum about religion. I've never found you to actually antagonize anyone, so I don't think you've really done anything wrong. You're just impassioned, and I don't think that's a bad thing.

I can honestly say I'll miss debating with you. I've learned a lot from you; not just about Christianity, but you've challenged me to step up and be able to defend my position, which often involved a lot of thought and pondering. I'm sure neither of us has budged an inch in the time we've spent debating, but I feel like it was time well spent none the less, and I hope you feel the same.

Kate*

I tend to stay away from this forum, but I have seen some of your posts, and while I was never personally offended by them, I believe the same as people you may have offended. I'm glad you believe as strongly as you do, and I'm glad you realize that there is a line between expressing belief and offending people.

InSovietRussiaORGASMGotU

I'll agree that you and I had our disagreements however I enjoyed them. Unlike many individuals I've talked to on these forums, other forums and in real life, you were able to do more than merely quote passages from the bible; you were able to explain it with meaning and make sense of it in a competent way. Not many others that I've seen were able to do that, even ones who were knowledgable about christianity couldn't do much more than spit out passages at me, which to me I find as useless to a debate.

Lastly, you were practicing and sticking to your beliefs. When people argued against you, you were able to not get completely nonsensical all over the place, which I also admire. However, you don't need to remove yourself from here temporarily simply because of some heat because the heat was intellectually-driven. As much as people may have disagreed, you allowed for competent debating and so both sides benefit from that.

I don't say it many times on here, in fact, I probably haven't said it to more than three people on here: thank you for the debates.