An observation

[SumTinWong]

From a closed thread here in the BA section:
"You can talk about God in the chat, but you cannot discuss theology there."

Theology by definition is the study of God, so you cannot discuss God without using theology, can you? And if you are using theology...

From the M-W
Pronunciation: thE-'ä-l&-jE
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -gies
Etymology: Middle English theologie, from Latin theologia, from Greek, from the- + -logia -logy
1 : the study of religious faith, practice, and experience; especially : the study of God and of God's relation to the world
2 a : a theological theory or system ****omist theology> <a theology of atonement> b : a distinctive body of theological opinion <Catholic theology>

[HumbleMan]

I don't presume to speak for that person who stated that, but you can speak about many things of God without going into a theological debate.

How awesome is God

How God has blessed my family and me

God is moving in my life

Pray for me

and many other things that don't lead to a theological discussion.

I personally don't see why theology can't be discussed in chat, unless it's because it mostly devolves into arguments, name calling, and ill will. And it takes up bandwidth.

[£amb]

I don't presume to speak for that person who stated that, but you can speak about many things of God without going into a theological debate.

How awesome is God

How God has blessed my family and me

God is moving in my life

Pray for me

and many other things that don't lead to a theological discussion.

I personally don't see why theology can't be discussed in chat, unless it's because it mostly devolves into arguments, name calling, and ill will. And it takes up bandwidth.

I agree on the lines of this. If theology is discussed in the chat, then it eventually wouldn't be chat, but debate. Not all debate is bad, but can get pretty ugly sometimes. That's why theology is discussed in the forum area so it won't take away from the purpose of the chat area.

[Danfrey]

Maybe there needs to be a chat geared toward theological discussions. Obviously it would need to be subdivided into Paul, Apolos, .....I mean denominations.

It is very difficult to please all who claim Christ unless we can rip out all of the pages of our Bible except the one that has John 3:16

[ZiSunka]

Discussions about God generally aren't allowed in chat because they often end up in debates and even fights. Christians of different denoms and nonChristians and even atheists are frequently in chat and when someone posts something doctrinal or theological about God, it leads to fighting very quickly. Sad, but true. That's why "heavy" discussions aren't allowed there.

[daveleau]

I was the one that made the statement in the OP. The person I was speaking to was insinuating that you cannot mention the word "God" in the chat. This could not be farther from the truth. The discussion of God, His attributes, Scripture study, congregational beliefs, questioning x doctrine, etc is for the forum. Light discussion that brings up God (discussion about having a good day, and then saying "Praise God" is allowed, hence the distinction.) This is only one example, but is representative of what the CB is for. If the site was only a chat, then surely theological discussions would be allowed. But, the CB is for fun and for people to get to know others in light chit chat.

I hope this helps.

God bless you,
Dave

[Joykins]

At one point last year I was actually having a very civil and interesting discussion in the chatbox about progressive theology with no debate at all and we were told to stop by a mod because it wasn't light enough chat. I don't think it's a debate thing. They really want that chatbox to be fluff.

[arunma]

Maybe there needs to be a chat geared toward theological discussions. Obviously it would need to be subdivided into Paul, Apolos, .....I mean denominations.

It is very difficult to please all who claim Christ unless we can rip out all of the pages of our Bible except the one that has John 3:16

Maybe even that one, because many Calvinists (though not me) have a problem with the common understanding of it.

[ZiSunka]

I've gotten in trouble for even posting a "verse of the day" scripture in the chat box. I agree with The Truth, God seems to be a taboo subject except at the most shallow level, like cyber bumper stickers.