Love the Lord with All Your Mind discussion

The actual decision to form this group was a result of prayerful recent consideration; but that was preceded by some 15 years of gestation as a member and co-moderator of another, larger Christian group here on Goodreads (to which I remain committed, and continue to serve on the moderating team). I originally approached the latter group with the idea that it could make use of the possibilities of the Internet to enable inter-Christian dialogue about the serious issues that confront us as the body of Christ in the 21st century, contribute to an understanding of these and of each other's positions, and hopefully bring us closer to unity of thought and action through the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the ability to learn from each other. Some discussions I had in that group were very fruitful and enlightening for me, helping me both to better understand some of my fellow believers and to better understand aspects of Christian truth, just as I has hoped. However, most members of that group did not join it to be exposed to controversy and were not comfortable with it, and a very small number of members were very anxious to promote controversial positions, but did so in a very judgmental and hurtful fashion that killed discussion rather than encouraging it. As a result, the other moderator and I decided that for that group, it was best to ban discussions of controversial issues.

Since some of us miss the opportunity for meatier discussions, the formation of this new group, dedicated up front to that sort of conversation, seemed to be a constructive step. We are mindful that it's a human tendency, in our fallen state, to be disagreeable when we disagree; but we're trusting the spirit of Christian love to mitigate this tendency, and where it fails to do so the moderator(s) of the group will accept the necessary responsibility of enforcing civility. This may make the duties of a moderator “messier” at times; but I believe the value of the kind of discussions facilitated by those duties is worth pursuing.

It should be noted that this group is not a congregation of the Church. My own conviction is that church membership doesn't require anything but confession of faith in Christ as Savior and Lord, evidenced by obedience to his commands. But for an online group such as this one, the more restricted membership requirements set out in the group description are practical. We exist as a forum for discussion and dialogue among classical Christians, who share a common authority and worldview as a starting point. (Discussion and dialogue between Christians and non-Christians has a valuable place, too; but it's a distinctly different type of discussion than what we want to foster here.)

Hopefully this group will be a blessing who those who may take part in it, and will contribute to better “loving the Lord with all our minds,” as the Scriptures exhort us to do!

Thanks Werner!

Might some of the "big issues" we covered in the other group that tended to experience a steady trickle of posts be candidates for linking to here, in order to allow discussion to continue?

Nathan wrote: "Might some of the "big issues" we covered in the other group that tended to experience a steady trickle of posts be candidates for linking to here, in order to allow discussion to continue?"

Absolutely! I definitely wanted to create threads here for continuing discussions of those issues (and others that didn't catch as much interest in the other group); but I'd been using copy-and-paste to do it. It hadn't actually occurred to me to just create links to the original discussions (and I slacked off on posting here at all recently, having been discouraged by the initial slow start of discussion!); but as time permits, I'll start adding them. And feel free to add links yourself, as well!