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Sharing and Privacy

W

welltan

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It would be nice to hear some opinions involving privacy and sharing. As far as I can remember the topic has not been addressed before, though the forum may have touched it.

Seldom do we find ourselves saying, I do not feel comfortable as to the direction the communication is going and perhaps it would be better to confide elsewhere. There is a natural tendency to want to help at every turn of the friendship or conversation with good motives. My question is where do good motives stop or do they not stop? .
 
How about this for an answer?

"People who choose poly in this society / people who choose to radically follow God are pretty much making a choice to live in glass houses. They DO become a spectacle to angels and men. And they try to help each other become GOOD spectacles. If you wish to opt out, go ahead. Let me know how it works for you."

As to all of your specifics ... tough questions.
 
the last guy with pure motives was nailed to a cross :)

best to assume that ours are not so clean.

as far as drawing boundries? i do not know and lean toward cec's opinion
 
Thing is, Jesus said all the hidden stuff will get revealed anyway. Plus, I'm too lazy to try to remember what I hid or revealed to whom. And what if I get a mixed group in the same room?

Another factor: Is it your aim to live a retired quiet life, or to be a witness? The transparency idea seems to go better with the latter.

Personally, having made the transparent choice in the past, I've experienced more than my desired share of stone throwers. Fortunately, it seems that God strengthens the glass.

However, there are other factors that may validly bear in individual situations. And even a glass house may have opaque-walled inner rooms. I admit that the topic does get discussed at our home.
 
I agree and surely there is some wisdom or boundaries to apply to sharing and privacy. I admit that when Steven in the the New Testament was stoned his personal privacy was violated as a testimony for Christ, but certainly Christians gain no intrapersonal testimony by having no privacy guidelines within themselves. It would seem the opposite to me. I guess I am looking for an approach that includes wisdom. Perhaps examples and scenarios would be what I am looking for as each case might be a little different.
I think it would be a good teaching exercise at one of the retreats, where we break up in groups and we are given a personal issue where we would need to pick a course of action to apply to a confidant or friend.
 
The rules are going to be different depending on who you are with. Jesus spoke plainly to the religious leaders; he spoke in parables and allegories to his disciples and the crowds.

I guess the best answer is using wisdom in determining at what level of personal relationship do we wish to reveal our topic. There are some on the forums that are totally open to everyone....that would not work for me. There are others who are so closed up and secretive that they are constipated spiritually.

I would say that wisdom is the key: do not cast your pearls before swine....
 
I think it would be a good teaching exercise at one of the retreats, where we break up in groups and we are given a personal issue relating to PM in a scenario where we would need to pick a course of action to apply to a confidant or PM friend.
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Indeed, I like that idea. Scenario based training is a great way to force the mind into relevant and applicable situations that need real life answers from the Bible. We've done some of that in the past at a few of the retreats and it has been received well by those working through the scenarios. So maybe some in this area would be helpful as well.
 
DocInMO said:
There are others who are so closed up and secretive that they are constipated spiritually.
....
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True, but with love we can help them prune that part of their personality. (ha..ha..pun prune). Ok
 
DocInMO wrote:
There are others who are so closed up and secretive that they are constipated spiritually.
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And then there are those who have constipation of the brain and diarrhea of the mouth... :o
 
What exactly do you mean about 'sharing'? Lifestyle stories with just anyone, co-workers, extended family?

Scary business. I tend not to share very much personal information with even my 'close friends and family', prefering to keep my privacy private. I've seen even the most innocently shared tid-bits of personal information become very public and used against folks, even causing them to lose their job. It took a long time (years) for me to comfortably share things with my husband and I don't even share very much with my mom. I NEVER invite people I work with to my home unless I've know them for at least 5 years (so that cuts out most everybody).
 
There is a good point that privacy shared is no longer privacy. It is hard or impossible to 100% control info. once it is shared as to the direction it goes. I also like the term "life-style". It is a modern term which seems to ask for the freedom of choice and to be left alone. PM, I think has it's best spiritual foundation in scripture but not all who are interested in PM feel any need to find any Biblical basis for it. Choosing a life-style has become a right for many groups and such a right should also cover modern PM individuals and groups.
 
I've shared openly about my beliefs and my lifestyle. Even my boss knows. If i notice any resistance while i'm sharing, I say "I appreciate your concern but if you have a problem with what I'm doing then the problem is entirely yours. Not mine.". I have a coworker who had a problem with it until I told him that. Now it seems he actually has a curiousity.
 
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