Spreading the Gospel or are we? (Jesus Christ, Earth, beliefs, followers)

[Kcnorwood]

So in other words the Christians here should be converting all the other who do not believe in the Judeo-Christian God? Where's the religous tolerence come in to play? Or am I missing something?

[Mestemia]

I have long wondered what the Biblical deity thinks of those who use assumptions, error filled notions, and flat out lies to promote him.
Take Jack Chick for example.
His Chick Tracts are found all over the place, but I have yet to see one that does not contain flat out lies.
Does he honestly believe that his deity condones his breaking the ten commandments to spread the word of his deity?
More importantly, at least for my curiosity, what does his deity think of such practices?

[MidnightBlue]

Originally Posted by Dunemeister

Yes, that's true. People accept or reject religions based not only on what a religion says but what its practitioners do. The problem with that, however, is that most religions worth considering set the ethical bar pretty high, and it's going to be natural to find people who won't reach it. So I think that nawab has a point.

Jesus set the ethical bar pretty high, but I haven't noticed that Christians do.

Originally Posted by Dunemeister

When Jesus said "You shall know a tree by its fruit," he was talking about prophets, not necessarily religions. You can tell a prophet of God by how he behaves. Does his preaching produce righteousness or not? Does it inspire loving community among his followers or not? There's a sense in which this follows to the community, of course. The problem is that communities take time to work through issues. For instance, the primitive church seemed to have been a model of love for the surrounding world -- so much so that pagans were attracted in droves. Yet a skeptic might have validly pointed out that the elderly among the pagan converts were not being properly cared for in the community. It took a while for the church to recognize and respond to the problem. Now if someone were to judge the church based on its care for the elderly at that moment, they would have mistakenly believed that the church was racist or that Christianity either promoted or ignored racism.

Actually, they would have been right on the money. The fact that the Church later corrected that problem doesn't mean it didn't exist at the time.

It took Christians nearly two millenia to work through their issues on slavery. They have not to this day worked through their issues about women, homosexuals, or religious freedom. The majority of Christians to this day belong to churches that will not ordain women. Almost all Christians belong to churches that discriminate against homosexuals. Our political life in the United States is plagued by the constant activism of Christians who believe that their god requires them to impose their beliefs on others by force of law.

How much time, exactly -- how many more centuries -- do you reckon Christians will need to work through these little issues?

How many millenia will it be before we can see what kind of fruits Christianity brings forth?

[Fish-Hunter]

Originally Posted by Charity

Lately I have been made to wonder just what is happening to the "Christians" on this forum. We the Christian are suppose to be spreading the Gospel (Good News) of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I recently replied to a post where I said that we, the Christians will be the only Bible that some may see. (Meaning the unbelievers) and how we conduct ourselves is of the most importance. We need to possess something that the rest of the world doesn't. Why would any Christian want to attack another's beliefs? We can discuss scripture and tell each other our beliefs, but God has to be the one to do any changing, we are not the judge. Others are watching us, we should be showing the example , Others need to see Christ in us.

Does anyone have any suggestions how we can approach this problem with understanding and Christian love to each other? Our light needs to be set on the hill for all to see, not hidden under a basket....

I'm sorry to say it but WE ARE SO HEAVENLY MINDED THAT WE ARE OF NO EARTHLY USE TO GOD......
Luke 6:37
Judge not, and ye shall not be judged:
Condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned;
forgive, and ye shall be forgiven;

I think the gospel contents need to be understood and wholeheartily embraced before it can be shared. Do you mind sharing your understanding of the gospel of God's grace with me? Please consider Galatians chapter 1 and how important the truth of the gospel is to saving faith. What is the message of the cross, or the gospel of God's grace?

Christ the Wisdom and Power of God

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."

Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength. Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord." 1 Cor 1

[logician]

Evangelistic religions are dangersous, a la 9/11.

[Heneni]

hello charity! How are you doing today?

You raised an interesting point.

Firstly, i have concluded that the scripture that says you shall know them by their fruit, means you shall know them by what they stand for. And that depends on what god stands for.

If i was offended by you charity, it would be easy to conclude that you dont have the right type of fruit, since you are irritating me..lol..you are not.. Also, the fruit comes from the tree, and the tree can not be good unless it was planted by god. Hence you actually have to descern the tree before you can judge the fruit.

Having said that, we are to judge one tree from the next, but we often feel like we shouldnt judge because somewhere else the bible says judge not, lest you be judged. Judging isnt wrong, its when you are not willing to be judged yourself that is the problem. And as you have said....im happy that god is my judge. But that does not make it any easier, it just makes it absolutely fair! Our judge stands at the door. Hence we are judged daily. Judging is required, but if we judge incorrectly we have missed the mark, and hence god is right there to set us straight. Judging us, means we are able to see more clearly and correctly the next time we judge.

If we dont judge, how then can we refrain from walking, then standing and then finally sitting with the wicked? We can not remove ourselves from every single negative influence. But if you cant judge the influence for what it is...negative, you could be setting yourself up for a fall. It is gods plan however that we all come to a point that nomatter what influence comes our way, we stick to our standards! Hence atheists are good training and so are some religeous folks too.

I dont think god is against confrontation, and not even against conflict. He is rather against apathy. God himself, confronts, convicts and rebukes. If he uses me he will do this through me. Im subsequently not very popular. He heals and helps and comforts too..he uses me for this also, but less so than he uses you or somebody else for it.

Being a child of god, i dont ask the question what can god use me for, rather its more important who i belong to. God uses me in ways that i am blissfully unaware of. Keeps the ego in check. Sometimes in retrospect he will show me how he used me at times, but mostly he doesnt.

A few years ago i was going through a tough time regarding my usefullness to god. I felt to say the least useless to him. And then it dawned on me...i am useless to him, if i try to be usefull. However if i empty myself of any preconcieved ideas of how he ought to use me, he does, in all sorts of ways.

God showed me...by using a song actually...that all i have to be...is this...JUST BE! He will take care of the rest.

There are sweet people like you that god uses to talk to some people, and Katzpur, and then there are people like me, who are less sweet but still have my purpose. Id rather be the sweetner but im afraid im more like a spiritual laxative. Oh well, some members of the body are for noble use, some are not...im the part of the body that is used for waste disposal. Not very flashy or as nice as the healing hands, or feet that bring the gospel, yet necessary still. If i try to be something im not, ive missed the mark. If somebody tries to be me, they have missed the mark too.

Really it is part of our responsibility to test the spirits. If you dont you wont know what or who you are dealing with. God has shown me how to test spirits. Please dont think that i dont believe you have the ability too. My time is precious, and so, if i am going to say something to someone it has to be from a place of being aware of who and what i am talking to, lest i waste my time.

There are some people on this forum, i believe will turn to god, and they dont know it yet, havent testified to the truth of the fact yet, there are some that think they are saved yet they are not. Deep calls unto the deep. Spirits recognise each other. Light and darkness does not get along, since light exposes those things that are hidden in the dark. It seems very noble that we are lights, that light is a beacon for those lost in the dark, but an offense to those who would like to remain in it.

There are people here that stand up against me, and i could easily write them off as unsaved, but i can tell that im speaking to an 'open channel'. Im sure you can too. There are those that chat away yet are 'closed'. I guess it is a gift god gave me, to indentify the spirits, since perhaps he knew i wasnt going to be too popular. It is important that i can take offense from anybody, without losing hope for that person. Especially if god has planted seeds in that person, which is still growing, and at the appointed time, they will testify to christ being their savior. God trusts me with this information, and it is not something i take lightly. I rarely reveal the identity of a spirit unless that one is posing as a sheep when they are not. I guess you can call me a watchman.

I cant save anybody...i can only deliver messages. And this is what i am...a messenger. My name HENENI, means HERE I AM...send me. God gives me the strength to keep on going.

All in all, dont judge unless you are willing to be judged too. And being willing to be judged by god is humility.

Humility fights for what is right. Pride fights for what is wrong. Satan knows that very well.

If being a spritual laxative is pleasing to god, then i have made him happy even if i fail to make others happy. How can i declare to believe, when i look for the praise an honor that come from men, instead of from god? Well...honestly sometimes i wish i had more pleasing things to say...but i am what i am. And god loves me.

Lots of love
Heneni

[Tau]

There is a place and a time for spreading the gospel, and a religious debate forum is not in my mind a suitable place to do it at any time...

[Charity]

Originally Posted by Kcnorwood

So in other words the Christians here should be converting all the other who do not believe in the Judeo-Christian God? Where's the religous tolerence come in to play? Or am I missing something?

No in fact we are discussing the fact that all of us who are called Christians have a "few" that like to tell us that we aren't really Christians just because we interpret some scriptures different. A few especially like telling the LDS that they aren't really Christians because they have a slight difference in their belief. These are all main stream religions that we are talking about. We all have the same belief about Jesus Christ, therefore we are called Christians. The main objective here is to stop these attacks within our own group of Christians..... It is not right to judge each other as to how we believe. It is up to each person and their own interpretation as to which church they want to be a member. We aren't speaking about trying to convert like say a Buddhist or Muslim to our faith, we are too busy fighting within our own ranks. No this isn't about converting anyone to our faith. We are apparently divided on what our faith consists of.

I am not an LDS or Catholic, but I am apalled at the way that others judge them or anyone , less Christian because they differ in their views.....

I personally don't believe in knocking on doors, or beating someone over the head with a Bible to try to get them to believe my way......I would like for them to see me as possessing love, peace and that just because I profess Christianity that I am human, I have joy and love to laugh and joke with people. I may not agree with everyone on the way they believe or the way they live their life. But I am not going to condemn them. Live and let live.
Thanks
Charity

[Tau]

Originally Posted by Charity

I personally don't believe in knocking on doors, or beating someone over the head with a Bible to try to get them to believe my way......I would like for them to see me as possessing love, peace and that just because I profess Christianity that I am human, I have joy and love to laugh and joke with people. I may not agree with everyone on the way they believe or the way they live their life. But I am not going to condemn them. Live and let live.
Thanks

This kind of personal example philosophy will attract more conversions to Christianity than any amount of fire and brimestone rhetoric.
God will be pleased with Charity I suspect

A sage Christian knows when to shut up and when to speak.