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It has been quite long since anyone posted a question, so here I go.
I love to share good stuff with my friends through emails, especially Christian things which I come across internet. One of my friends, deletes my email when she finds that it contains Christain material. She says that she is not going to follow a structured religion. She says her prayers to God, but not in the name of Lord Jesus. About Christianity, she says that pastors and church leaders do/had sexually expolited people so she can not be a Christian. I explained her that coming to Jesus is having a relationship with Jesus and believing in Him is not a structured religion. Yet she is pretty adamant. I remember her in my prayers for her to come to Lord Jesus. I know that only Holy Spirit can change a person.
Should I keep trying to reach her or am I wasting my time and should "dust off my sandals?".
i am well aware of the fact that christianity has it's deepest roots in judaism. i also know that they are not the same religion. christianity, itself, is just under 2000 years old. it may have roots in judaism, as well as numerous other religions, but it was only been a separate religion reletively short time.
In actual fact, Christianity is just fulfilled Judaism. The believers in the Jewish messiah originally met in the same synagogues even. We follow the Jewish Messiah, the one prophecied right from genesis 3:15 onward. And no, it is not based upon other religions. I am not sure where you got your information from.
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I'm not saying anyone would follow a religion they believed to be false. what I'm saying is that almost any believer of any religion will be willing and ready to present evidence of what they see as proof that their religion is true.
Most hold their religions to be true by faith alone. And once again just because a person believes something does not make it true.
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to me it makes a lot better sense to just let people find whatever proof they need for whatever religion they choose to follow, and not argue over rather or not the proof is real or what religion is better.
There is a difference. If you choose the wrong god, your eternity is at stake. That is not better
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it's not a popularity contest. it's not a race. it's not a test. it's a personal belief system.
I agree that it is not a popularity contest, but it is also not just just a belief system. There are real consequences, both here and in eternity for choosing to believe in a false god rather than the one true God.
I too have friends that send me religious emails, I may read them if they're interesting, but it's just for the read, not because I'm interested in joining.
I am not forcing a religion on her. I am only sharing with her what I know. If I had lot of information and knowledge about ants, spaceships, seas, galaxies, clothes, politics and so on, I would had shared information about those things with her and my other friends.
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Originally Posted by Altenweg
If the person insists on sending more, even after I've asked them to stop, then I block their emails.
The day she or others tell me categorically not to send them any email which has Jesus or Christian contents, I would stop it. However, I won't stop praying for them.
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Originally Posted by Altenweg
It's almost like being raped, you've said no but they won't listen or respect it. I have no tolerance for people like that.
It is not "almost like being raped". Do you know what fanatics from other religions have done and do to convert a person into their religion. And I am not a fanatic yet. Am I heading on the road to fanaticism - I do not think so. Even Christian pastors have done wrong with humans in te name of religion, but that is not the way which is pleasing to Lord Jesus. And they would have to answer for their actions when they see God.
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Originally Posted by Altenweg
That's my take on it.
Thank you very much for your honest answer. This helped me to get the perspective from the other end.
If I had lot of information and knowledge about ants, spaceships, seas, galaxies, clothes, politics and so on, I would had shared information about those things with her and my other friends.
If she said she wasn't interested in ants would you still send the emails about ants to her?
Boy, has this discussion swerved off course!
Triund, I think you are right. As Christians we are called to go and preach the gospel to all the world (MK16:15). If you have someone slam the door in your face (specifically tell you to STOP) and you were to continue, then that would be wrong. However like you have tried to point out to certain people in this discussion no one has ever said stop! So you are directed by the Lord to witness to them. Keep it up unless or until you are told to STOP! And I will continue to pray for your boldness to do it in the face of opposition.
If she said she wasn't interested in ants would you still send the emails about ants to her?
That's the whole issue. People love to talk on any topic and love to get as much info as they can on any topic other than Jesus, the Bible or Christianity.
Boy, has this discussion swerved off course!
Triund, I think you are right. As Christians we are called to go and preach the gospel to all the world (MK16:15). If you have someone slam the door in your face (specifically tell you to STOP) and you were to continue, then that would be wrong. However like you have tried to point out to certain people in this discussion no one has ever said stop! So you are directed by the Lord to witness to them. Keep it up unless or until you are told to STOP! And I will continue to pray for your boldness to do it in the face of opposition.
Triund, how would you feel if she, or another friend of yours, began sending you emails reciting from the Book of Mormon? Or passages from the Tao Te Ching?
When I get emails from my friends who are Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims (Sorry, I do not anyone who is Mormon or others ), I read the emails and if there is anything I can learn, I take it and then delete it.
In actual fact, Christianity is just fulfilled Judaism. The believers in the Jewish messiah originally met in the same synagogues even. We follow the Jewish Messiah, the one prophecied right from genesis 3:15 onward. And no, it is not based upon other religions. I am not sure where you got your information from.
many rituals and traditions in christianity have their roots in paganism.
christmas was placed in December to ease the transition from paganism to christianity. yule, the pagan holiday celebrating the birth of the sun god, was turned into christmas, the celebration of the son of god. many of the symbols were kept as well. candles, which later evolved into twinkle lights, were a symbol of the sun gods light. the yule log was kept from the previous year and burned again that year as a symbol of rebirth and the return of the sun god.
easter started off as eostara, the pagan holiday celebrating the roman goddess of fertility. i don't know what connection early christians drew between a fertility celebration and the resurrection of christ in order to commender the day. the symbols of the rabbit and the egg are left over from the pagan fertility rite.
even the cross itself did not begin with christianity. there are depictions of crosses from thousands of years before christianity. it is thought that they were seen as a symbol of equality, and sometimes of the four cardinal directions.
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There is a difference. If you choose the wrong god, your eternity is at stake. That is not better
that is a matter of opinion. not every religion has an equivilent to hell. not even every christian believes in hell.
besides, believers of other religions feel just as strongly that their religion will save them and grant them eternal bliss. believers of reincarnation, for instance, believe that living a good life now insures that they will be born into a better life in the future, generally culminating in an end to the reincarnation cycle and the right to spend eternity at complete peace within nirvana, the cosmic energy.
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I agree that it is not a popularity contest, but it is also not just just a belief system. There are real consequences, both here and in eternity for choosing to believe in a false god rather than the one true God.
I'm just curious, what real consequences would i suffer right now if i didn't believe in the christian gods? and what consequences would i suffer in eternity? and what proof do you have of both?
I'm not being confrontational. i am honestly curious. i have heard many people claim, and even promise, terrible consequences for those who are not christian. i have just never heard anything that convinced me that any one religion has more merit than any other.
I'm just curious, what real consequences would i suffer right now if i didn't believe in the christian gods? and what consequences would i suffer in eternity? and what proof do you have of both?
I'm not being confrontational. i am honestly curious. i have heard many people claim, and even promise, terrible consequences for those who are not christian. i have just never heard anything that convinced me that any one religion has more merit than any other.
First of all, Christianity does not believe in gods, but ONE GOD. so I am not sure if that was a typo or not, but please lets clear that up right up front.
Faith is the belief in things not seen. So if you have faith and believe in GOD. then you start reading the bible. Many will try and claim it is simply a history book. And while that part is true, it also contains information on how we as believers are to try and live our lives. It also tells us what will happen in the future. You see, reading the bible there are hundreds of prophesies, most of them written hundreds of years before they were fulfilled. But they were fulfilled exactly as foretold in the bible. If you choose not to believe what is written in the Bible, that is your choice and in the end, if we(Christians) are all wrong about this then you will have nothing to loose. But on the other hand, if the bible is all true and in the end comes a judgment time, you will be held accountable as the bible teaches, and be cast into the lake of fire for all eternity. Personally while I am not perfect by any stretch of the imagination I do get down and thank God for my salvation and ask for forgiveness for the mistakes I make each day. It is all and always your choice to make the decisions about Christ. That is one of the most wonderful curses God bestowed on man. The wonderful ability to make our own choices, and the curse of having to make our own choices.
First of all, Christianity does not believe in gods, but ONE GOD. so I am not sure if that was a typo or not, but please lets clear that up right up front.
Faith is the belief in things not seen. So if you have faith and believe in GOD. then you start reading the bible. Many will try and claim it is simply a history book. And while that part is true, it also contains information on how we as believers are to try and live our lives. It also tells us what will happen in the future. You see, reading the bible there are hundreds of prophesies, most of them written hundreds of years before they were fulfilled. But they were fulfilled exactly as foretold in the bible. If you choose not to believe what is written in the Bible, that is your choice and in the end, if we(Christians) are all wrong about this then you will have nothing to loose. But on the other hand, if the bible is all true and in the end comes a judgment time, you will be held accountable as the bible teaches, and be cast into the lake of fire for all eternity. Personally while I am not perfect by any stretch of the imagination I do get down and thank God for my salvation and ask for forgiveness for the mistakes I make each day. It is all and always your choice to make the decisions about Christ. That is one of the most wonderful curses God bestowed on man. The wonderful ability to make our own choices, and the curse of having to make our own choices.
sorry, i didn't notice the typo. i didn't mean to confuse or offend anyone.
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