Everyone...

Hey everyone! So, I need to tell you all something that I've been putting off because this kind of thing is hard for me to do. Okay, so I know that during a lot of the discussions that I was a part of I came across as prideful and that I was right and everyone else was wrong. I don't mean to come across that way, but when I believe something strongly and I have so much to back me up on it I can get a little strong in the way that I bring it across. And I am not asking you guys to forgive me for my beliefs, but I am asking you all to forgive me for ever coming across as prideful in anything that I have said. I know that coming across in that way did not bring glory to God, and so I want to ask all of you to forgive me for that. I have learned a lot lately, including that I do not enjoy debating like I thought I did. It gets me nowhere and I realize that Jesus never debated. He just made people think. He challenged people. He didn't debate with them. I have also been realizing that picking apart every word of God's Word and looking deep into it can sometimes lead you farther away from God than closer to Him. Many people have gone astray because they picked apart every little thing. God's Word is deep, but it's message is also simple. We were not meant to know or understand every little thing. That's God's role - not mine.

So I want to ask you all to please forgive me for ever acting prideful in anything I've said in these discussions. So, will you all please forgive me?

Of course I will I wuff you

aww girl, i have not been on here in a while but this is really really touching. The thought never crossed my mind that you were being prideful, but what you said really touched me. You have such a willing heart toward the Lord and I am so thankful you are allowing Him to humble and use you! Keep dancing/singing/living/breathing for Him!
Love in Christ,
Hannah

Thanks, Paris!
And thanks so much, Hannah. What you said was really encouraging to me! I'm glad that you never thought I was being prideful, but I think that I was some of the time and I needed to ask everyone's forgiveness. I'm trying to work on it! Thanks a lot for the encouragement.

Enh. Can't really blame you. I'm like that myself.
The difference between being arrogant and being a bastard is the right you have to being arrogant. Since I don't see you posting with an eternally toggled CAPS LOCK or SMS-language, I'm assuming that you're pretty smart.

But I don't think that there are ever times when you have a "right" to be arrogant. Being arrogant is a sign of pride and God's Word speaks against pride so much.

Perhaps.......

Of course, sometimes being proud isn't a bad thing...... say, achievement-wise.

I'm talking about the kind of pride that God's Word talks about. Being arrogant, being conceited, thinking that you're right and everyone else is wrong, caring about your own reputation more than God's, etc. - that kind of pride. God speaks against that so much in His Word. Proverbs 16:5 even says, "The LORD detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished."

"Though the LORD is on high, he looks upon the lowly, but the proud he knows from afar."
-Psalm 138:6

Wow, what an eye-opener!

I am guilty of this to some degree. Reminds me of a T-shirt I once saw : You can either agree with me or you can be wrong.

Yeah, I am also guilty of this. And, sadly, at times that t-shirt could describe me! This is an area that God has really been working on in me because I realize that I need to be broken and humble before Him.

"For this is what the high and lofty One says— he who lives forever, whose name is holy: "I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite."
-Isaiah 57:15

"Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?" declares the LORD. "This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word."
-Isaiah 66:2

God, the Almighty, the One who created the heavens and the earth, the One on high dwells with those who are broken and humble before Him!! He wants to revive the hearts of those who are broken about their sin and about themselves!