Hear me out, please.
I’ve given up on Protestant forums. There is so much fighting and one-upping. Everyone tries to prove that THEIR interpretation of Scripture is correct.
There is one Protestant forum that my husband and I were part of for years. When we first started getting interested in Catholicism, we posed the question on that forum, “How is a person saved?”
We got page after page of conflicting answers. At least it proved that
sola Scriptura is a crock. But when we pointed that out, they said that we were wrong. We never did find out how a person gets saved. I don’t think Protestants quite understand that yet.
Anyway, many of the Protestant websites are poorly moderated at best and dictatorially moderated at worst.
If your husband is determined to join a Baptist forum, my suggestion is that he contact the headquarters of whatever particular sect of “Baptist” that he is (there are hundreds: Southern, American, Conference, Free Will, etc.) and ask the denominational headquarters if they have an online forum for their bona-fide, church-approved members. Perhaps the denomination would be interested in getting one set up. Perhaps your husband might even be able to moderate it. It would be a lot safer than just joining up with a ubiquitous “baptist” board that could actually include almost anyone.
The other suggestion I have is that he come HERE, and seek the fellowship of other Baptists. This Board is well-moderated and quite civil.
Tell him to avoid Family Life Forums. If you read their member agreement carefully, you will see that in the event of a conflict, you are required to agree to submit to a reconciliation procedure that is performed by a professional mediation company. There is an initial consult fee of over a hundred dollars. IF you intentionally or unintentionally get caught up in a conflict, and you are asked to submit to this mediation process, if you have signed the Family Life User Agreement, you will get stuck with that initial fee and any other fees that are incurred in the process of the mediation. You can’t get out of it. It seems to me that this is not worth the risk. You may not intend to become involved in any “conflicts,” but it can happen so fast, and then you’re out the money, money that your family probably could use for more important things.
BTW, I was born and raised Conference Baptist. Harold Christenson and Gary Smalley were my pastors growing up, and John Ortberg was in my youth group.
