Posting

[John81]

What I find most unhelpful in discussions is when people make unsupported assertions, including about others; things like 'this person is twisting scripture' or 'this person is ignoring the plain meaning of scripture' or 'the Bible says X' without demonstrating such assertions. There are people on this forum who consistently make these sorts of comments, yet if you look back over their posts you will rarely see them backing up their own comments with scripture. Of course, an unsupported assertion can be perfectly true, but how useful is it in a discussion where we are supposed to be "seeing what the Word says", to quote John81? To give a parallel, would anyone support a Pastor who always preaching on the Bible but never quoting it, even if they happened to be correct most of the time?

I've noticed in some threads Scripture will have already been posted so many afterwards will simply refer back to what has already been posted without continually reposting the same verses over and over again.

There are also times when the Word is so clear, how much more can really be put forth regarding it, or why should any more be needed? The Word is very clear that only men are to be pastors (for example, so not quoting the verse here) yet when the Scripture is put forth showing this there are yet some who will continue to argue for why they think there can be exceptions or why when it clearly only refers to men it yet for some reason doesn't really mean that. (This example was only used as an example, I could have chose to use the clear commands against homosexuality or something else such as "thou shalt not commit adultery"; which are very clear, yet many professing Christians argue otherwise and demand "real proof, more proof, or just something else".

At times it's good to refer others, and even ourselves, back to the Word itself. For instance, I recently reread Hebrews while there was a discussion on that topic ongoing.

Sometimes the fact that virtually everyone here claims to be a born again Christian, and the vast majority claim to be mature Christians, it's not always necessary to provide details unless asked. For instance, if someone were to mention that we are to love God first and foremost with all our being, most of us wouldn't need the verses quoted or cited in order for us to know what was being referred to. Most of us, if we needed to or simply wished to, could find the referenced verses ourselves.