Of course you're right about it not being "our" witness, but it's kind of like the feeling you get if somebody insults your spouse or badmouths someone you admire. We try to witness to the honor of Jesus Christ and give him glory, but when we take our internal squabbles in front of unbelievers, it's like having a domestic disupute in the main court of the Mall of America. Decent people know what should be made public and what properly belongs in private.

It's really Pharisaical for people to think themselves holy while demanding all outward behavior conform to a list of one's personal preferences. I can't recall ever telling anyone to shut up because I disagreed with them; I only told them why I disagreed. But they tell me to shut up, that I'm not following their rules, that my methods are not according to their interpretations of the Bible. Yet somehow they think I'm the one trying to do the controlling. They cannot distinguish between legitimate disagreement on "disputable matters" and tearing down people they should be standing with arm-in-arm against heresy and lies.

Debate is healthy when everyone is subject to the same restrictions, but when only one side gets to dish it out and the other is expected to passively take it and is allowed no rebuttals, the game is rigged. I'll never understand why it's okay for some Christians to rebuke and not others.

And that's all about fellow believers! I'd welcome honest, reasonable, open-minded unbelievers asking questions here in my blog, but in all these years not one has spoken up. Hopefully they've been lurking. The only ones who have spoken up are the hostile, ravenous, close-minded destroyers, some of whom actually consider it a civic duty to spread hate! It's just like "fighting for peace".

All I ever wanted in the forums was fair rules applied to all members equally. That won't happen, so I started the blog. But it's a house without doors, and I'm not allowed to push out the intruders myself; all I can do is call the cops each time. I guess that's the price of witnessing in CZ.