Who's really on SI?

How do we really know who is on SI? We read posts, take advice from folks on SI, but do we really know them?

It can be like a blind person, who, in compensation for lack of eyesight, gains an increased awareness of sound and smell. Many times you just don't know who you are talking to, but give it some time and the more the person posts, the more sound and smell you'll have to analyze. This is precisely another reason why Sermonindex can be such a great environment for growth and personal maturity - it provides you with the opportunity to exercise these senses in situations where they would otherwise never be used. If we keep our consciences good in the world where we have sight, the Lord will also give us light in here as well, amidst the faceless assembly of so many visitors and members that grace these forum walls. It puts an interesting slant on learning to walk by faith and not by sight.

And now, it's coffee time :)

Brother Paul

Well, I suppose we have all had the same thoughts at one time or another, and still do.

There are many books out there too, and we don't know the lifestyle of every author, but that doesn't stop someone from taking the advice written in the book, or rejecting it.

Of course, there are people here of different theological persuasions, and beliefs. There could be Jehovah Witnesses or Mormons for all we know.

But God has given us discernment, Heb 5v14, and we have His word to go by, in distinguising whether or not the advice we give or take is found in His word.

If it is not contained within the word of God, we can choose to accept or reject it.

If it is found in the word of God, we can do the same also.

No, we don't know everyone's lifestyle, and we never will. This is not a church, just a forum.
People exchange opinions, views, scriptures etc.

So, that is why it is necessary for the believer to belong to a local church.

Good questions. Thanks.

God bless.

It would certainly be foolish to think that everyone on this site is a Christian. Many are here only to cause confusion and discord. Use Godly discernment and solid scriptural understanding when navigating through posts here, as well as anywhere else that has totally open access to all.

Mat 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Mat 7:16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

Blessings Greg

In sharing one's views and opinions; they should
be clearly stated as such to avoid confusion.
Let us always bear in mind the purpose of these
forums is to edify, to encourage, to exhort,
to inspire one another as we follow and serve Him!!

good question, as large as this forum is, it will attract all kinds of people, i know there have been some "strange" people here, but i must say, the years i have been on SI, i have gotten some very precious friends and brother over this forum.

I meet people from this forum in real life and was very blessed. I have spent hours talking to some of the brethren here in private.

as brother Paul said, we need discernment, and be lead by the spirit.

This forum, or any other, can never be a substitute for real fellowship, but it can be a great resource, a great help and encouragement aside of a real fellowship.

And the lessons here i have learned is very precious, from others, from my own mistakes

we all bring something into SI, it is good to evaluate what am I bringing here.

I think SI is a great tool for our privilege if we use it rightly. The resources are incredible, the depth and riches here!

I think of the responsibility, in old times, and not so old, it was a great thing to sit under ONE great man of God such as Tozer, Sparks, Ravenhill, or any of the other we have here. Imagine what blessing to sit under one such mans teaching and preaching.

We can sit under 100 of them!

we can chose and pick and find and we have so much, with such privilege comes great responsibility.

Internet can be tricky, and we can not truly know one another, but i say, i have been through some groaning and some weeping for joy with some of the brethren here.

through it all, God is good. And if we love HIM with all out hearts, he will use all for good, even if you take bad advice over the net. But try all things.... even SI

Christian

Do we take there advice, with out considering if they are truly regenerated or even if they are in some sin?

This is always a consideration of mine when I read books and sing hymns also. I think it is always good to try to have a sense of where the person is with God before just diving into their sharing.

You will recall that the bread in the Tabernacle was baked with the Fire of God in the oven and changed out regularly. This, to me, is the question. Was this born in the fire? What is the origin of these words? Or as GW North would ask, "Is the Fire there?" I believe that when we are close to God and studied in the word of God that we will recognize when God is there or not. This type of discernment takes time with God and a lot of practice. We must be good Bereans also.

It would certainly be foolish to think that everyone on this site is a Christian. Many are here only to cause confusion and discord.

The great question of any post is, "Does it edify?" I know this is not a church, but I think that our conversations have to be edifying or they do not honor God.

As far as partaking of other mens sins? I would not feel I had taken part in anyone elses sins just by conversating with them here on SI unless I was condoning their sinful action or participating in some way with them. God deals with His children about their sin. I could be wrong, but many folk are in varying stages of perfection. I will say candidly that I am not perfect; but I am pressing towards the mark. I put on my pants one leg at a time. I need God's grace every day. But that is no excuse for someone in some full on scandal either. We need to live right and repent if we stumble, etc. etc.

do we know there life behind the screen?

Even in person, I've learned that we don't even know if there is a life behind the life.

At least the life we're shown.

Indeed, it's even healthy to be willing to doubt some of the things we imagine about ourselves.

On the positive side, I have met several people here in the forum. Their person matches their writing. Indeed, you might even say we don't know the half of the treasure that is hidden in some of those who take the time to post at SI. In my case....that isn't such a good thing (edit: when I look back on what's recorded here.)

Blessings,

MC

This post seems timely given a recent SI event that seemed to include some needless attempt at deception.

I have never been concerned about taking advice from others here. Same as in the non-computer world. Brothers and Sisters are wonderful for pointing out what I have overlooked. I take what I find to Christ (the Word of God) and to God in prayer. I do this even when I don’t post or have a question. I track the conversation, consider and meditate, etc.

Within seconds of reading the first post, the question was not so much “Is there a difference between the author of post and the post, like I might be reading what a hypocrite, etc. wrote” but an encouragement to examine myself, like “Yes, you are on SI, who are you on SI?” Ouch. Some of the things I’ve learned here are practical lessons in responding. My brother (born-again) rightly pointed out the “down-side” (read not so Christ-like, oh go ahead and read sin) of a quick response even when you do have the picture. It was a lesson like, just because you have God’s heart on something doesn’t mean it is time to act (Moses really learned that). Same for speaking it, posting it. Anyway, [u]thanks for this opportunity to examine myself[/u].

[u]There is also a virtue in not being known[/u]. It is found in the truth that God is no respecter of persons. I am particularly thinking of leaders, pastors, professional authorities in some area of human endeavor, that are always hampered by people that give Truth-weight to what [u]they[/u] say, because they say it, looking up to them instead of Christ. I am NOT talking about respect and obedience to those in authority over us. I am also thinking of those who, for want of position in the Kingdom of the World, are not heard. What a loss to the Body. It is so much easier to attend to what has been said when the flesh is veiled. I even find a [u]possible[/u] principle here: as much as is possible, don’t look on the flesh of anyone. Going to check that out with Christ for balance because sometimes restoring a brother or sister taken in a fault is in order.

I agree about discernment walking, the similarity to books (except these forum books talk back in real time), and the need for being more fully known in a church and family life. HmmHmm: We truly do meet with 100 tutors in tutorials with one another. And then there is our seminar with our Savior.

Ah, this may prove out to be something of a great necessity brother. There are so many variables ...

[i]There is always at least one more fact, which we know nothing about, in every person’s situation.[/i]

[url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?viewmode=flat&order=0&topic_id=24908&forum=45&post_id=&refresh=Go]Beware of Criticizing Others - Chambers[/url]

That goes for every instance and every person who has every come through here and especially for those that for whatever reason have had to move on. All are loved. It is limited by these things maybe more so in this setting than in person, body language and expression ... tears.

On the flip-side there may be more of an opportunity to be freer in expression than we might be in person due to whatever disposition or tendencies we have; Shy or not very talkative -

Finding just trying to attempt this could lead me to a thousand situations and rabbit trails ...

Have we "laid" hands on them, by appointing them to a certain status on SI?

What a perfect example of how things might get misconstrued. This could be taken as my initial reaction was, that we would short circuit this wherever it was found - The status here ought to be equal or better stated, that there is no status at all amongst ourselves. The truth of the matter though is that we do it anyway in our thoughts and often as it becomes apparent in the discussions. We have addressed it in the past when it seemed to become an issue, a sort of forming of clicks behind the scenes whether intentional or not, the very forming of 'church splits' by gathering the like onioned to ourselves and building up little fronts ...

Think this has to do with different things however. To have a certain esteem for instance those who have traveled longer, farther on this difficult, narrow road is worthy and right and true - It is not to grant them any status other than gratitude for sharing their experience and heart, showing us that whatever the circumstances, here is the endurance of the saints. But positionally, worms, scoundrels, human, broken creatures, men of unclean lips - same as you and me, without a Saviour, nothing but fuel for burning.

Redundantly though ... This matter of honesty pulls and tugs and shreds everything that has to do with this new life. There can be no short circuiting it, the Lord sees and knows how can we not? We are either forthcoming or we are hiding something, pretending to be what we are not. That doesn't mean that we need to disclose our whole sordid past into fine detail here but it would seem to be enough to replay it before our own eyes as a reminder.

I also believe that not only here but at large we have a very mixed up idea about repentance and forgiveness and for all that we may have internalized there is still this nefarious idea that we must save face rather than just admit we are wrong, unruly, thoughtless - whatever the case. It is the very essence of what is expressed so well in [url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?viewmode=flat&order=0&topic_id=18390&forum=34&post_id=&refresh=Go]Our Attitude To Corrections ~ Zac Poonen[/url]. Rather than to desire it, it is often shunned, the very thing to our benefit! To fall down here and maybe be even a bit embarrassed, what of it? The majority of the saints that move about this forum are already past forgiving, the rarity of this very telling forth is ... telling. We would have the world believe us (and do we not wonder at the possibility of those unbelieving ones peering into these matters) and yet we often give them the opposite of truth, the very thing we are supposed to be made up of. We end up proving them right, that we are just hypocrites, saying one thing and giving example of another.

It's been awhile but to go back and reread some of things I have written over the course of five years now ... some of it makes me shudder, the temptation is to just remove it wholesale. The embarrassments, if I could say so, I have left you all with a pattern, that your blunders pale in comparison. But we have set this out in the disclaimer bit about editing ones posts, that we leave them as they are and bring corrections or clarifications or ... repentance. It's healthy, desirable, such a sweet blessing to this whole community and beyond ...

You got me going now brother. There is such an incredible possibility to all these things, all the messages and articles, all the dialouge and sharing of experience, grappling with the issues that we do. I make no apologies, this place has altered and continues to alter my heart, my thinking, my love, my patience (and lack of), my grasp and understanding every single day without fail. I could go away for months and still have the reverberations of a comment, a quote, a thought, a verse not previously grasped in a certain way in present circumstances.

To be transparent enough ... Let me put it another way. There are some things that as Paul West put it and developed over time and as I might put it are the proverbial "caught rather than taught". There is a discernment that is not of a weaponry as it is often utilized and highly despised in my estimation, that of "I know what your thinking, I know your type" etc. but one of knowing someone from the collective expressions, even non-expressions of their whole makeup. Here, to make this something of a paradox, we don't get the whole picture certainly, but we often do get enough that when we met in flesh and blood, we are neither disappointed nor surprised. For one thing these expectations are unnecessary because there are no suspicions to begin with. When I first met Greg all those years ago ... and this may be most 'strange' of all, we had so little dialouge, even as it is today (surprise!) it was as if we had grown up together all our lives, as if he was my best friend from down the street. Now to be honest, his height threw me a bit ... but his heart, his authenticity ... it just cuts through everything. Same it was last year at the Revival Conference. I will be honest here, Ron Bailey, our own Philologos has a special place in my heart, not separate from others ... maybe it is just the long tutelage that he presented here through the years, to me almost like a mentor of sorts. To finally 'meet' was on the one hand a formality, we had met many years prior even through the faltering aspects of this forum ... but words were practically unnecessary, it was just the strongest hugs and tears of joy, things I can hardly express. To just think on this is tremendous. How can these things be? This is all the difference in the world that we are, having a measure of the Spirit and 'knowing' each other in this deep and truly profound way. I must wonder if it is even possible outside of the Lord. Would there not be more of a 'stranger' aspect, despite whatever converse might have taken place? This seems to be the very crux of who and Whose we are. Of course that possibility will always exist that we could be duped and tremendously let down, that someone is in essence an angel of light literally or just figuratively, as our brother has put the challenge to us here. The anonymity of the internet will always give place for fakery, duplicity and hypocrisy, for hiding in the shadows, for being somebody else ... But with the examination we are already under, with the volume of content here, the saints readiness to hold each others feet to the fire ... I shudder to think of what hardness of heart is still possible to resist such a conviction.

Got away from my thought there but some of the saints that made it out to the conference last year, Compton and RobertW, Chris, so many others - all of them, exactly as they are here, there is no guile or pretense - no suspicions.

Apologize for going on so long here, my heart is linked to all this in such a profound way. The misconceptions may be the hardest part of all, so many, so much that is just plain wrong. The personal effrontery's taken or given here, the offended and the defending - the suspicious minds and peevish, little things that are so below us or ought to be - the thought that anyone here that had to be removed due to conduct is loved any less or grieved for any less, that it is all a great sadness and not a discharge of their person, makeup - their dispositions in the makings ...

It does just boil down to these things, honesty and character, change - Change of mind and change of heart, acknowledgment and love of the truth in the core of our beings. Pathos and true love of the Brethren. Hard things to hear but needful so we can get on it with it already! Quick to forgive and quicker to forget wrongs, especially in all this faulty wiring that often makes perceptions reality when they are in fact fantasy.

Do we take there advice, with out considering if they are truly regenerated or even if they are in some sin?

Caution here ... Depicting or trying to figure out who is and who isn't regenerated can be tricky business and is often done here with very poor methods. It is best not to bother with the attempt frankly or if it must be dwelt upon better to keep it to oneself ... the amount of unruly conduct that stems off doing this here in the past is well documented. A better perspective might be from this;

[i]The question, `What good did Whitefield do?' is one which I answer without the least hesitation. I believe that the direct good which he did to immortal souls was enormous. I will go further,--I believe it is incalculable. Credible witnesses in England, Scotland, and America, have placed on record their conviction that he was the means of converting thousands of people. Many, wherever he preached, were not merely pleased, excited, and arrested, but positively turned from sin, and made thorough servants of God. `Numbering the people', I do not forget, is at all times an objectionable practice. God alone can read hearts and discern the wheat from the tares. Many, no doubt, in days of religious excitement, are set down as converted who are not converted at all. But I wish my readers to understand that my high estimate of Whitefield's usefulness is based on a solid foundation. I ask them to mark well what Whitefield's contemporaries thought of the value of his labours.[/i]

[url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?viewmode=flat&order=0&topic_id=24936&forum=34&post_id=&refresh=Go]J. C. Ryle's Estimation of Whitefield's Ministry[/url]

My! Just noticed that there are now quite a few replies here and must have been going on for quite sometime expressing all this, look forward to reading them all.

Patience. Hope that this might spell us just as well, it takes a great deal with so many from such a variety of backgrounds and places that travel these corridors.

One last sobering comment, don't forget or over estimate each other either. For my part nothing at all would really surprise me to find some fault in anyone of us, some besetting sin or tremendous struggle that no one is privy to and frankly need not always be disclosed here ... That may sound contradictory but I am speaking of things not already put into play, words already spoken here and the great reminder to [i]play the ball, not the man[/i], but those things not kept from anyone purposefully but tactfully perhaps. If you only knew what my own failings were I might hope that whatever perception you have is already thwarted. I am quite foolish more than I care to be and far more than you can ever know, keep that well in your sights as well. Only the Lord is to be trusted ultimately and our expectations ought to be of each other that we are failing beings, full of things still needing to be extracted.

Reply to all I agree with sojourner7

Quote

Re: Who's really on SI?
In sharing one's views and opinions; they should
be clearly stated as such to avoid confusion.
Let us always bear in mind the purpose of these
forums is to edify, to encourage, to exhort,
to inspire one another as we follow and serve Him!!

End Quote

reply
I don’t know any of you and that is the point. I don’t come here to hang out but to escape the filters of the different religions that would pigeon hole us until we remained silent in their exalted leader presence. You and I that are born again, walk the same path behind the same Shepard, we are just at different mile markers of understanding according to how much of the Kingdom of God we seek out, find and manifest to the world.

That is not to say I would pass up an opportunity to meet in Christian fellowship with any of you.

Eddie

reformer wrote:
Do we take there advice, with out considering if they are truly regenerated or even if they are in some sin?

I am in some sin I eat way to much, so please until I find the right diet don't take any of my advise. :-P

All are loved.

Indeed brother. And this is often by deliberate policy rather then an effortless expression. A new command I give you: Love one another.

There may be more prudent and perhaps even 'wiser' policies. Yet the point isn't that people always deserve our attendance to this policy, but that the Lord does. :-)

Blessings,

MC

KrispyKrittr wrote:
I have a beautiful wife and 4 children to consider.
Wisdom folks.
Krispy

And you know Brother In my opinion your Wife and Children are Blessed with a wonderful Husband and Father, and Mr. Bill has been Blessed to have a cyberspace friend like you also Brother. The bond we have had here at SI, and the way you have always understood me when others sometimes haven't, is priceless and shows your love, grace and forgiveness and understanding and the heart you have for all your Brothers and Sisters in Christ.

I feel I have known you all my life and we may never meet here on earth, but when we meet in Heaven you have a big hug coming Brother. Yes you and I are a little different than most here in our posts, but they do have a message in there in our own unique ways. We can keep the joy of loving Jesus in our hearts, and share that joy with all we come in contact with, let us make that one point that no person will be unwanted, unloved, uncared for, And give until it hurts with a smile.
Love Ya!
Brother Bill

There are many ways to know a man. Two of the best ways are to work with him or live with him.

Paul said;"Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh"

It is interesting to note that two sentences later Paul says "and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation"

If I love my brother he is valuable to me .He has value. He is not disposeable or something I despise.
We flat out do not understand the gospel or christianity. It cuts so utterly into what we value we are left naked by the death of our conversion.
It is as if we are bankrupted to any ambition or self will and hopelessly yoked to such a love and longing of God that beckons us to fall backwards into a unflenching trust of his will and his word and purpose.

How much do I love my brother?
Do I love my brother at all?

We think we "know"......But we do not