A Public Service Announcement for Those Who Argue With "Believer"
 

Please notice his user name is not "Thinker".


We now return you to your normally scheduled posting.

That is rough without knowing his circumstances. Glad I use to be on your "good-side" before this thread.....

Not that I do not agree with you.

:)

Who are you again?

I know the guy means well. I believe he is misguided. We're going through lessons at my church how to witness without putting people off like he does. Hopefully I'll be able to share some of my newly gained knowledge at its conclusion.

They let you in because of your wife, didn't they?

There is little doubt. She opens a lot of doors for me.

He's the internet equivalent of Ned Flanders.

I'm very impressed with the direction that more and more churches seem to be going these days with their witness. Being raised in a Southern Baptist church, it always seemed the focus was to just get people in the door, let them have a religious experience through a revival, then hope they'd get saved (and join/grow the church). My parents switched churches about 10 years ago, and everything changed. Now their witness basically consists (or consisted in my father's case) of doing various outreach ministries (working with the homeless, giving appreciation dinners to various community organizations like the firefighters or teachers, tutoring young kids, going on medical mission trips to 3rd world countries, etc.) During all of these outreach ministries, actually witnessing, as in sit down now and hear the obligatory 30 minute spiel about Jesus, was hardly ever done. The way my father explained it to me was that they put themselves in these opportunities, and they believed that God would then open doors to allow them to witness. This might take the form of someone asking them why they were doing what they're doing or just striking up a friendship that eventually became an opportunity to witness. The emphasis was always on the work itself with the understanding that the opportunity to bring someone to Christ would come naturally from that.

without all the flowery okely dokely's

why is it necessary for everyone to believe that to be a Christian, one needs to have some "conversion" experience? It's always to some folks about being "saved", when in essence, isn't being "saved" more about learning to live in love and grace? Seriously, sometimes being a Christian just doesn't mean I have to say, "I believe Jesus is my savior", but more about "I'm thinking this love thing is way better than this hate thing and it seems JC did a heck of a job doing that, so maybe I'll get my cues for living from him."

Time the f**k out. There will be not deep thought or discussion in MY thread.

.

Apologies to Simplex, but anyway...

I don't necessarily disagree with you, but I can tell you the reasoning. Christ said, "I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father but by me" (John 14.6). This is a pretty explicit that the only way to God is through Christ. Jesus also said "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned" (Mark 16:15-16). So, if one believes in a literal interpretation of Christ's commandments, one believes that it is incumbent to witness. Many believers also believe that by spreading the good news s/he is saving others from damnation.

Right, I understand their reasoning. I get tired of it. that passage can mean something entirely different when read with a discerning heart.

good point. there is much more to being a christian than saying i believe in God/Jesus.

I just dont believe that online ministering can work, people cant see you as a person or hear the sincerity of your voice. Its a cold, sterile environment where its impossible to gauge emotion or the essence of a person.

I myself have no problem with Believer, if i dont want to read his thread or anybody else's its a VERY simple matter of not reading them, i dont have to question his sincerity or call him names.

I. simply. move. on.