|
WhiteRoseBlessings -> RE: Online Fellowship for Single People (4/29/2008 9:33:29 AM)
|
quote:
ORIGINAL: Tinkerbell_
This is another one of the things where some people are okay with married people post here and some people aren't too comfortable. Since there is no rule stating they can't, then I suppose we should buck up and be happy that they are willing to share their pearls of wisdom with us. Excellent, Tink! [sm=thumbsup.gif]
Nor, do I believe there should be any such rule.
Honestly, we (generically) can segregate ourselves into our own oblivion sometimes.
In my offline life, I do not talk to only women or only singles or only etc., etc., etc. Why should it be any different here with my online friends?
Also, if I were out and about with any particular "specific group" of people and someone that didn't fit the parameters of that group came and joined the conversation, I wouldn't automatically discount what they had to say just because they didn't meet some specifics that everyone else had and they didn't. Nor would I be upset that they joined the conversation. If a married friend happen to see me in a restaurant while I was chatting with some single friends, and the married friend wanted to join the conversation, I wouldn't be aghast at that (either silently nor vocally).
When I was still living in Jackson and going to my most very favorite coffee shop, I would see lots of people there during the course of my daily coffee meet and greet. Married men, single men, married women, single women, Christians, other religions, and even no religion affiliation.
I would talk with people as they came in to get their coffees. Some I knew would come in, get there coffee and leave on their way to work. We'd smile, say hello and that was about it. Others (like myself) would come and hang around for a while. I had some of the most fascinating conversations with these people (and sometimes not, but that's life anywhere). To think of all the friendships I could have lost had I refused to talk to them based on a statistic about them. Sometimes, someone would want to talk privately, so we'd go out to one of the picnic benches on the lawn and have a private conversation . . . and yes, some of these private conversations were with married men. The topics were not anything that could not have been repeated to anyone else, but sometimes privacy during a conversation is really nice. Nothing about these conversations were even the beginning of being inappropriate. One time during one of these conversations, a married man revealed to me that his wife was dying. If we had not had that conversation, I would not have been able to pray for him in that regard because I wouldn't have known to do so nor would I have received the wonderful blessing I did in listening to him talk about his love for his wife.
It's the same way here in the threads. Before anything else, the posters in these threads are human beings. Our Lord didn't put us here on earth to categorize and sub-categorize ourselves like we do. Additionally, he gave us intellect and reasoning AND to His Children, he also bestows His Holy Spirit to guide us. We are to use all three of these when conversing in these threads; with especially His Holy Spirit being the dominant factor of guidance.
Besides, it's not like the Singles' folder is being overrun and deluged with married people coming in here; it's an occasional thing; and many of them started out (or at least on some level, participated) here in the Singles folder before their nuptials took place. At least, that's what I have observed; it could be a different slant with someone else.
|
|
|
|