April 4, 2006

The Basic Christian Discussion Forum
is now closed as of March 21/2006


The forum ran from April 2001 - March 2006.

Currently the forum has been replaced by the Info/News Feed
www.basicChristian.us

There will likely be another forum in the future and especially a chat room
is in consideration and it probably will be at the www.basicChristian.us location.

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About the Basic Christian Discussion Forum (previously) located at 
http://forums.delphiforums.com/basicchristian/messages


This set of files contains the .txt files from the Basic Christian Discussion Forum: posted from April 2001  March 2006.

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Greetings and Blessings to everyone,


It is with some hesitation that I make available the three years of Basic Christian discussion forum postings. Hesitant in that by the very nature of Discussion Forums and no forum seems to be immune from it no matter how subtle the forum topic is, the nature being that forums are argumentative by nature and particularly a Political or Religious forum and this being a Christian forum it too has its share of debate.


I think it is extremely unfortunate that open public forums have the tendency to be treaded on by errant visitors and as a result of the difficulty in moderating a public forum that is open and accessible 24 hours a day 7 days a week there has been a dramatic downturn in discussion forum activity throughout the internet but conversely in the same time period there has been a dramatic increase in the WebLog (blog) activity. A blog is essentially a forum that is closed to posting by visitors and only the moderator or moderators are able to post their materials making for a dramatically easier system to administer but also making the venue fairly one sided. Probably neither system of forums or blogs is entirely adequate and especially forums as they tend to become battlegrounds of provocation.


As Im writing this introduction the topic of provocation is foremost in the news as today is has just been announced that the first trial date has been set for the Military personal of the Iraq Abu Ghraib Prison facility. Currently in this day there is a gross overload of provocation. The Muslims are being provoked by a series of needles pictures, the Israelis are being provoked by a series of needless UN resolutions against them, our own Military is being provoked by a series of unrelenting news stories and endless deployments and obligations, the average citizen is being provoked by an endless stream of meaningless and hurtful politics derived from deceitful politicians and the Christian Church is being provoked by a relentless and unceasing denial of everything and anything that is of value and worth to the Christian faith. 


Therefore it is with great hesitation that I provide yet another sample of provocation debate and even strife but my hopes are that there will be something to be gained from these many discussions many of which are between people of various beliefs and backgrounds.


Most of all I hope that people especially Christians will quickly realize that we Christians in Jesus have something more precious than this world can ever take away or even comprehend and therefore we should be immune to and above the simple provocations that the world is attempting to provoke us with.


Let the world provoke and challenge our beliefs because every challenge is an opportunity to be met with the Christian response of confidence, praise to God, and mercy and compassion to man.


*Some notes about the forum:

By its nature the Internet - discussion forums are a remote place where people can pretend to be anything they want to be and can likewise say anything they would want to say. It is this mostly anonymous and unaccountable posting that makes the forums both intriguing and frustrating. Intriguing in that often minds are spoken with interesting things said and frustrating because at times posting is done just in jest.


It should be noted that in the normal functioning of a forum various postings are deleted either by the poster themselves, as the result of a technical glitch, or by the forum administrators usually and almost exclusively for personal insults. There have been no posts deleted that are embarrassing to Christianity because in actuality there were no posts made, although many tried, that are embarrassing to Christianity. The Bible, the claims and promises of Jesus stand on their own and have withstood the test of time. In fact the Bible is even more relevant and self evident now today than at any other time in history particularly when looking at the current events regarding Israel and the Middle-East nations of the Bible.


As far as the editing of posts goes it is usually the case that a font or color change was made or a typo or small correction was made after the poster looked at their posted message. In some cases people did go back and radically alter their postings or even removed them.


Each poster also had the option of having a signature at the bottom of each of their postings so the often-repeated phrases are a part of the reappearing signature and usually was in accordance with their beliefs for instance Bible verses for the Christians and other comments from other posters.


Note - after a couple of offending postings the poster would be banned  locked out from the forum and usually the poster would return to the forum with a new forum name and continue to post and argue only to be banned again this would lead to one poster assuming many names and identities and this could create the impression that there was more disagreement and more challenges to the forum than there really was.


Again the Internet is a place to be taken with a grain of salt, young kids grounded to their rooms log onto the Internet and attempt to convince others that they are indeed an expert. Meanwhile others look at the Internet as a chance to pretend and a place to portray an alter ego in an effort to escape from the days events. So please do keep it in mind when reading the articles that just because someone posts on the internet that in the end it is just their opinion or the opinion of someone else that they have cut and pasted from.


Opinions are important and even necessary and it is therefore out of respect and admiration for the many wonderful posters who have opened up and did post their heart that the material is being made available in this more convenient manner.


The material is being kept in the same file structure that is present on the forum enabling the reader to go to the forum and easily find and view the actual postings. However the filing system itself is loosely structured for example a posting regarding the Mayflower Compact probably should not be in the Current Events folder.


It is my hope and prayer that this material will be beneficial and even a blessing and that if there is any provocation in it that it will provoke one another to more good deeds and more love for both God and mankind.


Hebrews 10:23-25 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; for He (Jesus) is faithful that promised; and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day {second coming of Jesus} approaching.


God Bless you always!!

David Anson Brown,
www.BasicChristian.org
