Why are there so many threads on religion on a tickling board?

[GoForTheLaugh]

Not trying to start a war. I am just really curious.

The number of pro- and anti-religion threads on this board shocks me. I usually stay away from anything not tickle-related since I have limited time and am trying my best to understand this fetish. Still, every time I log on, I see one or two new religion threads.

I assume that people are following the double minority principle and looking for friends: tickle fan and very religious or tickle fan and atheist. Am I right, or is there even more going on?

For what it is worth, I am an atheist with Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Wiccan, and atheist (non-ticklephile) friends. It is so hard to find a decent gay guy into tickling that I would not care what his religious beliefs were should I actually meet one. (I actually read an ad by a gay Mormon tickle fan on a gay board, and that stuck me as a wonderfully weird combination.)

[isabeau]

check the topic matter. it says general discussion not related to tickling and a thread topic specifically for religion and politics. personally i like the variety it helps me use my mind more

isabeau :xpulcy:

[Robace252]

isabeau{E} check the topic matter. it says general discussion not related to tickling and a thread topic specifically for religion and politics. personally i like the variety it helps me use my mind more

isabeau

I agree isabeau, well said....were going to have to get togeather and just talk one of these days, we seem to have a lot in common (on beliefs and such). When I get back from Misssissippi Id like to chat with you either PM in the Chat room here, or if you have yahoo messenger.

Thanks.....I dont have any other reply for once...isabeau said enough.

[isabeau]

wow now that is quite a compliment coming from someone who responds to threads with high intelligence. again i must say that this part of the forum deals specifically with non tickling discussions. however i willl add again that i sometimes hang out in a courttvchat room where, once the discussion turns to religion or politics, things get very heated and people get banned. because for one thing cussing isnt allowed and for another people tend to become personal and start calling names which also isnt allowed. these topics can hurt someone if not properly handled.

isabeau :cat:

[GoForTheLaugh]

isabeau{E}: Maybe I did not ask the question well. If I were looking for Christian discussion, I would go to a Christian board. If I were looking for atheist discussion, I would go to an atheist board. People can talk about whatever they want in the politics and religion section here, of course. I am just curious about why people would WANT to post about politics and religion on a board that does not cater to those topics. Wouldn't they be discussed more thoroughly on boards that do cater to them?

[hivoltage]

GoForTheLaugh, I for one do not want to banter about with people who agree with me 100% on a discusion board. How boring.

The point of this section is for people to actually hear what others with differing viewpoints have to say, not debate the number of angels that can stand on the head of a pin (it's 12, by the way).

[isabeau]

isabeau{E}: Maybe I did not ask the question well. If I were looking for Christian discussion, I would go to a Christian board. If I were looking for atheist discussion, I would go to an atheist board. People can talk about whatever they want in the politics and religion section here, of course. I am just curious about why people would WANT to post about politics and religion on a board that does not cater to those topics. Wouldn't they be discussed more thoroughly on boards that do cater to them?


all i did was tell you that here in the forum is a place for these kind of threads. i dont know why they are here, but i for one am glad like i said up above. its nice to have all kinds of topics, even in a tickling forum. like i said it gets my brain working, which is a good thing. and i dont want to go to those kinds of boards. but thanks for responding.

isabeau :wiseowl:

[jim66e]

Not trying to start a war. I am just really curious.

The number of pro- and anti-religion threads on this board shocks me. I usually stay away from anything not tickle-related since I have limited time and am trying my best to understand this fetish. Still, every time I log on, I see one or two new religion threads.

I assume that people are following the double minority principle and looking for friends: tickle fan and very religious or tickle fan and atheist. Am I right, or is there even more going on?

For what it is worth, I am an atheist with Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Wiccan, and atheist (non-ticklephile) friends. It is so hard to find a decent gay guy into tickling that I would not care what his religious beliefs were should I actually meet one. (I actually read an ad by a gay Mormon tickle fan on a gay board, and that stuck me as a wonderfully weird combination.)


Well most of us have lives outside of tickling, so we bring more of ourselves to the board than just that one small aspect of our lives. Personally, it also helps me apreceate members of this board more. I get to have intellegent discussions with them and learn about them and their way of thinking. To be quite honest, the conversations in this sub-forum tend to be much more interesting, creative and better thought out than most tickling conversations I have with people.

It gives people another level to connect on.

[unclebill]

Lighten up a little bit GoForTheLaugh. This would be a very boring forum if all we talk about is tickling. Our new friend Melanie is right on target when she talks about using your brain in this section. Besides, with George Bush doing such a wonderful job screwing the world up these days we have an endless supply of topics in both religion and politics.

[GoForTheLaugh]

Some good answers here!

I have a main message board, a place I have been for years. It has nothing to do with sex or tickling, and we discuss a whole range of issues. I have also gotten friendly with some of the folks there in real life.

For me, this board is an adjunct, a place where I spend little time (other than tonight and a few other times) to discuss what I cannot discuss elsewhere.

I guess I should not assume that everyone uses this board for the same reason that I do. Why shouldn't it be the main board for people who have been here for years and made friends? :)

[Ticklemmmeeeeee]

I agree that having the religion and politics sections of this forum is a great idea. I personally have belonged to many christian forums over the past year that were strictly christian discussion and they were no fun atall. Quite nasty at times to be honest, as Isabeau pointed out.

That said, I have to be honest, in the religion forum here there is better discussion, more of a willingness to speak honestly without the need to conform to the general consensus of the forum and I enjoy discussing my favorite topics with my favorite people. (I never realized how much I sincerely missed so many people in my life.)

I think sharing off-tickling topics with eachother as well as our tickling joys and heartaches makes for really close friendships, I like that :)
I understand your curiousness but my advice is to relax and enjoy it:)
~tm :)

[isabeau]

Goforthelaugh i hope you didnt think i was being sarcastic with my first response. but it is a general discussion thread so i suppose anything goes. its like tv if you dont like the show, turn the channel . same thing on this forum, if someone doesnt like the subject matter dont read it. there are people who come into courttvchat who constantly say i cant stand nancy grace. and the answer inevitably is change the channel. well now i'm not trying to be a smartass or anything its just that for those who come to this forum only for tickling discussions, avoid these threads that deal with other topics. and i mean this in a nice way, not being mean. hope you take it that way.

isabeau :cat:

[ShadowTklr]

Personally, I like the religious and political discussions. Its kind of like one-stop shopping here. I can come to the one place I want to be, get lots of tickling material and chat, AND have stimulating discussions with intelligent people.

[GoForTheLaugh]

isabeau{E}: No, I did not think anything amiss in your posts. I guess I am just a tad more naive than I admit. The idea that one can be O.K. with a fetish and also believe in God is new to me. (Remember that I left a very Christian background and became an atheist for a number of reasons. If I were still Christian, I would be praying for God to help me master and ignore the fetish. Perhaps that would just be silly of me, as I cannot see how tickling would hurt religious faith even though I am sure that my ex-pastors would be dead set against it. I came from the nothing-but-the-missionary-position school of Christianity, after all.) But, yes, I stay away from most non-tickling threads since I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings or be hurt myself.

CabanaBoy: Agreed. It is so weird to see religious threads here. Still, where else can religious folk into tickling meet like-minded people? I may not like religious discussion on this board, but I support it here now that I understand why it occurs here a little better. Just so long as I don't get preached at, as I have had enough of that for one lifetime.

Ticklemmmeeeeee: Nasty is an understatement for the way many Christians behaved on a Christian board I belonged to before I became an atheist. Sadly, my short stint on an atheist board showed me that some atheists can be just as self-righteous. I did, however, take a small number of Christian and atheist friends from both boards, and I still e-mail most of them regularly. I will even go as far as saying that my favorite person on the Internet is a fairly conservative Christian who respects me exactly as I am. He does not know about my tickling fetish, but he does know a few things that no one on this board knows. I love the guy and wish we lived in the same city (and country!).

ShadowTklr: The one stop shopping idea is appealing. On a personal level, I would have to know folks here much better before I started opening myself up that way. In addition, the memory of the flames I received for two threads in which I discussed my ideas still stings, and I doubt I will ever trust anyone on this board enough to be anything more than politically correct and cautious.

unclebill: We seem to have similar political beliefs! It is nice that there is a section that allows folks to use their brains. Since you have told me to lighten up, you probably realize that I tend to overthink everything. My needs do not include a section for expanded brain use, but rather more tickle discussion just for fun.

jim66e: I can see that. Again, I am glad that so many of you have a place to get to know each other. A small number of people from this board e-mail me, and I am willing to let my guard down a little more in one-on-one conversations. I guess that is the way I get to know a few people here.

[isabeau]

Goforthelaugh you arent hurting anyones feelings. i think i might have come across rather sarcastic in my first post. didnt mean that at all. and that comment about changing the channel again not meant in a smart ass way. actually as i said before and this will be my last time to say it on this thread, i like the diversity of this forum. but i agreee feelings can get hurt.

isabeau :angel:

[Ticklemmmeeeeee]

Goforthelaugh.....I want to comment on what you wrote regarding having difficulty understanding how a person can be "okay" with God AND embrace their fetish simultaneously.

Very interesting thought actually, I have had the struggle myself for the past two and a half years of how to serve God and embrace my fetsishes.

I have gone to both extremes by both giving myself complete permission to express my "interests" as zealously as I wished to the extreme opposite of extricating myself from not only this and every other tickling forum and group I associated with but to try and distinguish my love of tickling altogether.

Needless to say neither one worked and that is because extreme reactions usually produce ineffective results that rarely depict accuracy of the originating problem.

I have grown as a christian and now understand God's word as a more central message of guidance and a practical way to measure ourselves by God rather than be judged by other people professing to do the same thing.

I have once again embraced my natural love of and for tickling because without it I cannot be who I am. I would be living a life void of a primary characteristic that allows me to be me.

I am no fool though, I do not propose that I can do anything I wish in the name of love just because God is so good and forgiving that he will forgive my intentional selfish indulgence even after I have made a promise to Him not to. Now that is not to say that we can stop sinning altogether after becoming christians, we don't become perfect , it only means we try not to sin, but when we fall short Jesus' blood is there to wash us clean once again if we are sincere in wanting to repent.

I also leave it to God to decide who is sincere and not. I hold no one accountable for what they do or do not do, I leave that to God. But for me, I know the limits I place on myself are limits I can live with based on my own consciousness and relationship with God.

Another way I stay in check with what I believe to be pleasing to God is through prayer. Prayer keeps me honest. Prayer is the christians way of communicating (talking) with God and when I talk to him each day and night I had better be as honest as I can with him because he knows my heart better than I do.

That said, there are parts of my fetish I do not want to have to give up but I want to want to...so I pray to God to help me not want to do those displeasing things that I am so compelled to do. (They are my little secret :)

What other people think matters to me but what they think about me is not the most important thing, what God knows about me is of deeper importance. (Ever see someone stop doing something offensive when you or another enters a room for fear that they will be seen but never give one hoot to the fact that God sees all and knows all?...I know because I used to do the same thing before becoming aware of God :)

In summary...I derive great comfort that God always knows my heart and whether I want to do right by him or ignore him and feed my own selfish needs in the name of "deserving to be happy".
And I also take comfort retrospectively that the morning after I have done that one thing again that i said I would never do again I know that if I really mean it again that God forgives me!

He also knows when I truly am repenting because I am sorry that I hurt him and not just sorry I "got caught".

My point is that when trying to decide if what I do is okay with God or not I do not look to most christians or the world's askew view of christianity for any semblance of guidance. Many(well-meaning?) christians have decided it is their duty to keep other christians in line...I love discipline but I want mine from God not other imperfect people who may be doing the same or even worse as me, that is what many in my former church did.

It would be great if all christians would support and encourage one another on the difficulties involved with being Christian in a non Christian world rather than condemning and beating others over the head with their bibles.

God wants us to obey him because we love him not because we are afraid of going to hell if we don't.
(Anyone who reads thru my entire posts should get extra credit in heaven,lol...sorry for the run on sentences and thouhgts but passion doesn't stand still for grammatical correctness (I know that is an excuse that people who speak / write grammatically incorrect use,lol.... :bouncybou
peace:)
~tm

[drew70]

I could be way off base here, but I get the idea that GoForTheLaugh and others look at the TMF largely as a match-making "E-Harmony of the Tickling Set." It is after all, a great online place to meet people, and I don't doubt that many are here for that reason.

But I don't see the P&R Forum as an extension of the Personals Forum, where people are looking for not only tickling but specific religious and political leanings. I would say rather that the P&R Forum came about as part of the natural evolution of the discussion forums. First, there was only one discussion forum: The Tickling Forum. As a little time went by, people began complaining about the increasing number of threads not pertaining specifically to tickling. So the General Discussion forum was created for discussions not pertaining to tickling. That was fine for a couple of years. When the whole thing with Iraq was getting started, the General Discussion Forum became swamped with very hearted political debate. Subsequently, the TMF Politics and Religion Forum was formed. I think it was a very good move on the part of TMF staff, because many have no interest in politics nor religion and quickly tire of such threads. Same thing with the Silly Stuff Forum. People complained about the cutesy little "I'm gonna getcha!" threads, so they made a place for that stuff too.

I read something somebody said earlier, either in this thread or another, that basically stated there's only so many different discussions about tickling. It's true. Granted, every now and then somebody comes up with a new take, but I'd say 95% of the current topics have been covered, more than once. That's not a bad thing, especially for new members, but I'd hate for the rest of us to be restricted to rehashing all the tickling topics. It's nice to get into a political debate, or indulge in some silliness from time to time. Some of us combine the two! :blaugh:

[Ticklemmmeeeeee]

Well said Drew 70 :) :wavingguy

[GoForTheLaugh]

I have grown as a christian and now understand God's word as a more central message of guidance and a practical way to measure ourselves by God rather than be judged by other people professing to do the same thing.

I have once again embraced my natural love of and for tickling because without it I cannot be who I am. I would be living a life void of a primary characteristic that allows me to be me.



I hear you. Gay Christians with same-sex partners or looking for same-sex partners often use the same argument--"men or "women" substituted for "tickling"--and it makes sense to me. But, no, I never wish to be religious again. I was hurt too much and too hard. I will never, however, be an intolerant atheist who hurts religious folks with pleasure. If I did, I would be doing to others what many Christians did to me.

You and the other religious folks should keep posting on topics of your choice and keep believing. I asked a question because I wanted to hear what you had to say, nothing more.

----------------------------------------------------------

Drew70: Not quite sure what you meant, but, no, I am not looking for the love of my life here. If I am lucky enough to find him one day (off the board), he need not even be a tickle fan. Just let him hold me and love me as I am, and I will be satisfied.

I do, however, wish I at least knew some other gays with this silly fetish just so I could understand it better. That is why I am here. Unfortunately, this is the wrong board for that. :( What can I do? There is no board for folks like me.

As far as religion and politics, the flames I endured for daring to be gay and daring to argue that not all M/M fans are gay have made it clear that I can never say what I really believe, so I will just be political here. When I slip and say something offensive (as I did recently), I apologize. I am honest in all I write, mind you, but I avoid several topics. I want to get along here and maybe make a few (non-play!) casual friends; I don't need to fight or post controversially.

[mpeyton]

Lighten up a little bit GoForTheLaugh. This would be a very boring forum if all we talk about is tickling. Our new friend Melanie is right on target when she talks about using your brain in this section. Besides, with George Bush doing such a wonderful job screwing the world up these days we have an endless supply of topics in both religion and politics.

Careful! I wouldn't want the Bush lovers in your area comng after you with there big scary Bibles. Seriously though, you get sick of talking about tickling the crap out somebocy sooner or later. Variety keeps your brain going.

[isabeau]

I hear you. Gay Christians with same-sex partners or looking for same-sex partners often use the same argument--"men or "women" substituted for "tickling"--and it makes sense to me. But, no, I never wish to be religious again. I was hurt too much and too hard. I will never, however, be an intolerant atheist who hurts religious folks with pleasure. If I did, I would be doing to others what many Christians did to me.

You and the other religious folks should keep posting on topics of your choice and keep believing. I asked a question because I wanted to hear what you had to say, nothing more.

----------------------------------------------------------

Drew70: Not quite sure what you meant, but, no, I am not looking for the love of my life here. If I am lucky enough to find him one day (off the board), he need not even be a tickle fan. Just let him hold me and love me as I am, and I will be satisfied.

I do, however, wish I at least knew some other gays with this silly fetish just so I could understand it better. That is why I am here. Unfortunately, this is the wrong board for that. :( What can I do? There is no board for folks like me.

As far as religion and politics, the flames I endured for daring to be gay and daring to argue that not all M/M fans are gay have made it clear that I can never say what I really believe, so I will just be political here. When I slip and say something offensive (as I did recently), I apologize. I am honest in all I write, mind you, but I avoid several topics. I want to get along here and maybe make a few (non-play!) casual friends; I don't need to fight or post controversially.


i like you goforthelaugh. and i admire your honesty. your thread is a good one. gets people thinking. one cant talk about tickling all day long. or even think about it all day for that matter. but congratulations on starting a thread with so many responses. look forward to more of those.

isabeau :cat:

[New2u]

Drew, Well stated my friend.

[drew70]

Thanks, New2u. Looking forward to our next "silly" debate. ;)

[New2u]

Thanks, New2u. Looking forward to our next "silly" debate. ;)

sure thing drew, we both should get a good laugh from each other ever once and awhile, LOL :veryhappy :blaugh:

Peace.

[hivoltage]

This is definitely starting to sound like the "E-Harmony of the Tickling Set".