I love the spectrum of issues that you address on your site
Question:
I want to express my gratitude for your wonderful and informative website. Now I haven't surveyed the Internet and compared it in any comprehensive way whether your site is the most in-depth or not, but I will say it is by far the most comprehensive I have used. I currently have been associated with three different churches of Christ.
I went to one that sounds like it mirrors yours. That is the church I was baptized at. Then life took me to another state. I initially had to attend a very liberal church of Christ but changed to a much more conservative church of Christ. I live in a remote area where there are not many options. Having said that, they still have a kitchen. Now they rarely use it. It is not a part of their worship or ever used to entice people for attendance, but it is still used on occasion. They have a lectureship and people travel long distances to come to our congregation and at times like that, they will use it. I am not sure I have a real problem with that, but I am not completely sure.
Anyway, this was more to thank you for your site. I love the spectrum of resources available, but probably the most notable is the 'Answers' section. If there is one thing I believe the church sometimes has issues with is dealing with real-life 'stuff'. Your ask section doesn't appear to censor itself in any way and that is greatly appreciated. I think that is so important. We live in a very ugly world and the church cannot ignore that and sweep aside things based on its inappropriateness. It has to be dealt with in a very stark and matter-of-fact way. I want to thank you for your candor. Answers to some of life's ugly scenarios from a proper biblical perspective are paramount.
Answer:
Thank you for your kind words. If you haven't seen the material on eating in the church building, I would recommend it to give you something to think about.
The questions and their answers are censored. I do remove personal information and profanity, but I try to post all the questions that I answer unless the questioner asks that his question not be posted. And there are some questions that are too personal to address publicly. I also don't bother posting questions where I can answer them by referring the person to a prior answer. But it has been my general goal to answer all questions that come my way, figuring that if one person asks, there are thousands of others with the same question who don't know who to ask or are afraid to ask.
My only disappointment is that the site has gotten so popular that I can't keep up with all the questions that come in. Currently, there have been over 213,000 visitors to the site in the last month and my pending question queue stands at 345 questions.
Response:
That proves how vital and important your site is becoming. That is amazing. You may have to do as Moses was asked and begin delegating some of the responsibility to qualified men - it is that important! I can only hope you continue to grow. I know I refer people to your site now. Please realize that in the world we live in that Internet presence is nearly as important as knocking on doors, perhaps sad but really it isn't. Before people were on an island and now people can find out such vital information as the correct disbandment of God's Word.
I will revisit what you and others have written about eating in the church building, but as of right now this is by far and away the best choice I have right now to meet with the saints, but thanks for the concern.
