What is Contemplative Christianity?

[sassysam29]

I simply quoted your post to me which was where the conversation went south. It wasn't false. It was true. It was a very rude, egotistical, high minded article. End of story.

 

[sassysam29]

I'm all for the conversation ending if that's what you want. But I won't let you just say something false about me and walk away satisfied about it. In either case, it's clear there is no point in continuing this.

Agree!

 

[Brickjectivity]

Alrighty, so lets move on to just a sort of breakdown of what contemplative Christianity is exactly according to the practitioners of it and maybe talk about why it is rare.

 

[Yoshua]

Person A claims to have the right interpretation of the Bible. Person B claims to have the right interpretation of the Bible. Person C claims to have the right interpretation of the Bible. Person D claims to have the right interpretation of the Bible. Person E claims to have the right interpretation of the Bible. Person F claims to have the right interpretation of the Bible. Person G claims to have the right interpretation of the Bible. Person H claims to have the right interpretation of the Bible. Person I claims to have the right interpretation of the Bible. Person J claims to have the right interpretation of the Bible. Person K claims to have the right interpretation of the Bible. Person L claims to have the right interpretation of the Bible. Person M claims to have the right interpretation of the Bible. Person N claims to have the right interpretation of the Bible. Person O claims to have the right interpretation of the Bible. Person P claims to have the right interpretation of the Bible. Person Q claims to have the right interpretation of the Bible.

"What is your point of reference, basis, standard, the infallible truth," in order to determine which of the above fundamentalists who think they are all right and the others all wrong, is believing the "infallible truth"?

The Scripture (Word of God) that was handed to us—as the Bible.

I've said it a thousand times, and it simply does not compute for you. They are all relative points of view, all arguing their view is the "infallible truth", as you are. You are just one of those letters in my list above, no different than the others.

Have you never heard the parable of the blind men and the elephant? Let me share it with you. Maybe a story can speak where logic and reason fail for you:

It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.

The First approached the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
"God bless me! but the Elephant
Is very like a WALL!"

The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried, "Ho, what have we here,
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me 'tis mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a SPEAR!"

The Third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a SNAKE!"

The Fourth reached out an eager hand,
And felt about the knee
"What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain," quoth he:
"'Tis clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a TREE!"

The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: "E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a FAN!"

The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a ROPE!"

And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!
You dispute loud and long, and say nothing but your point of view as the infallible truth, like the blind men and the elephant.

Therefore, if they were all wrong, how come he see that the blind men were mistaken? Please answer this.


Are you telling us the truth is subjective?


Thanks

 

[Yoshua]

I'll give you an example of why I muse a bit at the idea of the decoder ring. That actually is a belief that is taught in the Mormon church how Joseph Smith "translated" the golden tablets he found in upstate New York which had various scratch marks on them which were supposed to be language. Along with this discovery of his, he found the stones of the Jewish High Priest's breastplate, and he took two of these stones, "the Urim and Thummim", and held them over the tablets and the "translation" of the scratches shone on the wall, like a projector, which he then took and read the translation to Brigham Young who was sitting on the other side of a rug hung between them. So this is why I muse about about the idea of the Holy Spirit giving you the "correct interpretation". It's "magical", like the "decoder stones" in the story of Joseph Smith.

Hi Windwalker,

So you believe that Jesus went to Central America, and the angel Moroni who appeared to Joseph Smith is the angel coming from God? Did you also believe that Jesus and Satan are spirit brothers? Jesus' father was Adam. Then Adam was God

Did you know these things before you quoted about Joseph Smith, or you just amazed with the supernatural stones?

Thanks

 

[Yoshua]

Correct. Difference is, we don't mistake our perspective for some kind of fake objectivity.

Hi Sojourner,
Yes, absolutely because your perspective is coming from your own senses, and always subjective. No objective truth.

Yes, because "faith saves" isn't wha the text says. The text says that faith is a product of God. Therefore, it's God who saves, not "my" faith.

It is God who saves, that is true. Then it is true that there is a grace from God for us to be saved; that grace is a gift from God--an unmerited love and favor of God.
Why faith becomes a product of God? do God have the authority to force the people to have faith in Him? We have our own free-will.

NO!

Paul. Didn't. Write. Ephesians. There is no Paul in Ephesians.

Then who is talking here, and quote Tychicus. Is Tychicus and Paul related?

Eph. 6:19-21
19. and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel,
20. for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
21. But that you also may know about my circumstances, how I am doing, Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will make everything known to you.

Where's the "facepalm" emoticon when we desperately need it?

Thanks for sharing that. I appreciate it. My view here obviously is telling us to be aware against the wicked spirits, and evil forces as stated in v.11, the schemes of the devil. The armor of God was specified after v.12.

So, it's the terminology you're afraid of. You're parsing this out into "good" or "bad" because of language?! What kind of sense does that make?
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. It's the same thing, no matter what it's "called."

Come on. Sojourner, how can you cherry- pick beliefs from every faith/religion, plus their practices and their terms to fit it with Christianity. How can we get the term nirvana, yoga, allah, quran, qi gong, séances, new age……..and mixed with our faiths? Jesus did not command us to do such thing. I’m not afraid with the terminology, my friend. I’m aware and applied the armor of God.

Honestly speaking, we don’t entertain anything that will contradict and distort our faiths. As the Bible said this,
Gal. 1:5-9
Perversion of the Gospel
6. I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel;
7. which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you, and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
8. But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed.
9. As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed.

There are different kinds of reading. Repeating a mantra isn't the same thing as studying a passage.

You used the word “mantra” for Jewish meditation which I think any Jew here does not accept. I follow where you are going here. I believed that the Jew meditate and read the word of God facing the wailing wall. Why do they study facing at the wailing wall? We can try to ask the Jews here if they are did not read the text in front of the wailing wall, if you think my answer does not satisfy you.

Evangelical meditation is through reading, reflecting, remembering, speaking/praying, worshiping and glorifying God. We do the “silence” and “quietness” stuff (like the contemplative teachings) not in breathe, centering prayers/counting or any rituals. We have the silence as giving our time to God which others called it as quiet time. Our application is just that simple.

You're mistaken about how it was applied.

I’m mistaken? You would like to use the onomatopoeia as a passageway to grab practices from other faiths as mantras, nirvanas etc.. I appreciate how you expounded the Strong's definition of “hagah” and I thought the Strong’s definition was wrong. We still applied meditation as to speak, or utter, and it is right. Therefore if that will be the case that I’m mistaken, it boils down to your own perspective now, you choose what you like inspite of that term is strictly defined as utter, groan, muse….

Thanks

 

[Yoshua]

Huh. That's why I said, "Intention is what matters."

It seems that you forgotten to apply your exegesis. Are you in favor to apply those questions for posturing, breathe prayer and centering prayer in your analysis and exegesis such as you did for the armor of God in Eph.6 (below)?

"What does the writer mean by the terms, "powers," "darkness," and "spiritual forces?" What is his world view? What is his take on spirituality? It's obviously not the same as yours. What does he mean by "full armor of God?" Why does he use these metaphors? What's he trying to get across?"by Sojourner

Is there something wrong with this questions to exegete?
What does the centering, breathe prayer and posturing? What differs with Jesus teachings in prayer and how He prays? What does it mean to posturing and breathe? What these new practices trying to teach us? Why use these postures, and prayers aside from what Jesus taught? What are the dangerous implication of these type of prayers in compare with Jesus teachings?

Thanks

 

[Yoshua]

NO! We seek other sources, because God's people have always used the whole Tradition -- written and unwritten, biblical and extra-biblical.

So, all inside the Bible was incomplete. There are sources outside the Bible that you entertained to be part of your faith. Am I right? If this is true then, what are they?

Thanks

 

[Yoshua]

A general comment here. The main argument seems to be that one side looks the Bible as the Word of God. It's not. God did not write the Bible. Men did. And what came to be counted as "The Bible" was the result of many committee meetings among........men. Indeed Christianity existed for hundreds of years before the Council of Nicea decided on the "canon" that became the Bible. Relying on the literal words written there, without an appreciation of their context as a dialogue between religious scholars at different points in history, is wrongheaded.

Hi Orbit,

Why? do you know how they carefully wrote the Scriptures? You may ask the Jews here in this forum. Don’t be bothered by the councils or meetings. I believed that what we need to look at are the evidences (archaeological, historical, witnesses and discovery of the old text that proves the scenario portrayed in the Bible is true).

I think what you need to see is the biblical evidence, the text that was written before you judge the scenario after Paul.

Thanks

 

[Yoshua]

No, of course not. I am of the mind an understanding of what you are doing is important, and then there are actual techniques and practices that one can utilize. I think a good book, one which @Vouthon first recommended to me to read is Into the Silent Land. It offers various understandings of practices, as well as the overview historically and the principles of why it is so effective and what it will do for you. Other books from the Christian perspective on meditation I'd recommend would be Cynthia Bourgeault's Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening. I very much relate to her insights and her spiritual depth. And of course, Thomas Keating, Introduction to Centering Prayer. Beyond this of course, you may explore the Eastern approaches as well if you like to actually understand their approaches and techniques to further your knowledge. Contrary to uniformed opinion, they do not open you to Satanic possession.

Hi Windwalker,

This maybe the start of your request to show you why Centering Prayer is contrary to the Word of God (Scriptures). Can you post your Centering Prayer method or procedure if you have now? I don't want to post mine, so it will be fair to you, to avoid misconception.

Thanks

 

[Yoshua]

BTW, if God preserved his word in the the original manuscripts, where exactly are they then? Who has them in their possession? Answer, none exist. So if God preserved his words in the original manuscripts, shouldn't we still have them? You would think so, wouldn't you? He preserved them long enough for imperfect copies to be made, through which you have your Bible today?

This line of reasoning doesn't help you by saying it's preserved in the originals, which we don't have, and all our translations are not based on. So where is this miraculously preserved word then? And how does this help us if it doesn't exist in anything we have today?

Hi Windwalker,

Why? do you think that God did not do anything to preserve His Word? I believed you are good in imagining things, why take some reflection on how possibly God created the heaven and earth, your source is still the Scriptures. How He made the first man; creatures, planets, solar system..... From Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jacob, Joseph, David, Jesus and Paul, from Old Testament to New Testament. If you believe in a God, or there is a God, logic will tell you how come that a God will not preserve those original manuscripts. Will God wasted His participation of events with Adam down to Jesus Christ? Will he scrap those events that He repeatedly calling His people to come back to Him? How about His love to mankind by sending His own Son to give hope of salvation? the prophecy to be fulfilled yet to come?

Is there a valid reason why God would not use His power to preserve His kingdom while He already planned to bound Satan and throw him in the lake of fire? Still, logic dictates that God preserved those manuscripts down to His Son Jesus. No possibility of imperfect copies. The preserved Word is still in our hands today, it is a matter of faith that we should humbly seek God by trusting unto His Words.

Heb.1:1-2
1. God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways,
2. in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.

Matthew 24:35
35. "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words shall not pass away.

Thanks

 

[sojourner]

Yes, absolutely because your perspective is coming from your own senses, and always subjective. No objective truth.

Even reading is a subjective process. There is no objectivity in reading the bible.

It is God who saves, that is true. Then it is true that there is a grace from God for us to be saved; that grace is a gift from God--an unmerited love and favor of God.
Why faith becomes a product of God? do God have the authority to force the people to have faith in Him? We have our own free-will.

If grace and love are "unmerited," how can a condition for our action be placed upon them before they're given? That would make them "merited" by our actions. See? You're not making sense.

Then who is talking here, and quote Tychicus. Is Tychicus and Paul related?

We don't know -- but it's not Paul. It's simply not his style. It's like how we know a book wasn't written by Mark Twain, because it's written in a completely different style from Twain. It's how we know it's not a Ford, because it doesn't look like one -- it looks more like a Chrysler.

Come on. Sojourner, how can you cherry- pick beliefs from every faith/religion, plus their practices and their terms to fit it with Christianity. How can we get the term nirvana, yoga, allah, quran, qi gong, séances, new age……..and mixed with our faiths? Jesus did not command us to do such thing. I’m not afraid with the terminology, my friend. I’m aware and applied the armor of God

Do you know what "Allah"means? "God!" It a difference of language. Concepts remain largely the same. Jesus wasn't really "Jesus" in his native language. Yet, you call him that, even though he said to call upon his name, which "Jesus" clearly isn't.

But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed.

Seeing God at work in the world in different languages, cultures, and religious systems isn't "preaching a contrary gospel."

You used the word “mantra” for Jewish meditation which I think any Jew here does not accept. I follow where you are going here. I believed that the Jew meditate and read the word of God facing the wailing wall. Why do they study facing at the wailing wall? We can try to ask the Jews here if they are did not read the text in front of the wailing wall, if you think my answer does not satisfy you.

I've spoken with a Rabbi about this. I know why and how they do what they do.

Evangelical meditation is through reading, reflecting, remembering, speaking/praying, worshiping and glorifying God. We do the “silence” and “quietness” stuff (like the contemplative teachings) not in breathe, centering prayers/counting or any rituals. We have the silence as giving our time to God which others called it as quiet time. Our application is just that simple.

then you're doing what we do. Just using different tools. But that's not what you've been saying that you do. You're changing your story here.

ou would like to use the onomatopoeia as a passageway to grab practices from other faiths as mantras, nirvanas etc

No, it comes straight out of Christian Tradition.

 

[sojourner]

It seems that you forgotten to apply your exegesis. Are you in favor to apply those questions for posturing, breathe prayer and centering prayer in your analysis and exegesis such as you did for the armor of God in Eph.6 (below)?

"What does the writer mean by the terms, "powers," "darkness," and "spiritual forces?" What is his world view? What is his take on spirituality? It's obviously not the same as yours. What does he mean by "full armor of God?" Why does he use these metaphors? What's he trying to get across?"by Sojourner

Is there something wrong with this questions to exegete?
What does the centering, breathe prayer and posturing? What differs with Jesus teachings in prayer and how He prays? What does it mean to posturing and breathe? What these new practices trying to teach us? Why use these postures, and prayers aside from what Jesus taught? What are the dangerous implication of these type of prayers in compare with Jesus teachings?

Thanks

You don't "exegete" actions. You exegete texts.

 

[sojourner]

So, all inside the Bible was incomplete.

Yes! The bible is only part of the Tradition.

There are sources outside the Bible that you entertained to be part of your faith. Am I right?

Yes!

If this is true then, what are they?

Oral tradition, etra-biblical writings of church leaders and saints of the Faith, the explicit and implicit curricula of the faith community, etc. the bible isn't the only transmission of God's actions in the world.

 

[Windwalker]

Alrighty, so lets move on to just a sort of breakdown of what contemplative Christianity is exactly according to the practitioners of it and maybe talk about why it is rare.

There are those who understand the history of it within Christianity better than I who can expound more on that. @well named goes into some of that in post 38 What is Contemplative Christianity? And @Vouthon also has a considerable wealth of knowledge on the topic who can speak more to it than me as well. He talks briefly of some of the practices in post 7 here What is Contemplative Christianity? I know that the practice was much more common prior to the reformation and then fell into the background more, but has always been there being practiced and is not making a resurgence through those like Fr. Thomas Keating, and it is moving into mainline Protestant churches as well through him and others. Also, Sojourner of course can doubtless have much to add to this as well!

I can offer my point of view to offer what contemplative practice is and why it is rare. In a nutshell the practice quiets the mind from the busy chattering noise of our discursive minds which distract us from awareness. The more you quite the noise of the internal dialogs of the mind, constantly churning the same old scripts over and over again, thinking about this, thinking about that, trying to understand the world through thoughts and ideas, you become more deeply open and aware, more conscious and alert to what is really, truly there at all times but we are unaware of because of all that static noise clouding our hearing and distracting our vision.

I liken it to taking your car through a carwash, having driven your car for the whole year without washing it. Suddenly as you emerge with all the layers of dust on the windows removed, the entire world floods into view for you, because you can now see effortlessly, no longer straining your eyes to see what was out there. As we strained, we miss the beauty of what is out there, and our energies are spent and wasted on trying to look through the debris. But as we become accustomed to doing it, we don't realize all that energy we are wasting doing it. It just feels "normal" to us. But once seeing is effortless, then we wonder why in the heck we didn't wash the car sooner! It seems so easy a thing to do, but we didn't think of it, because we got used to it and were unaware of the debris to the degree it actually was.

So in a nutshell, the first part of the practice is to clear the debris and be able to see clearly. Then what brilliant world unfolds to you, you learn to engage in it with the whole person, your whole being, body, mind, soul, and spirit. You drive out away from the noise of the city in your clean car, to the country where you sit in an open field and breathe in the fresh air, renewing your soul, your mind, and your body. It is an engaging of the deepest parts of who we are, deeper than thoughts, deeper than the body, to who we are in the Eternal itself. We come to know the Eternal in the world, and in ourselves. And then we come to know ourselves in the Eternal and in the world. It is a true soul transformation. It is engaging the whole person, your being, not simply the academic or even "believing" mind. The mind is not abandoned to the wayside, but it is brought into the body and the soul in conscious awareness of itself. You learn to master the mind, rather than being mastered by it. You learn to hear and listen to the 'still small voice' speaking to the soul. And so forth. It is a deepening of the spiritual life through engaging and exercising the whole person.

Now, why I feel it is rare is for reasons something like this. Take a step back first to why some people are not interested even in questions about the nature of life and reality. Some never care to ask questions like "who or what really am I and why am I here". Those are a waste of time and energy to them. Spiritual questions are impractical to them, or in a lot of cases, simply too scarey for them to ask or look at. They are content just finding their niche in life and living it out, having a family, friends, a religion they can belong to to identify with, and few nice things, and interests and the experience of basic happiness. They have enough understanding of the way of things to feel safe and secure, and that is enough for them. There are a lot of people in religion where the deeper knowledge and seeking are not a draw to them. And that's fine if they don't feel any deeper pull. There is no judgement against them.

There are also those who escape themselves into various distractions, drug abuse, sexual escapism, etc. To have any form of self-examination is uncomfortable for them and hence why they run into things to escape into, such as religious zealotry and fanaticism seeking to convert everyone to your beliefs in order to feel fulfilled somehow. To truly self-examine, to introspect, let alone to go truly deeply within through a form of meditation practice is absolutely terrifying to them, not on a conscious level, but a deep primal fear level, like looking into the dark of night and seeing monstrous eyes looking back at them from that frightening dark forest. They either escape their own deep forest through distracting the mind though substance and behavior abuses, or they paint it over with images of denial, "pleading the blood of Jesus," on these 'enemies' who lurk out there in the dark, or they end up in depression or suicide, or some other deep dysfunction by never dealing with these deeper psychological factors of repression and denial.

There are other options as well as to why people don't feel a need to go 'deep' as it were towards the Absolute, content wear they are at in not thinking about it, or escaping in denial. But then there are those, like me , who cannot remain satisfied with simply fitting into the status quo, or saying "I believe, that settles it, and that's good enough for me." It is a deep yearning to unite with that Eternal Love, that Wellspring of Life itself with the whole being, no matter the cost, no matter the fear, no matter facing the deep dark monsters in the forest primeval. There are always very few willing to "die" to touch the face of God itself. It's always a small percentage who are so compelled as to abandon all they have, even their cherished religious beliefs and ideas, to know God like this. In the world as a whole, I would speculate the percentage would be probably somewhere around 0.0001% or less.

This is not to say others do not know God, or are "lost" let alone "damned" or some such thing. Not at all. God is God is God is God. How much or how little someone wished to open to that is firstly not fixed in stone, but it can change at any point in a person's life to one degree or another. There is more Grace than can be imagined, and when we look, when we set aside all those things we distract ourselves from it with, things we pull into ourselves within, things which lead to a self-contraction from that ever-shining Light, we find that it was never anywhere but here, fully present, and fully accepting of ourselves into it. There is nowhere I can hide. "Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?" It is simply, and purely, a matter of us availing ourselves of that which is fully already ours. The only price we must pay is to let go of fear and to literally fall into that Unknown. It is the giving up of all our struggles to find ourselves.

 

[Windwalker]

Hi Windwalker,

So you believe that Jesus went to Central America, and the angel Moroni who appeared to Joseph Smith is the angel coming from God? Did you also believe that Jesus and Satan are spirit brothers? Jesus' father was Adam. Then Adam was God

Did you know these things before you quoted about Joseph Smith, or you just amazed with the supernatural stones?

Thanks

I think you may have a reading comprehension issue. Please go back and re-read that post to see why I was speaking of that. Considering you got that I believe in the story of Joseph Smith from what I wrote, I think it goes a long way to the endless parade of misunderstandings and misrepresenting of anything else we are saying in this thread, or anything else anyone else has said about meditation and so forth. I really can't help you much with that, other than to advise to pay closer attention to what you read, how you listen to others, etc. Meditation may help you with this. It does for many others with things like ADHD, etc.

You may get something from watching this short video about the benefits of meditation:

 

[sassysam29]

Hi Windwalker,

Why? do you think that God did not do anything to preserve His Word? I believed you are good in imagining things, why take some reflection on how possibly God created the heaven and earth, your source is still the Scriptures. How He made the first man; creatures, planets, solar system..... From Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jacob, Joseph, David, Jesus and Paul, from Old Testament to New Testament. If you believe in a God, or there is a God, logic will tell you how come that a God will not preserve those original manuscripts. Will God wasted His participation of events with Adam down to Jesus Christ? Will he scrap those events that He repeatedly calling His people to come back to Him? How about His love to mankind by sending His own Son to give hope of salvation? the prophecy to be fulfilled yet to come?

Is there a valid reason why God would not use His power to preserve His kingdom while He already planned to bound Satan and throw him in the lake of fire? Still, logic dictates that God preserved those manuscripts down to His Son Jesus. No possibility of imperfect copies. The preserved Word is still in our hands today, it is a matter of faith that we should humbly seek God by trusting unto His Words.

Heb.1:1-2
1. God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways,
2. in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.

Matthew 24:35
35. "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words shall not pass away.

Thanks

Just a heads up. Be very careful clicking on links/pictures/articles you are referred to. These forums are full of hackers that like to "mess" with the heads of anyone that disagrees with them! Proceed with caution!

 

[Orbit]

Just a heads up. Be very careful clicking on links/pictures/articles you are referred to. These forums are full of hackers that like to "mess" with the heads of anyone that disagrees with them! Proceed with caution!

This is ridiculous.

 

[lovemuffin]

Just a heads up. Be very careful clicking on links/pictures/articles you are referred to. These forums are full of hackers that like to "mess" with the heads of anyone that disagrees with them! Proceed with caution!

Speaking as a moderator of the forum, you should have an expectation that people engaged in conversation with you here are doing so in good faith, and are certainly not making any attempts to hack anything, nor troll in an abusive manner. If you see a link that you think qualifies as either trolling or hacking, you should report it.

Speaking as a computer programmer with 15 years of experience and a long presence on many forums, what you said is pure unadulterated bull****, and you shouldn't really have any fear of encountering "hacker links" on RF.

Speaking as a participant in this thread, the accusation that anyone posting regularly in this conversation is a hacker that wants to mess with your head is offensive and silly. Instead, the people who have disagreed with you have universally done so in a very thoughtful and respectful manner, and I think it is insultingly ridiculous for you to insinuate that someone like windwalker is going to hack anyone.

 

[sassysam29]

Speaking as a moderator of the forum, you should have an expectation that people engaged in conversation with you here are doing so in good faith, and are certainly not making any attempts to hack anything, nor troll in an abusive manner. If you see a link that you think qualifies as either trolling or hacking, you should report it.

Speaking as a computer programmer with 15 years of experience and a long presence on many forums, what you said is pure unadulterated bull****, and you shouldn't really have any fear of encountering "hacker links" on RF.

Speaking as a participant in this thread, the accusation that anyone posting regularly in this conversation is a hacker that wants to mess with your head is offensive and silly. Instead, the people who have disagreed with you have universally done so in a very thoughtful and respectful manner, and I think it is insultingly ridiculous for you to insinuate that someone like windwalker is going to hack anyone.

It's a precaution that needs to be taken in any forum, not just this one, and I have seemingly struck a nerve. Ouch