Thanks for the awesome post :1Way:
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:first:Originally posted by 1Way
So how much actual effort have you put into TOL and/or your bible studies? :think:
and
How much effort has the creator and owner of this site contributed!?!?! Hmmmm?
Well, lets see what I've done. I'm not trying to brag, I'm just sharing about some things that others may not even take for granted, effort and time are not well appreciated as tangibles, unless it is "you" who is expending them, they may remain as unappreciated intangibles, and it should not be so. Imagine for example what the bill would actually be if Knight added up everything that it takes to own and create and run TOL. !!!
My efforts here at TOL sometimes stand in stark contrast to people who have a thing about creating many posts instead of few quality posts. Here is my representation of effort here at TOL every since I have been blessed with it's graces, sometime around mid to late 97. I first met Bob Enyart around Feb of 1997 at the South Bend studios backstage, I have a dated autographed book to prove it. :bannana:
I have given of myself in two major rates of service/effort, heavy and moderate, moderate effort has been due mostly to job and financial restrictions, and sometimes, but rarely limited access to the Internet. Here is the breakdown.
Heavy effort
4 years @ 20 hours/week = 4160 hours
Moderate effort
2 years @ 5 hours /week = 520 hours
Grand total of 4680 hours. :readthis:
(Note, those numbers may be somewhat conservative, I've given plenty of 30 and 40+ hour weeks, and same is true for the moderate hours)
Now I typically produce on average only about 500-600 words per hour, which many people commonly do in a fraction of that time. I can type at about 50wpm, which if I stayed at it, would produce about 3,000 words in one hour. So that's about a 6to1 ratio, 6 minuets not just typing to 1 minuet just typing, yet a large portion of that is simply editing and re-work. But the point is that I invest myself and my time into my posts, I don't just spew out a bunch of light weight posts to help make my post count look more "impressive". I tend to study God's word prior to responding, I tend to give careful consideration to the person's points I am responding to, including meditation, rigorous contemplation, research, networking, brainstorming, internet searches, and last but not least, prayer.
And I tend to carefully re-work and re-work my post into a well formatted post that is hopefully easier on the eyes to read, and gives the best emphasis for the most important points. And I typically fill my responses with direct quotes whenever necessary so as to ensure that everyone understands who and what is responding to who and what and why. Doing so is respectful of everyone including onlookers who may not be posting.
So, take 4680 times (approx.) 535wph, and you get 2.5 million words that I have contributed to this web site!
This represents my labor of working part time at 15 hours per week for the last 6 years here at TOL!
:noway:
I've done alot of
:sozo:
and
:sozo2:
and
and
:madmad:
and
and
:darwinsm:
and some
and
a lot of
:sozo2:
Looking back, it's been a mixed bag full of :shocked: and :bannana: and :cloud9: and way more :darwinsm: than one might expect.
I love TOL. Way back before I had a computer, ughhh, what a thought, I had a bible study program that I had downloaded from the local school on about 20 floppy diskettes, and I even got to install that program for a family who went to my church on their computer and upon a few occasions, they let me come there and use there old Tandy computer to experiment and learn from the bible study program. I waited so long to be able to search the bible to find whatever it was I desired to know about. I've progressed a long way since then, but I am very glad to say that deep inside, my love for God's word has only grown since I have been doing this. And my desire to find whatever I needed from God's word fits in so well with what I have learned from "The Plot", which is Bob Enyart's most excellent bible overview and study aid. If I would have to say the most important lesson I have learned over the years in bible study, the single most important idea is to take in all of God's word before attacking the details. Said in other words, the best way to not violate the context, is to know and respect it. When you take in all of God's word as one consistent and brilliantly interwoven truth, understanding how the many individual details all fit into place becomes a natural effortless joy! Understanding the most common and undeniable contradictions and debates of Christianity is a no brainer, and the confidence in clearly knowing the God of the bible and what He wants for our lives is something I never dreamed I could have until I read The Plot.
I must have tested out the various teachings within The Plot, after about 8333 thoughtful time intensive posts, many of which represent a different topic or subject or point of view on a similar topic, I have yet to find ANY significant problem with the teachings of the Plot. And consider that one of my most primary goals has been to openly present these teachings to see how they may be shown to be wrong! And time and time again, the bible teachings within the Plot stand the test of time and extreme scrutiny.
The biggest problem I see with folks who oppose the (like minded) teachings from The Plot, is that they suffer from not first having a solid overview of the entire bible WITHOUT holding onto manmade presuppositions at the same time. Therefore a person may read the entire bible, but if they do not wait to establish the fundamentals of their faith until the entire counsel of God's word is clear on the matter, then their overview of God's word becomes more of a problem than the solution. Most people do not realize just how much of their own preconceptions they bring to the bible.
The main story line of the bible is NOT about us, it's about corporate Israel, and yet today folks barely distinguish between teachings which were specifically directed to them and not us, as well as mix the two together. Get The Plot and watch as the entire bible becomes a proof text for your faith and the problem texts simply do not exist.
Last but not least. (And no, Knight did not ask me to do this in any way shape or form.)
I financially support TOL (despite my own financial struggles) because it is the best Christian bible study web site forum available, and in my estimation, is a great partner with Bob Enyart's teaching ministry (even though this website has limited teaching capabilities). I'm as proud of TOL and I am BEL. If you've considered giving financial support for this web site, but have not yet, consider the amount of TIME and EFFORT that one man and his family has sacrificed just so that we all can enjoy TOL. Knight, the administrator has told me on many occasions that he just wished that the site paid for itself, which is quite a humble desire since the amount of time and effort required to maintain the sight probably far outweighs the billable costs of site hosting and program purchases and such. I'm sure that no one comes close to the amount of hours and shear labor that Knight has freely given in a largely thankless effort at encouraging everyone to take their bible seriously, and to promote a very positive and godly learning environment. Knight is one of the most giving and humble men I have ever met. He has a wonderful family with a bunch of mouths to feed and cloth and he has been in leadership at his church and runs his own home based business while his wife also does not work outside of home. They pull off one tremendous amount of work with a relatively risky and (perhaps) modest income. Please become a fraction as giving as Knight has been and donate what you can to help offset the costs he constantly pays essentially, for us through his labor of love for God and His word.
BTW, unlike Knights official recognition of how long TOL has been around, it has been since before early 97(!) perhaps sometime in 96 (when it was more of a non-serious effort and was spawned as a place for Knight (and I think his friends) to test out whatever bible study lessons they had been learning, so it used to be for Knight's direct benefit), I have copies of very early posts even though back then they did not use the same forum program, still it was called the same name TOL, and as far as I can tell, posting and forum administration was just as time consuming back then as it is now, although this current program that TOL uses gives us much greater formatting and graphics capabilities. Again, we have all that because Knight graciously paid for it with cold hard cash so that our stay here at cozy :cloud9: TOL :first: will be more enjoyable.
Be blessed the :1Way:
Be blessed God's way
Know God's word the way He intended it to be known, then you couldn't help but to be blessed. !!!
:sozo2: <- That little dude just cracks me up! So much emotion and intensity, I hope he doesn't blow a gasket.
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