How to be a Christian on Help.com.
I’m not going to say that I have all the answers, because I don’t, but I have found that I can be a Christian and be on this site without having the problems that others have had. I’m not saying that I haven’t had moments; there are times that I have been upset by how others have been treated. The personal attacks against Christians, the mocking of our faith by others have also hurt my feelings and people making jokes about Christ have angered me, even when I don’t say a word against it. It has also bothered me how some Christians have behaved, because I feel that we are all judged by the actions of a few. We must rise above this; we must behave as Christ would want us to behave.
I won’t say that I am perfect, I have failed on a number of occasions, on those occasions I have asked the Lord to forgive me and now I ask that my brethren forgive me as well.
I know that many feel their duty to God is more important then following the rules of man, and I would agree, but when we joined this site we agreed that we would follow the site rules and to do other wise would show that we are liars and that is a sin.
So how do we do both, how do we do our Christian duty, while following the rules of this site? First we have to understand the rules, there has been talk of more clearly defined rules and I have hope that will be achieved, but until such time we have to understand the rules as they are written right now.
Here is the pertinent information from the TOS:
TERMINATION
We may terminate your right to use our website at any time, for any reason, and without notice. We will terminate your right to use our website if you violate any of these Terms of Service or any other policy posted on our website, or if we become aware that you are infringing any copyright or other intellectual property right of any party.
When posting or transmitting Content or otherwise using our website, you agree that you will not:
Harass, defame, intimidate or threaten another user;
(There has been some question about the TOS not stating the religious policy, but the line that says “any other policy posted on our website” covers that. The religious policy for help.com is located here http://help.com/faq#sect19)
When you continually witness to those that have asked you not to that is harassment and you are violating the TOS and as I have already said, you are also sinning against GOD because you agreed to follow those rules when joining.
Here is the religious policy as written in the FAQ section:
Help.com is not a religious website and it is not affiliated with any religious group. However, Help.com is as appropriate a forum as any for general questions about religion, or questions that ask for a religious perspective on a problem. We welcome people who are inspired by their faith to help others and we recognize that many people find solutions through spirituality. At the same time, Help.com attempts to balance this with an equal recognition of everyone’s right to not have religious philosophy forced upon them.
As a courtesy to our international community, we encourage Help.com users to follow guidelines for mentions of religion in their questions and replies.
Don’t hide your faith, just avoid the “hard sell” of actually proselytizing and quoting scripture with the intent of winning converts.
Never attack other religious faiths, or a person’s lack of spirituality.
Never condemn anyone else’s behavior or life choices in religious terms, unless that other person clearly indicates they are open to hearing religious judgment.
Limit suggesting religious solutions for problems to only posts where the original writer of a question has indicated an openness to discussing spirituality.
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Avoid the “hard sell” is one that many have trouble understanding and following because it is our Christian duty to win souls for the Lord, but the fact of the matter is that, we can’t win souls by doing that anyway, so it’s pointless not to obey this rule. You can’t witness to anyone if they are so turned off by your presence that they don’t even want to be around you. Let your light shine, show that you are willing to speak to everyone on matters of faith if they come to, let them know that you are a Christian and available to lead them to the Lord if they so choose, but don’t force the issue. (I know that I could have worded this paragraph a whole lot better, lol)
If you are being attacked by a non-believer for your faith, report them to the Mods because they are violating the TOS in doing so, but don’t fight or bicker with them because we are supposed to turn the other cheek. I’m not saying be a doormat, because I don’t think that I can even be accused of being one of those, but we must be careful in taking our stands, everything that we say and do should be in love and with the greatest of respect for others. We must set ourselves apart and show that we are different, that what we have is worth having and we can’t do that by getting in a down and dirty fight with a non-believer or pushing and pushing and pushing our Christian agenda, it just doesn’t work that way.
If you feel that you have been wronged by a Mod, report them to an Admin, but do try to understand that being a Mod is not an easy job.
I hope that this post is not offensive to non-Christians and I hope that you understand that I am posting this in an effort to help those that are struggling with this issue. If anyone has any other insights on this matter I welcome them, but I ask that everyone be respectful and understanding.
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Since writing this post Fizz has helped in 4 other users' posts within the last 4 days. Fizz is a verified member, has been around for 1 year, 5 months and has 89 posts and 4,611 replies to their name.