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I know there are explanations galore in Meta and in the FAQ, we still have people coming around that refuse to accept the idea that this is not a Christian site - that it's not about Truth, but rather about learning about Christianity.

At any rate, this would likely need to be rephrased in such a way to make it acceptable, but I'd like to make a suggestion to help those new potential members avoid thinking that this should be a Christian site.

Would you really want this to be the place for a potential converts or new believers to learn about Truth?

I wouldn't. Assuming that there is one Truth, this isn't the place to find it. We have many active users, all with different backgrounds and beliefs. Since this site is meant as a place for sharing ideas, any question a seeker asks will likely have many different answers, all of which the answerer thinks is the Truth. A seeker will find nothing but conflicting answers and confusion here. To avoid confusing people on topics that may have, as Christianity believes, eternal consequences, it's best to clarify that this site is not meant to be a place to find that kind of Truth.

What I'm asking is for the community to decide whether this should be included inthe FAQ in some way or another (and likely if someone can phrase it better.)

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    I've answered questions on JW beliefs which I certainly don't think are Truth. I think my answers are true representations of JW belief, but that those beliefs themselves are mistaken. I've also talked a bit about Christian Paganism (ish). I don't agree with that either, but I can still talk about it.
    – TRiG
    Jan 2, 2013 at 14:09
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    Exactly. There's a distinction between truthfully representing creationist argument, for example, and answering whether Creationism is Truth. How do Young Earth Creationists counter scientific evidence for an old earth?
    – David Stratton
    Jan 2, 2013 at 23:34
  • "Many different beliefs ... conflicting answers and confusion." I've been around the block enough times to realize this is all we ever have, even if (especially) if we think we can retreat to a denomination/ congregation/ cellgroup/ message board where everyone is orthodox or bible-believing.
    – pterandon
    May 17, 2013 at 15:42
  • I think it should be. You know I am new so this very post helpex me even better understand the "rules". I have been involved in making policy, hand books and manuals ...to say the least the best one can do is spell things out in crayon and in kindergarden speech as much as possible ... the KISS principle....but now that I see the date Im guessing my comment is long past needed...haha...
    – rob
    Feb 24, 2014 at 22:19
  • Funny after reading the other posts and thinking....I have given more answers about things I do not believe are truth than what I think are....makes one go hummmm.... (0:
    – rob
    Feb 24, 2014 at 22:21
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    Would I really want this to be the place for a potential converts or new believers to learn about Truth? Yes. Whyever not? I'd also like it to be a place where people have freedom of speech (as long as it doesn't get rude or offensive etc), which currently they don't, since the rules are getting in the way of people asking straight forward questions about truth, the most important subject available to man.
    – George Tomlinson
    Mar 28, 2014 at 12:32
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    I think this is a great place for new believers to learn. What would it mean to say otherwise? Wouldn't that mean saying that new believers can only be properly formed in a highly controlled environment verging on indoctrination, an environment that is not open to questions and criticisms? Having truth is not having an insecure and fragile white-knuckled grasp, it involves an openness to new arguments, considerations, and criticisms. I would be wary of any brand of Christianity that wants to keep its new members away from scholarly sites such as this one.
    – zippy2006
    Jan 4, 2015 at 21:30
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    As a Catholic I don't consider Protestant to be a faithful Christian in term of their belief but I do consider them as a person capable of discernment. So it'd be proper for me to answer question regarding Evangelicalism, Mormonism, or about JW as long as I answered them objectively. If the questioner asked about what a particular group believed I can't give my opinion as a Catholic but must answer it following that particular group belief. This site can be helpful for all: believer to defend the faith, seeker to search the historic Christianity, and agnostic to check if Christianity is true.
    – Adithia Kusno
    Feb 13, 2015 at 16:28

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the question of whether its a good place for new believers to learn is moot because they will come here anyway so the site needs to be prepared to help them understand that not everything they see here is true and why its not true

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  • you can make your own website from the data on this site (accessible here archive.org/download/stackexchange/…) and do a "just the good parts" version.
    – Peter Turner Mod
    Apr 20, 2018 at 13:17
  • thanks for the input i am considering doing just that
    – M.R. Christian
    Apr 22, 2018 at 14:54
  • Who downvoted this answer?
    – Jim G.
    Apr 26, 2018 at 21:18
  • But who decides what is true?
    – Kef Schecter
    Oct 13, 2022 at 13:14

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