I am Blessed

[dale]

I am the pastor of a small country Church here in Missouri.
I had a wild cherry board and one of the men from the church took it home with him and planed it and sanded it.
When he brought it to me this morning he brought some black walnut lumber.
He as his own saw mill and it was some that he had cut and set back to dry.
Another man from my church brought me some sassafras cut into 8X11X 1/4 boards.
Another has a Red Cedar log that is pretty big and I will probably have it cut into lumber by first man. or cut it on the bias so i can make some plaques or something.
So you all see its reall important to attend church


dale

[miamw]

Originally Posted by dale

So you all see its reall important to attend church

Wow, it brings new meaning to Matthew 6:21 but especially 6:33!

[Minnesota scroller]

Originally Posted by miamw

Wow, it brings new meaning to Matthew 6:21 but especially 6:33!

Amen to that. Of course, I had to look the verses up.

[Daryl185]

that is so awesome Dale that all those folks blessed you, it just goes to prove GOD Blesses his own ways

[Gill]

It proves that Dale is an excellent scroller and has some generous acquaintances.

As shocking and scandalous as it might seem to our many Christian members, there are other members here who don't share that faith. If we are to maintain a community which is inclusive and welcomes all faiths and creeds, it's important that members of a particular faith shouldn't use their woodwork to proselytize. Let's enjoy the woodwork, including those projects which are of a religious nature, but keep the evangelism out of the workshop.

Gill

[miamw]

Originally Posted by Gill

it's important that members of a particular faith shouldn't use their woodwork to proselytize....keep the evangelism out of the workshop.

Gill

Thank you so much for posting that. I totally agree!

[workin for wood]

don't worry, I wouldn't let Jimmy Swaggart into my shop if you paid me a million dollars!

[Rivari]

Originally Posted by Gill

If we are to maintain a community which is inclusive and welcomes all faiths and creeds, it's important that members of a particular faith shouldn't use their woodwork to proselytize.
Gill

Gill I do not beleive that was the intent of the post and I further believe you are being a bit overly sensitive. If I remember back just a few weeks ago jokes/references about minorities were allowable (against my objections) but any speak of religion is deemed off key? Unreal.

[BobD]

Buddhists believe that everyone has a right to their beliefs. The Dali Lama says that there are xxbillion people on this planet, so there should be an equal number of religions...and I honestly believe that.

I can see the points of both sides here. I don't think anyone intended to use this message board as a "soapbox" to promote their beliefs over someone elses, but I can also see the point that something like this tends to be a slippery slope...I can see how people would really start to get nervous when people just start naming Bible verses without providing any context. It's like you're speaking in code.

So how do we handle this without hurting a lot of people's feelings on both sides? It's an emotionally charged topic! It's compounded by the fact that we are not sitting here talking face to face; we are communicating through the imperfect medium of the internet. All the body language, tone of voice, and the other visual cues are missing; all we have are the words...and you ALL know how a word can mean different things to different people...it can escalate quickly!

I don't have the solution (see me trying to follow another saying by the Dali Lama "Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them!").

So that's my quandry; am I hurting people by even posting this? Is the damage already done? I don't know...but my first thought goes back to something my dad told me long ago...when you are with friends don't talk politics or religion!

I'm overjoyed that people are moved by their faith, and using their work as an outreach for their faith. But I do need to stand by what is written in the Bill of Rights: Respect Other Members.

Bob

[Gill]

Todd, I'm not against any mention of religion - as I said, there's no reason why people shouldn't post projects with religious connotations. Furthermore, there were some posts before Christmas which emphasized putting the 'Christ' in 'Christmas' and these were allowed to stand. In many cases, each post is a judgment call and we try to be tolerant. Sometimes members will agree with us and sometimes they won't - judging by the number of private messages I've received today supporting my post, I think I've got it right. Now I'll get loads of messages telling me that I'm a censorious heathen bigot !

I'm just trying to make sure that everyone feels welcome here - I want us all to be friends. If someone had posted a piece of intarsia depicting Stonehenge and someone complimented it by saying that it proved the power of the Goddess, I'd have stepped in there as well.

It's very likely that the contributions to this thread were not made with the intention of proselytizing; but on a forum such as this it's not always easy to appreciate that the writer of a post has their tongue firmly in their cheek. Religion is a sensitive area - people ponder the matter deeply and can easily take personal offense, even when no offense is intended. I think it's wise to be cautious when making comments that pertain to religion.

Gill