New Civility Test

[Danmark]

My suggestion for testing civility and whether a personal remark goes over the line:
"What would Jesus Do?"

[Danmark]

Just to get the ball rolling with a few examples:

The Pharisees… preach, but do not practice.
They do all their deeds to be seen by others.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

You make him twice as much a child of Hell as yourselves.

Woe to you, blind guides….You blind fools!

You… have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness.
…. You blind guides…!

You serpents, you brood of vipers! How are you to escape being sentenced to Hell?


These are from Matthew 23.

[otseng]

Well, Jesus had no such rule when speaking to the Pharisees and scribes.

But, if he was here on this forum, I'm sure he'd follow the rules here.

[Danmark]

Well, Jesus had no such rule when speaking to the Pharisees and scribes.

But, if he was here on this forum, I'm sure he'd follow the rules here.

Probably, tho' he DID have his own take about how to interpret rules. ;]
The more interesting question is would he get a warning if he called someone a "blind fool."

What if I claimed to be Jesus and...
... never mind.

[otseng]

The more interesting question is would he get a warning if he called someone a "blind fool."

What if I claimed to be Jesus and...
... never mind.

Note that Jesus only said those things to religious leaders. He never said such things to heathens or "sinners".

But, if someone claimed to be Jesus on this forum and said such things, I'd still give him a warning.

[Danmark]

The more interesting question is would he get a warning if he called someone a "blind fool."

What if I claimed to be Jesus and...
... never mind.

Note that Jesus only said those things to religious leaders. He never said such things to heathens or "sinners".

Good point. He's never said it to this heathen.
My favorite example of the teasing humor of Jesus is the discussion with the Canaanite woman whose daughter is dying. She recognizes his wit and hands it back to him. I paraphrase:

She asks for help and he tells her,
"My bread is not for the dogs."

[I picture her reading a suppressed smile in his face, or even a wink]
She replies:
"Even the dogs get the crumbs that fall from the master's table."

I picture him grinning as he recognizes her clever response as well as her faith and immediately heals the child.

[Hamsaka]

My suggestion for testing civility and whether a personal remark goes over the line:
"What would Jesus Do?"

I believe the issue of 'civility' is very important. Developing a 'test' for it ought to be the responsibility of the individual, because so many different but subtle things are only relevant to the individual and no one else.

One 'method' that seems to work well for me is applying the principle of charity. Although a response from a poster has the appearance of sarcasm, seething superiority, outrageous and inappropriate entitlement and so on, it's possible that the writer did not intend a personal attack.

If I go with that, and make my response as if no personal attack was meant, I'm doing a bunch of useful things that 'work' whether the other poster truly meant to spank me. One, I'm listening (reading) and taking what they said seriously as 'information' (or opinion).

Two, I'm refusing to indulge in defensiveness, which goes absolutely nowhere unless going in nasty little circles is going somewhere. The person doing the attacking gets a powerful message; their attack was not worth responding to, or even acknowledging. When was the last time someone shut up because they were told to? If you just don't respond 'in kind', their behavior is not 'rewarded' with your attention and time. This extinguishes bad behavior far more effectively than nagging and ragging, or endless spirals of 'defense'.

Three, it could be that no aggro was intended at all. Verbal Slap-fest avoided

When similarly obnoxious responses are repetitive, you've got a series of choices to make about how to respond. Name calling is fairly easy to avoid if you just choose not to indulge yourself that way. That doesn't mean being a doormat or oblivious to actual aggression. It's a fun challenge (to me) to 'craft' a response that a)conveys basic respect b)conveys my genuine reaction without resorting to potty language/name calling.

[Divine Insight]

I picture him grinning as he recognizes her clever response as well as her faith and immediately heals the child.

So does this mean that you are a "closet Christian" since you obviously believe that Jesus had the ability to magically heal a dying child?

Just curious

[Danmark]

I picture him grinning as he recognizes her clever response as well as her faith and immediately heals the child.

So does this mean that you are a "closet Christian" since you obviously believe that Jesus had the ability to magically heal a dying child?

Just curious

No, I was just recounting the tale as told. In a way tho' you could call me a Christian, since I suppose I never tried to rid myself of the love and respect I had for the image of him I developed growing up. I just don't think he was divine.

Jesus comes across as a real man, to me. He was a carpenter, a strong man, a charismatic person. He liked to tease and tell earthy jokes. I think he was what is sometimes called "a man's man." He was not ashamed to hang out with the "lower classes." He associated with prostitutes or former prostitutes. He had women as friends. He was the kind of guy you could have a drink with and tell jokes to.

He comforted the afflicted and afflicted the comfortable. I like him. I just don't think he was God.

Jesus would have had nothing to do with a man like Paul, who traded his self righteous persecution of Christians for the self righteousness of a religion he invented. I've never seen an ounce of Christianity in Paul, save for the 13th chapter of Corinthians. I wonder who wrote it for him.

[Paprika]

Just to get the ball rolling with a few examples:

The Pharisees… preach, but do not practice.
They do all their deeds to be seen by others.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

You make him twice as much a child of Hell as yourselves.

Woe to you, blind guides….You blind fools!

You… have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness.
…. You blind guides…!

You serpents, you brood of vipers! How are you to escape being sentenced to Hell?


These are from Matthew 23.

Most inspirational.

Christians should meditate upon these and other such passages and learn when and how to emulate Jesus.