I just got the word from Abigail Cartwright that the Facebook page COGwa, United We Stand is going away. She writes in part:
However, the past is behind us and it is time to move forward. We have a wonderful new church organization, which is continuing the mission of preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God and making disciples from among those whom God calls. I encourage all of you to become a part of helping our church to grow and flourish in whatever capacity you are able and to continue to study and grow in grace and knowledge.
AC points out that COGWA has its own Facebook page, although a page does work differently than a group.
No word yet on the UCG Current Crisis website, but I assume it will also be taken down for the same reasons.
Personally, I view this as a Very Good Thing.
After the direction that group went, the treatment that I saw people on all sides of the aisle given by those that were leaving (myself included–I was banned from the group before a split ever took place for comments I made on my personal page and saw many other people treated just as poorly). I lost a great deal of respect for many people I grew up around and how they acted on there and towards others.
That group did more harm than good for the reputation of COGWA and the members that left. Hopefully with it ceasing to exist, some of that harm may start to heal.
I got to agree. It may have been an effective means for them to quickly recruit. people but it came at a very high price. I realize intemperent things were said on both sides but some of what I saw quoted from there was beyond the pale. It’s one thing to say something you can later take back or apologize for, it’s another to try to walk it back once it gets on the internet. Of course I realize not everyone on that group participated in that sort of thing.
For instance while I came to a different conclusion than our gracious and polite host here I would certainly not include him among that element.
Communication online is often not tempered because of a lack of immediate response. If these exact same people were all in the same room discussing the same issues, it’s likely things would have happened differently.
What I have issues with now is how people read other people’s words and then judge their offense, and then apply that judgement to the group they are in.
I screw up often myself, but I would hate to have the people in public think differently of my wife or kids (my group) because I wrote something on a facebook page that someone else took offense too.
@Robert: I’m sure that most people don’t set out to offend or be offended, but some apparently do. Unfortunately, those are the ones who stand out.
I’ll be the first to admit that when UWS started, I was pretty appalled at some of the attitudes that came across. When the Resolving Issues group started, though, it wasn’t much better. I finally just had to distance myself from both to even have a semblance of thinking clearly about what was going on.
Offenses are going to happen, though, even by people not intending to do so. I think that’s why Jesus talked about it so often.
The other thing to think about is that if you don’t want opinions formed of you based on what you’ve said somewhere online, perhaps that is a sign to be careful of what you say. People will also form opinions of you based on what you say or do to others offline as well. Online is just another communication platform, and will result in opinions made about people. Not that I’m saying you don’t have a point, but it’s still something to consider in terms of the image you present to people.
John, I’m with you about needing to distance from both to consider and think clearly about what happened. I found my mood drastically improved not being embroiled in such negative environments. On the other hand so much information came out on that page that by banning me, my information sources had also been cut off and had to rely on eha comparative little trickled out.
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