Featured How To Be A Faithful & True Witness

HARK............YOU'RE not even going to DO IT with that attitude.


Ask God to show you who are Pharisees, The new ones, The CHRISTIAN PHARISEES.



Matthew 23
1Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, 2saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; 3therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them. 4“They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger.

13“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

The Pharisees sit there and tell everyone how they are not qualified to do anything, and even though they themselves are qualified they don't even lift a finger. They tell everyone they can't make it to heaven, they don't even try themselves and whine and complain if they see anyone trying to.


Luke 11
11“Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? 12“Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? 13“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

If God sees someone try for righteousness he doesn't just step on them. Who can ask for the holy spirit unless they don't have it?


Its no surprise the very next verses Pharisees attempt to pin Jesus good works as motivated by evil rather then "truly good from God"

Luke 11
14And He was casting out a demon, and it was mute; when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke; and the crowds were amazed. 15But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.” 16Others, to test Him, were demanding of Him a sign from heaven. 17But He knew their thoughts and said to them, “Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and a house divided against itself falls. 18“If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul.


In the same spirit of Jesus Christ. If you teach Atheists or Muslims to love their neighbors, kindness and love at WORST you have "Satan divided against himself" and “Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and a house divided against itself falls".

John 13
34“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35“By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

^You don't get to declare yourself Christian. Its how I know you are and how I know you are not. You don't want to teach other to love one another? Well your not a disciple of Jesus.

You only want to teach the alphabet to folks who know all the letters. That's not teaching brother.

 

I am always willing, time permitting, to discuss the things of the Lord with anyone who would so desire. I reserve the right, however, to enter only into those discussions that I prefer to involve myself. Hence, the request to no longer tag me.

What I have seen from you, brother, is not a desire for discussion, but rather to force your position(s) on those who respond to your posts. You discount any Scripture offered with such rhetoric as "You didn't really [use Scripture] since you added to the scripture of what was written. If it was really okay, you would have a reference plainly teaching your p.o.v., but there isn't, and so you are left with reading your practice as you see it inbetween [sic] the lines."

You offered no explanation of your understanding of the passage; you simply condemned my use of the Scripture. You ask for a "reference plainly teaching [my] p.o.v." when you absolutely have none that "plainly teach" your point of view. That, my brother, is not discussing - that is arguing.

 

Going back to the OP, I think a common misconception about witnessing and testimony is that there will always be a figure of absolute meekness and kind words. This is simply not the case when we consider the witness of God in Scripture. That doesn't mean I think we should go around always being blunt and rude, lol, but, sometimes a direct statement of truth is just not going to be received well.

In other words, I don't think it should be assumed that a failure to love a brother is the case because of an exchange in doctrinal discussion. I think most have a genuine concern for the lost, and it is just a general principle that siblings squabble, lol. It is usually true, "I can pick on my brother but you better not!"

So when we see someone we think is not loving his brother, we might look more closely at what is being said. Is it love to agree with those in error, or is true love and concern expressed when we try to bring our brother/s an understanding of what we see as error. Again, most of us will assume God has blessed us with the correct doctrine, and sent us out to straighten out the rest of the Body. The truth is, as a Body, by examining our differing views, sometimes we find a perspective we have not considered, and sometimes a brother can present a passage we have not previously considered in the context of a particular issue.

We know for certain that Paul loved Peter, yet did not hesitate to confront Peter concerning his hypocrisy. Had Paul ignored this, he would have been expressing the worst form of hatred, I believe.

All that to say we should keep in mind that love is not always found in the soft spoken word, and for hard heads like me the tough lessons usually sink in best.


God bless.

 

Trust me, it has to be some pretty blatant behavior for a banning to take place here, lol.

It is probably not a good idea to view banning from a forum on a par with excommunication from a fellowship. In my experience, those who are banned are usually regularly banned from every forum they visit, and some of them view this as a notch on the belt, so to speak, and see it as justifying their "unique" gospel or message. They are implacable, with no interest in anything but teaching their views. It could be likened to how some see going to prison as an accomplishment in their culture. So I don't think we are ever going to see a banning create the same results excommunication does. And reading a thread recently, or perhaps it was a radio sermon, someone mentioned the fact that those who refuse to repent can go down the street to another fellowship and be welcomed with open arms (now that I think of it I am pretty sure it was a thread this was being discussed in).

Only when someone has a dedicated relationship with a community of believers does excommunication produce the desired result of repentance (in my view). It has to be a matter of actually caring what other people think. It's kind of like abortion in some respects: use to be a pregnancy out of wedlock was something that carried with it shame. These days, no-one even questions whether this is right or wrong, and it has to be debated whether murdering an unborn child is wrong or not.

This is why, as I have said before, having a home church helps us in our walk with Christ. We know we are going to have some issues, but, there is an accountability that arises which we cannot experience when we go it alone.

On a forum such as this, after becoming an accepted part of the community it might mean more, but, for those who are not "regular" members getting banned is sometimes viewed by some as a badge of honor. They pat themselves on the back for being that "voice in the wilderness," except they are not in John the Baptist's wilderness, they are in another, lol.

I guess for me, when it comes to visiting forums, I separate these interactions with those that take place in the real world. While I always try to speak to people the same way I do when I am face to face, there is still an anonymity that caters to speaking in a manner we might not if face to face with someone. And as long as we keep that in mind, and consider it a goal to maintain a consistency in our witness, I think that will eventually become common practice. It is a careful balance for us between doctrine and practice. We have to work on both, and both are equally important. We fail sometimes, and sometimes we don't, but that's the nature of this type of setting. And sometimes it becomes a matter of chomping down. Sometimes that is the only way to get someone's attention. Doesn't mean you don't love them all the same.


God bless.