Sliced Out of Laodicea *UPDATED*
It is with mixed emotions that I find I have earned the following badge, which will soon find a permanent home on the sidebar of While Rome Burns:
That's right, fans and friends, I've been banned from commenting at Slice of Laodicea. While I don't know for sure, I suspect the ban was enacted by Rev. Ken Silva, pastoral advisor to the blog, sole contributor to Apprising Ministries, and pastor of Connecticut River Baptist Church in Claremont, NH. Ken is an ordained minister in the Southern Baptist Convention, even while he decries the "emergent vipers" and "purpose driven madness of Rick Warren" that are "rapidly apostasizing" that denomination. Why he continues to hold his credentials in the SBC is a mystery to me. He tells me it's because a denomination's leadership doesn't make it apostate. If you figure that one out, let me know.
The ban came about (again, I can't confirm any of this) due to an exchange I had with Ken and a few other commenters at Slice about his recent post Rob Bell Your Fruit Is Showing. Apparently my only offense was pointing out flaws in Ken's logic, and later, taking offense at my faith and devotion to Christ being questioned. If that's all it takes to be banned from commenting at Slice, I feel sad for the contributors, and pray the Lord will open their eyes, that they may see how blind they truly are.
Yes, I said blind. They surround themselves with people who agree with their every word (aptly titled an "amen chorus" by Chris over at Fishing The Abyss), and when anyone disagrees, they allow only comments that can be picked apart easily to pass through the comment filter. Logical responses disappear into the ether. Those who continually disagree are forever banned from commenting. While I can understand the need for a filter with the myriad of spam bots on the Internet today, and I can certainly understand deleting malicious, mean-spirited, and just plain rude comments that add nothing to the discussion, their refusal to entertain opposing points of view says a lot about their character, and the lack of content and logic used in their posts.
As I've said so many times before, sometimes the irony of their posts is simply staggering.
*UPDATE*: Ingrid, the administrator and owner over at Slice, caught wind of this post, and has (if I'm reading her comment correctly) lifted my ban. So, I guess I have to take down the Slice-Shunned tag on the sidebar, for now at least. I do admit to jumping to conclusions, but I feel the conclusion was logical given Ken's track record in the past. As I have told Ingrid (via my comment section) I will continue commenting at Slice if I am allowed. She has conducted herself well even in disagreements on that blog. I wish I could say the same for Rev. Silva.
That's right, fans and friends, I've been banned from commenting at Slice of Laodicea. While I don't know for sure, I suspect the ban was enacted by Rev. Ken Silva, pastoral advisor to the blog, sole contributor to Apprising Ministries, and pastor of Connecticut River Baptist Church in Claremont, NH. Ken is an ordained minister in the Southern Baptist Convention, even while he decries the "emergent vipers" and "purpose driven madness of Rick Warren" that are "rapidly apostasizing" that denomination. Why he continues to hold his credentials in the SBC is a mystery to me. He tells me it's because a denomination's leadership doesn't make it apostate. If you figure that one out, let me know.
The ban came about (again, I can't confirm any of this) due to an exchange I had with Ken and a few other commenters at Slice about his recent post Rob Bell Your Fruit Is Showing. Apparently my only offense was pointing out flaws in Ken's logic, and later, taking offense at my faith and devotion to Christ being questioned. If that's all it takes to be banned from commenting at Slice, I feel sad for the contributors, and pray the Lord will open their eyes, that they may see how blind they truly are.
Yes, I said blind. They surround themselves with people who agree with their every word (aptly titled an "amen chorus" by Chris over at Fishing The Abyss), and when anyone disagrees, they allow only comments that can be picked apart easily to pass through the comment filter. Logical responses disappear into the ether. Those who continually disagree are forever banned from commenting. While I can understand the need for a filter with the myriad of spam bots on the Internet today, and I can certainly understand deleting malicious, mean-spirited, and just plain rude comments that add nothing to the discussion, their refusal to entertain opposing points of view says a lot about their character, and the lack of content and logic used in their posts.
As I've said so many times before, sometimes the irony of their posts is simply staggering.
*UPDATE*: Ingrid, the administrator and owner over at Slice, caught wind of this post, and has (if I'm reading her comment correctly) lifted my ban. So, I guess I have to take down the Slice-Shunned tag on the sidebar, for now at least. I do admit to jumping to conclusions, but I feel the conclusion was logical given Ken's track record in the past. As I have told Ingrid (via my comment section) I will continue commenting at Slice if I am allowed. She has conducted herself well even in disagreements on that blog. I wish I could say the same for Rev. Silva.
Labels: Responses to Slice
posted by Coop at 4:30 PM
12 Comments:
I ran across this site which is a parody of slice. http://www.sliceolaodicea.com
Its a bit crude at times but very funny. I would love to be a fly on Ingrid's wall when she sees this site.
Wow, two comments and a mention on FTA! I feel special. I really am going to try to stick with this entry into the blogosphere this time. So, if I don't post anything for several days at a time, feel free to yell at me to post something. :-P
Coop, welcome. I don't really know how to do this, but should we start a Slice Shunned webring?
I look forward to future posts!
You know, it's been a long time since I've been involved in a webring, but I don't see why it couldn't work. Not a bad idea...
Do you know how to make one that won't ugly up my site because I haven't a clue!
Uh, Dan,
You're big on accuracy, right? You, unlike me, value truth, correct? You were never banned deliberately. We have had problems with readers randomly being banned on Slice since we went to an updated Moveable Type. Some of our long time readers were banned and deeply offended and at least emailed to ask why. I'm a little puzzled why you wouldn't contact me about this. We have had many friendly email contacts in the past year since I was in South Carolina. I wish you would have contacted me. We have also accidentally deleted perfectly good comments due to thousands of spam emails that come in which we try to delete in bulk. Outraged readers contact me and demand to know why their comments were not posted. You really can't win in the blog world unless you have full time to dedicate to it. Slice is getting 70,000 hits a week now. The workload is really unbearable with the rest of what I'm doing. We have had emergent attacks where we will get slammed with countless attack emails with everything from filthy language to outright heresy. I don't believe in the blogger view that everyone who wants to post on my site should be able to. I'm responsible before God for what goes on my site. Dissent is one thing. Often what we get is more than dissent, it's twisting of Scriptures, promoting false doctrine and generally doing harm to the younger Christian readers that are coming to the site out of frustration with pop Christianity. Slice is a ministry, not an entertainment blog and I feel acutely the responsibility before God for the stuff I put up. I don't expect you to agree with me but I wanted you to know that I have NO idea why you were banned. You have contributed great comments for a long time.
P.S. to anonymous,
My response to the parody site is that I feel like I have finally arrived! My kids thought it was pretty funny and my husband liked the Christmas layout. Only those who are clearly rattling some major cages get parodied. I am deeply flattered and I wouldn't worry about the crudity and vulgarity; Christians don't let little things like corrupt talk bother them any more. ;-)
Ingrid, if I have offended you, I apologize. However, given Ken's track record on matters such as this, I feel my conclusion was a logical one. You yourself have said that I've contributed meaningful comments at Slice; if you'll allow me, I'll continue to do so. Probably not as much as I have in the past, as I'm really trying to cut down on how much time I spend online every day.
Dan,
Today I've been seen some of your comments about Slice over at Bob Hyatt's blog. I'm not sure why you'd want to post comments on Slice if you feel that way about us.
Ingrid, if you're worried about what I've posted there and elsewhere, you should take a good look at some of the things posted by Ken Silva and Chris Perjak. Matter of fact, you should look at some of the things Ken has put into the comments section at Slice.
Ya like this, Dan?
http://sliceolaodicea.com/?p=47
You like all those vulgar references to Ingrid's erogenous zones? IS this what you identify with?
Tom:
First of all, who are you? Second of all, what are you talking about? And third of all, what does sliceolaodicea.com have to do with me? Look at the first comment on this post again; that link was posted ANONYMOUSLY. Meaning, I have no idea who posted it, and I certainly didn't leave an anonymous comment on my own blog.
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