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Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2005 10:58 pm
I was wondering what does everybody think about ppl claiming to be Christians but rly follow the wrong path?
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Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 12:26 am
i think they just need encouragement to follow the right path and they should be ok, we all stray.
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Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 7:38 pm
Thanx for the info... biggrin
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Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2005 8:19 pm
God will give them plenty of oppurtunites and signs for them to come to their senses. They might take years to really get it, but ultimately it is their choice to accept everything that God wants for them in their life.
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Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2005 2:48 pm
Troa_6986 I was wondering what does everybody think about ppl claiming to be Christians but rly follow the wrong path? Some just don'r know any better becuase they have not been taught the word of God. Others are children of Satan that have work there way into churches.
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Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2005 9:14 am
Well my dad has a great analogy. Just because you go to Burger King doesn't make you a burger, just as the fact that going to church makes you a christian. To be a christian, you need to have a relationship with God. That relationship will be full of problems, which are really tests of faith from God. That's basically what I remember from what my father said.
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Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2005 8:24 pm
Stone_Cold_Steve_Austin Well my dad has a great analogy. Just because you go to Burger King doesn't make you a burger, just as the fact that going to church makes you a christian. To be a christian, you need to have a relationship with God. That relationship will be full of problems, which are really tests of faith from God. That's basically what I remember from what my father said. A man with a sense of humor, your dad sounds like a good guy.
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Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2005 12:25 am
[.teh.shmexeh.] Well my dad has a great analogy. Just because you go to Burger King doesn''t make you a burger, just as the fact that going to church makes you a christian. To be a christian, you need to have a relationship with God. That relationship will be full of problems, which are really tests of faith from God. That''s basically what I remember from what my father said. Nicely stated. 3nodding
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Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2005 9:10 am
[this is graceangel btw, and sorry i've been a little inactive.]
I like his analogy. But, have any of you read a book called the Pilgrim's Progress? by Paul Bonyun? [not sure on spelling anymore since it's been so long] Well, there is a young man named christian. and he is weighed down with burdens. but, he meets a celestial being from the the Celestial gates [which is supposed to be heaven or something like that]. So, he goes to a place called the cross where he drops his burdens and is given clean rainment. Anyways, so he leaves his town and ends up consequently having to leave his wife because she couldn't accept that change in him. He goes on a long long journey. makes some friends along the way... and at one point in his trip.. he and his friend grew weary in their journeying. They laid down on the side fo the road to rest. Well, it so happened they were tresspassing on the property of the giant called the ogre of dispair or something like that. HIm and his friend were taken captive into a prison where the ogre and his wife starved them and only daily would offer them a cup of wine... but, they had looked out the window and seen many who came before them on the walk who were born again.. but, i guess if people drink that wine.. it's poisoned and causes people to pass out long enough for the giants to poke out their eyes and blind them. And, on a mountain side, they saw a bunch of blind believers all scounging and falling over each other trying to find their way, but they couldn't because they were lost.
anyways... you guys should read that story. Because I will tell you that if you really do have a great relationship with the Lord.. and you are in it for him and not for the glory adn respect of your church peers. Your faith will be tested. You wil be tried. You will be baptized with fire. You will have to endure and go through stuff. Some of those things will just make you wanna give up sometimes. And, sometimes.. yes, sometimes we fail those tests. It doesn't mean we are going to hell or never had any sincerity towards the Lord. But, at the end of the day, we are human. Our humanity is only capable of so much until our tainted existance is once again thwarted by that curse that comes down from adam. That is why he gave us GRACE! His grace picks us up where we fail and carries us the rest of the way. That is why his word says that salvation : for by grace are ye saved, through faith: and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
The point of that is ... i'm sorry to tell you but all the things like going to church and reading your bible. they are good things to do as they help feed and water your soul and help you to learn the voice of the one we live for. However, those activities do not reserve your spot in heaven or get you favor from the Lord. Nothing we can ever do would make any of us worthy of him. People need to realize that. He favors us not because of anything we have ever done or might do. He favors us out of his own generosity becuase he wants to help us make the best we can out of what we have to work with.
The point of this is sometimes... real believers who do love him so get themselves entangled in snares and traps. Becuase guess what. in this walk, we do have spiritual enemies who watch our every step.. who are there to do whatever they can to mess us up... and sometimes they do interfere with our walk with teh Lord. It's a battle out there guys. and, sometimes we get captured, or taken prisoner in a metaphoric way of speaking.. when we get oppressed and under spiritual attack. Let me tell you.. if you haven't yet gone through one of those times in your life.. it can put you to a point where you think you're gonna break and can't hold in there any longer. So.. yeah. you do stupid things. You mess up.
Well, you know what? David messed up, Sampson messed up, Peter messed up, even Elijah messed up once... Almost every hero of the old testament messed up somewhere along the line... did that mean they were any less of that mission to which they were called? NO! The Lord still spoke well of them and let their names be remembered in his word long after they have passed. He wanted their accounts to be remembered and survive for the people today who follow him.
People need to stop expecting that just because someone is a christian that they will at all times be perfect in every way. Because until we get to heaven adn get to shed this earthly bodies, that is just not going to happen. We just need to accept ourselves for what we are and be GRATEFUL that he loves us enough to put up with us in this horrible shape. The Lord is holy and beautiful and maginificent. Any of our wildest imaginations of him cannot do him justice. For any of us to think anything we do wouuld even make us remotely worthy of him or anything he does for us is just arrogancy and vanity. It is folly, and we all need to not think too much of ourselves. It is the Jesus inside of us that works in us giving us the strength to be anything of any worth whatsoever. 3nodding
I am sooo thankful that he is with me and never gives up on me. Because even though I might not always be walking the walk exactly as straight and narrow as i should. He doesn't give up on me. And, I am thankful that there is a verse that says, "he who has began a good work in me is faithful to complete it in me."
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Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2005 6:19 pm
Good point Pitterpatter/graceangel, as humans we are prone to sin no matter how strong our relationship with God is. We just need to help those in our churches who are becoming stale in their faith. As christians we need to rebuke (tell them what they doing wrong and telling them how to correct it) each other and help them grow closer to God. Its a hard thing to do, especially when you know they won't listen to you and think badly of you because of it. Just make sure when rebukeing someone, you be as polite and kind as possible and let them know that you are concerned about them and care about them, it softens the blow a little. Have any of you tried this?
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Posted: Sun Nov 05, 2006 3:41 pm
Troa_6986 I was wondering what does everybody think about ppl claiming to be Christians but rly follow the wrong path? If people are considerly saying that their Christians but following the wrong path? Let God handle things, not you.
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Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2007 4:40 pm
Pilgrims Progress! Yes, well said. I am not judgmental, but realistic. I discern based on what God has taught me so far. I believe that the vast majority of people in America that claim to be Christians are not. What can be said about ppl that claim to be Christians and are not? They are in very large numbers, so large that it takes one with spiritual discernment-a real Christian- to tell. Ah hypocrites, you are the very worst Strawman. [- Rain -] If people are considerly saying that their Christians but following the wrong path? Let God handle things, not you.Sorry to say it, but that's horrible advice. That's like saying "leave all the evangelism to God." The expression “Let go and let God,” is false. Philippians 4:13 states, “I can do all through Christ who strengthens me.” This does not say, “God can do all for me by his power.” This actually means that God gives you his power to carry out his will, no matter what it is. It is not bad to worry about the lost. Quite the opposite. It means we love them. If someone is on the wrong path, we should have a genuine interest in showing them the error of their ways and leading them to true repentance. Don't forget the great commission. God works through men and women.
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