Okay, I have been called condescending and confrontational one too many times. Try as hard as I can, I can rarely see why offending posts are taken that way. So I am going to explain a bit of how my communication style arose.
First, in IT I was always given the problematic clients because of my ability to make them feel heard. Second, for a decade and a half I coordinated all the lay liturgical ministers - ushers, musicians, lectors, altar servers (adults and youth), lay worship leaders ... I had the position because of my ability to communicate and listen carefully .. and judge when to get a priest involved. Nonetheless, I am innately a recluse not a social being.
Second, my family has it's own communication style ... think of two generations with four autistic children (one pre-verbal), one cerebral palsy person using a communication board, one blind cerebral palsy person living independently, one profoundly disabled child whose day consists of beating his head against the wall and playing with red strings, six with learnings disabilities of various types, one severely delayed speech, one serious mental illness ... and 5 adults either in the ministry or in social service organizations. Or, on the flip side, my parents had twice as many unrelated grandchildren as related grandchildren because each of my generation raised multiple children who were not their own by birth. And we ended up featured in a sermon about family after an ex-daughter-in-law's current husband called to ask if he and his Mother could come to Thanksgiving dinner even if the ex-daughter-in-law couldn't make it. In short, it's a family you can join but not leave. Now notice the number of people for whom communication must be straight forward, precise, without complex emotions or implications. Example: the wise teacher who cut out paper circles for the children to sit on so one of the autistic boys could understand "circle time" ... you sit on your circle and listen.
My point: I never am deliberately condescending or confrontational but I am accustomed to speaking with people overly literal understandings, with having to speak in a manner to engage a pre-verbal autistic teenager and a retired college prof. I am use to trying multiple times to have my point understood. I am used to being defensive in protecting the rights of all the various quirks of family members, of demanding that they are respected as people ... especially when people seem blithely unaware that their experience is not everyone's experience and, therefore, fail to see that what they personally want is not necessarily what is best for Faithlife users or company in general. If that rubs you the wrong way, so be it.
On the other hand, if I do word something in a way that gives offensive, please let me know precisely what may be taken in a way I did not intend. Logos forums represent a segment of society I have little interaction with outside the forums. I am very aware that American evangelical speech is a foreign language to me.
