question for leah

[write]

sorry, I think it got mixed up with the other thread about another thread (!)
My original question was why did you lock the discussion called "Can a truly religious person still indulge in verbally abusive behaviors ??"
That was your thread? ( sorry if I am even more muddled than I think I am )

I just went back and looked at it and can't see any unpleasantness or anything other than an exchange of ideas.

I was asking a serious question- what made you want to close down that particular thread/topic?

I'm not going to add to the other thread I wrote on this morning, it's gone in another direction, but I do want to add I still don't think it is healthy to delete threads as a matter of course...and to remind people there is always the option of editing out their posts they don't want on display any more etc. Portia did it once with dozens of her postings. Personally I think deleting threads should be a last resort- almost nothing is worth forcing others to do my bidding or implying that my needs or views are more important than another's.

We are our own moderators really- it begins with me I think, like everything.

~W

[Leah]

Dear Write,

I truly don't understand any of your post really.  I have no idea who Portia is at all.

I have already explained to you, in originally responding your question earlier, elsewhere, and this seems to be a repeat,

I explained that my last posting on my thread was a "Thank You" to everyone who has responded as a closure. 

The thread is still there for you, and for anyone else to read, if anyone so wishes to do so.

I really don't see any real point or purpose in having to answer yet again this question of a question!!   [already responded to]

as to my personal reason for wanting to close my thread with a sincere "Thank You" to everyone who so kindly responded.

It is purely personal.

I have not deleted it.

Hope all is well with you, Write, and that you have had a peaceful day.

Love, Leah x

[write]

my point Leah is you started a thread on can a religious person be a verbal abuser- no, when i pointed out some of the issues around that argument you left a post addressed to me saying 'that is incorrect' and then immediately chose to give everyone closure by saying 'by their fruits shall you know them'.

I don't know what your personal reasons are for closing the thread- and I apologise if anything is painful to you because of something tactless I write, it would not be my intention to hurt anyone, ever.

But this is exactly how 'spiritual abuse' happens- someone decides what is best in religion for a whole lot of other people and becomes increasingly concerned with giving it to them and having them receive it.

Several discussions have happened during the time I have been around in this community ( Portia was a long-term member a couple of years back ) which started as open or intellectual discussions around faith and religious issues and ended up as polarised personal views attempting to proselytise one's own position as 'the way'.

And that is exactly where I feel strongly about what is abuse in this- because our view is only our view, what is right for me is not going to be right for another, and one representation even of the same religion is not going to match another. Some people are life-long seekers, others seize a truth and march with it....

Maybe that's the way this G_d thing works- we are all to some degree right, we are all to some degree wrong, and there is balance.

Some religions have gotten way off-balance with this notion that others can happily be converted forcefully or that what is being taught is perfection.

But whatever our beliefs and experience abuse is taking self-determination power away from someone else for whatever reason. Spiritual growth and closure is not something we can give to another Leah, they have to do that for themselves. Ergo my writing this perhaps...

Take care,

Love
~Write

[Leah]

Dear Write,

My thread was on Verbal Abuse

not a debate on religion or "to be or not to be"

I felt led to do so, in a very personal way.

Love, Leah x

My anchor is personal too, as I said, for if anyone is Verbally Abusive to me, I feel that I know them, "by that fruit" that they display.

[write]

as I felt lead to respond.

Peace-

[Leah]

Dear Write,

"Thank you"

Peace, Love & Joy

Leah x