Learning or Talking?

I don’t think refusing to be taught by someone online, whom you have no way of examining, is being unteachable. Opinions are great, talking is great, but I find it foolish to use this site as a way to learn about God.

I need my coffee, also. I’m too busy watching The Facts of Life to make it and get ready for the day.

I don’t think refusing to be taught by someone online, whom you have no way of examining, is being unteachable. Opinions are great, talking is great, but I find it foolish to use this site as a way to learn about God.

You would do better going to a mall to observe people. That way, you are in a real environment. This is artificial. If you are seeking to observe Christians, a church would be a better way to observe. Your observations about people’s interactions online would have no scientific merit.

I came here to discuss... I enjoy hearing other people explain how/why they think. I also am open to learning, as I haven't arrived at the point where I'm "fixed" on every topic.

Sometimes I think I'm cursed with an empathetic approach... I can usually see both sides of a topic, and can see some merit in each... Not always, as some topics are pretty much black and white to me, but in most topics are more "gray" than black/white.

It also helps me to join a discussion and articulate how I believe or feel about any given topic. I think discussion is a healthy thing to do.

i've just glanced through the thread, but wanted to offer this thought...

sometimes i take the train to Manhattan, but don't leave Grand Central. it's a beautiful station, so i bring coffee, and a book, and i people watch. it's fascinating!

it always reminds me of an ongoing discussion my sister and i have, that as people, we assume everyone thinks as we do, and reacts to certain situations as we do, and behaves as we do. my people watching negates this, as will real interaction with others, if we pay attention.

(now is where my son would be saying, "has anyone seen mom's point?" lol)

my point is this: it's actually dangerous to assume everyone thinks as we do. because they clearly (if we pay attention) do not.
we all have a different point of reference, a different history, a different place in our walk with the Most High God.

we handicap ourselves, and do others an injustice, if we assume they're thinking something just because we ourselves think it. i grant that online, it takes time to dig beneath the surface of a series of posts to ascertain what a poster's saying. and i also grant there are people who are not willing to show themselves in a forum. (and why should they, i guess?)

but! there are some people (like me, and i believe there are others here) who really are an open book. what you see is what you get. no pretense. if you came to my house and met me, you wouldn't be a bit surprised.

this is what is known, in my case, as 'no imagination'.

Oh I have no problem with learning from people who don’t think as I do. One of my most favorite professors was an atheist, liberal, feminist. She was brilliant and I learned to read Middle English in her Chaucer class.

She had bona fides. She was qualified. I knew SHE knew what she was talking about, so was eager to receive instruction.

If I made a username and pretended I was from England, and told you all about English life, then you would be silly to believe me and learn from me. I would not be a bona fide Englishwoman and not really know what I was attempting to teach.

Talking is great, but I remain skeptical about learning anything about God from anyone online. If I want to learn more about God, I will read the Bible and go to church.

i'm giggling at how poorly i must have worded that post. lol!

i wasn't talking about learning from other people.
you have a right to reserve that sort of thing to your church, if you like.

i was speaking of learning about other people, and am sorry i conveyed it so badly.

oh, and ps! i read the same public bathroom study you did a while back, and now i use the first stall, too because i figure it's cleaner. and to be honest, when i first began reading what you wrote about it, i assumed you'd have the same reason i do.
i know! after all that time sitting in Grand Central, too. hahaha

see what i mean about what motivates us to think what we think, and do what we do, or am i still doing a rotten job?

Oh, talking to people is fun. I just don’t trust them to teach me anything.

I have a great urge to go against the flow, rebellion, I suppose. If the crowd likes something, I am not really interested. I am reading a biography about Hitler and have noticed some similarities between him and myself. He also had this mania for doing things differently just to be different.

But, I do not believe in racism or Eugenics, so I doubt I will want to create genocide. I also have zero desire to rule the world.

uh, no! Tears for Fears taught us everybody wants to rule the world.

kidding... it sounds like a lot of thankless work, doesn't it?

if someone tries to show you youre in error

internet
or in person

and you just assume you know every thing


dont pray in it
dont look to the word to double check your understanding

that shows you dont care about the truth
you just want to go around being right

Oh I have no problem with learning from people who don’t think as I do. One of my most favorite professors was an atheist, liberal, feminist. She was brilliant and I learned to read Middle English in her Chaucer class.

She had bona fides. She was qualified. I knew SHE knew what she was talking about, so was eager to receive instruction.

If I made a username and pretended I was from England, and told you all about English life, then you would be silly to believe me and learn from me. I would not be a bona fide Englishwoman and not really know what I was attempting to teach.

Talking is great, but I remain skeptical about learning anything about God from anyone online. If I want to learn more about God, I will read the Bible and go to church.