Christian FIRST Group

[sheepgirl115]

This is a great idea! As a member of a team where every student is a Christian, I am delighted that such a group would be in FIRST. Thank you guys for bringing this up.

[Noah Kleinberg]

Originally Posted by SamSofa330

Not to offend you or be rude but by all means why not go make a group of atheists and you guys meet up during a competition. And if you did don't you think that many other "groups" would feel alienated,"left-out", or even that same, "we're outnumbered, lets just join 'em so we aren't segregated" just my personal opinion though. (2 cents of info...)

And just one more penny, i don't see why we should say, "NO, you can't for a group because it will make people feel left out." If that were the case most every robotics group should also get "denied" because it is for a certain region of the country or some other way *exclusive* to an area or group of people. I mean don't you think the people in CA might feel left out cause they don't live in New England and therefore *can't* be apart of N.E.R.D.??? Just another thought...don't hold my 3 cents against me though...

It's a touchy subject. Honestly, I feel that FIRST is not the place for this sort of thing, and that one can meet other people of the same religion at specifically religious places, such as a church. Then again, not being very religious, there might be something I don't quite get about it. Geographical organizations like N.E.R.D. are slightly different from this. They meet because teams can have problems which involve their location, and can be solved by meeting with other teams from the same region (let's say state laws were changed with a bad result for your team). Individual members being christians, on the other hand, does not really create a FIRST or engineering related problem, and therefor shouldn't have an exclusive FIRST group based off of it.

(Just my opinion, sorry if anyone is offended at all)

[Koko Ed]

I wish everyone would stop saying "sorry if I offended you..." Stand up for what you believe in. If someone takes offense to it then they can present their side of it and the debate can go on from there. But you should never have to apologize for what you think.

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

I wish everyone would stop saying "sorry if I offended you..." Stand up for what you believe in. If someone takes offense to it then they can present their side of it and the debate can go on from there. But you should never have to apologize for what you think.

I just don't want to turn this thread into a heated debate. Because of a simple miss-analyzation of my tone.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Cpt_Dave_Lister

I just don't want to turn this thread into a heated debate. Because of a simple miss-analyzation of my tone.

It's an emotional topic so it's going to get heated anyways. At least folks are engaging it with straightforward rational talk. Beleive you me, all the other messagebaords I go to this thread would have devolved into name calling by now.

Personally, I'm for this meeting. Were the meeting to take place off to the side, and not be flagged as a main event, I'm sure there would be no problem. However, if it were to be flagged at all, rather than just the fact that it exists being known, it would not be too welcome by those who choose not to practice a religion.

But yeah, by all means, go for it. I've seen and felt the effects of prayer, so they're welcome by me.

[JaneYoung]

This is an example of things I would be thinking about. We have a very diverse team this year on 418. We have been meeting, preparing for BEST, and we had a back to school bar-b-que for the team - students, parents, mentors. I am already noticing that we will have to work at communication to make sure all of us are together on the same page this year, working with various cultures and languages. Knowing this, I'm including the parents along with the mentors and the sponsors when thinking about this thread.

I'm also thinking that the members of our team all have jobs from the time they arrive at the venue until the time they leave. Any type of gathering would have to be well organized and publicized and our team members would have had to discuss this with our lead teacher and the parents. We would have to have a full understanding of the gathering well in advance of the regional and the participants' jobs would have to be covered by someone else during that time.

[Dylan Gramlich]

There is also the possibility of doing this at the after-party. I personally like the initial idea of meeting before the regional to pray for the upcoming event. But, maybe just having this group meeting at the after-party would give us a time to become better friends with out interfering with the team members jobs(trust me I know about needing to do something constantly ).

-=God Bless=- and continue the feedback!

P.S. thanx for the catch Matt!!

[Sup3rman]

Alright,
Let me start out by saying I full support this "thread" or "idea" that the Lord has been working on. I'm not doing this just because I know Dylan (Hi dylan) i'm doing this because I belive this is an amazing idea, and when I heard about it I have not stopped thinking about it sence. I think its great that the Lord put this on Dylan's and many others hearts. (Yeah I read most of the posts) Don't give up! I think God has a lot planned for this "idea"!

Somewhere back on the first page (yeah there is like four) someone said:

Isn't that what churches are for? FIRST is about robots.

Personaly I dont belive that prayer should only be offered at a church. Just because we are not at a church does not mean we cant pray. I hope to join SparX this year, from what I have heard from some of my friends on the team, and my good friend Dylan and his dad, it sounds amazing! But i'm going to help support this in any way I can even if i dont make the team.

Some dude who I dont have the pleasure of knowing named mike said this:

What Dylan and I are going for is to use FIRST as a way to communicate to other FIRSTers about the love that the Lord has for them (To be clear, I'm not saying this is our sole purpose for participating in FIRST).

I would have to agree with that totally!
Once again I think its a wonderful idea and I will / would support it anyway I can.

Hope to see you all this year (if i make the team)

~Matt

[Alexa Stott]

What Dylan and I are going for is to use FIRST as a way to communicate to other FIRSTers about the love that the Lord has for them (To be clear, I'm not saying this is our sole purpose for participating in FIRST).

To me, this sounds a lot like pushing your ideas in everyone's faces to tell them that they should be grateful for being loved by someone that some FIRSTers don't even believe in.

Prayer off to the side is one thing, but communicating to FIRSTers "the love that the 'Lord' has for them" is completely different.

[Sup3rman]

Prayer off to the side is one thing, but communicating to FIRSTers "the love that the 'Lord' has for them" is completely different.

Alright,

I don't think they are trying to directly "force" God on people. I think they just want to offer up an organized prayer "group". That shows people what God can have for them, and maybe will bring up further opportunities.

~Matt

[Dylan Gramlich]

Originally Posted by AtalanteStar25

To me, this sounds a lot like pushing your ideas in everyone's faces to tell them that they should be grateful for being loved by someone that some FIRSTers don't even believe in.

Prayer off to the side is one thing, but communicating to FIRSTers "the love that the 'Lord' has for them" is completely different.

I believe what Mike ment here was that people would SEE the love of Christ in us by being there praying off to the side, not through us as you said "pushing our ideas in everyone's faces" that is how i interperated what Mike was trying to convey in his statment.

-=God Bless=- keep the feedback coming!

[Steve W]

Please stick closer to the mandate of answering the questions posted on post #1

[Alexa Stott]

Originally Posted by Dylan Gramlich

I believe what Mike ment here was that people would SEE the love of Christ in us by being there praying off to the side, not through us as you said "pushing our ideas in everyone's faces" that is how i interperated what Mike was trying to convey in his statment.

So by seeing you pray by the side of the field, you want people to all of a sudden realize that "Christ" loves them? All I understood from that post was that you want to make us believe more in *od and "Christ," and this supposed "love," instead of letting us believe what we want to.

And yes, I do see that as, in a way, pushing religion into our faces.

[Sup3rman]

Well sticking to the first post on page one, this is 100% OPTIONAL.
Just to make things a little clearer for everyone who reads this. According to Marriam Webster the word Optional is actually not in the dictionary, but it refers to option. Option (according to MW) simply means:
"an act of choosing" or "something that may be chosen".
Once again I would like to say that i'm pretty sure this is just ment to be an optional thing for people who want to do it.