We are taught to love our enemies and to love others as we love ourselves. Every negative can be changed to a positive with enough
positive action. And darkness cannot continue to exist where light is present.

We all have the power to turn this around. All we have to do is just continue to keep positivity moving and when someone says something negative, if you're the owner of the forum, just remove the post or post something in response that is positive to prevent it from spreading.

Those of us who are more experienced have the obligation to those who aren't to help them, and we should be able to keep this negativity pushed down to a minimum if we do what works best, and that is to do unto others AS YOU WOULD HAVE them do unto you.

If someone hurts your feelings, don't try to retaliate, just pray for them and move on. They obviously have the problem, not you, so say a little prayer and ask God to forgive them and to forgive you for whatever you might have done to make them angry.

Apologize when it's warrented. An apology is one way that we can all make amends for any wrongdoing and in doing so we can have a clear concience.

Becky

Hi Becky, I sincerely hope that those who treat others with love and kindness will continue to do so no matter how they are treated, themselves. Today, this was brought home to me once again, as I had the privilege of teaching a class on Psalm 35:12 - 16 We are taught to always treat one another with love, kindness, and caring, no matter how we are treated. There is a mistaken idea in the world that if we treat others the way we want to be treated ourselves, they will do the same to us. Unfortunately, that's not the way it works, but we still need to continue. That's the only thing that can make the world a better place. God bless, Dave

That's exactly right. Even when people spit on us, we are STILL to turn the other cheek.
I once heard a so called "man of God" make the statement that we're to only turn the other cheek once, and then we had the "God given right" to fight back. Well that's not what my bible says...mine says that we are to forgive 70 x 7 times in a day, and it says turn the other cheek PERIOD.
But...the bible also tells us that there is no communion between light and darkness. If someone wrongs someone else and we know about it, we are supposed to go to the person who did it first with witnesses, and gently try to pursuade them, then if that doesn't work, take them to the elders..or the people in charge, then if all else fails, we are to put them away.

The bible is speaking about the church..and who is the church? We ALL ARE, no matter what you want to call it..we are the body of Christ as Christians and it doesn't matter where you are, it should be that way regardless of whether there is a building with a cross over the door.

If your right eye offends you, pluck it out. That means if a brother...a neighbor, a team mate or anyone else..who is having a problem understanding how to live as a member of a body of Christ or as a member of a team, and you've done everything you can to "bring them into the fold" and nothing has worked, you are to put them out of it and let them "be as if they didn't exist"...or as my grandma used to put it, let them "stew in their own juice."

They'll either discover the error of their ways and return, or they won't. But we can't keep allowing people to come in and disrupt things and never do anything about it.
Becky

One thing I did learn is that everyone is NOT your friend. There are some who care only for themselves and don't care who they hurt because they see dollar signs and that's all they care about.

Some people will go to any means to get what they want and that includes hurting others. WE don't live in a perfect world and no virtual world is perfect either.

But  you can develop a thicker skin if you continue to turn the other cheek. Strength of the muscles doesn't come from taking it easy and
sitting in front of the boob tube all day. It comes from excercise and
pushing and moving and sometimes it's very painful, but in the end it causes the muscles to become thicker and stronger.

In the same aspect our mind and spirit can be strengthened by learning excercises in speech and learning to sometimes keep the mouth shut and the ears opened.

God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason.

He also gave us a tongue that's been compared to a rudder on a ship and it can be trained to move us in a good direction instead of a bad one.

Becky

Hi Becky, It's good to see that you are one who studies the truth. It is a worthwhile and lifelong adventure. Yes, not everyone is your friend, but you can be a friend to all. There is a difference between being a friend and being friends with someone. God bless, Dave