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matthew
Member



Joined: 2004/4/22
Posts: 57


 Something I deffinately wasn't ready for

I had a student come to me today totally shocked and literally sick to his sotmach.

He told me he had just wathced (and listened to) the video of the person being decapitated in Iraq.

He was left...I don't even know...couldn't eat, couldn't talk about anything but it; but couldn't talk about it without gaging (literally).

My question is: How should we respond as Christians? How do we bring Light to such a darkness?

Thank you for whatever you can do to help.

matthew


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matthew bauer

 2004/5/21 13:11Profile
DelightedInU
Member



Joined: 2004/5/17
Posts: 102
Escondido, CA

 Re: Something I deffinately wasn't ready for

PRAY!!! Pray pray pray! ;-)

I'm not sure what else to do. We just have to live our lives as examples so that others can see the light in us and want that light.

People are greedy. If you have something they don't have. They're going to want it... :-)


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Jennifer

 2004/5/21 13:34Profile
philologos
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Joined: 2003/7/18
Posts: 6566
Reading, UK

 Re: Something I deffinately wasn't ready for

Matthew
You didn't say if your student was a believer. However, whether he is or not I would encourage him to 'get it off his chest'. ie talk to God about it. Tell Him how you feel, the reactions it provokes, the resentment it awakens.

These verses are not a slick answer but a word the LOrdgave to me many years ago about a different issue.

And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison. And his head was brought in a charger, and given to the damsel: and she brought it to her mother. And his disciples came, and took up the body, and buried it, and went and told Jesus. (Mat 14:10-12 KJV)

It is not escapism to 'go and tell Jesus'.


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Ron Bailey

 2004/5/21 13:42Profile
Yodi
Member



Joined: 2004/4/23
Posts: 663
Escondido, California

 Re: Something I deffinately wasn't ready for

Hey, yeah... if this kid isn't a Christian, this may be a good opportunity to point him towards Jesus, [i]especially[/i] since He went through so many more awful things when He was sent to the cross to die. If what happened to this civilian in Iraq makes this kid queezy, what an affect Jesus' sacrifice might have on him. Not only that, but Jesus died for injustices like these. There is a place for this kid to turn, there is comfort that he can find, and it's in Jesus.

I know one thing that helps me when I'm troubled by the evilness in this world, is to zoom out from focusing on that one particular event and focus instead on the big picture, the eternal perspective. Like I posted under the gay marriages topic, here's a verse that may be comforting and encouraging:

"Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).


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Yolanda Fields

 2004/5/21 14:07Profile
matthew
Member



Joined: 2004/4/22
Posts: 57


 Re:

He is one I (and a brother who is a substitute) have been wittnessing to for some time. He knows of the need of repentance, but I don't know for sure.

matthew


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matthew bauer

 2004/5/21 14:19Profile
Yodi
Member



Joined: 2004/4/23
Posts: 663
Escondido, California

 Re:

So, have you gotten to share with this kid anymore on this subject?


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Yolanda Fields

 2004/5/25 13:50Profile
matthew
Member



Joined: 2004/4/22
Posts: 57


 Re:

No,

but I have been concidering a responce allong these lines:

"As terrible as what befel that man is and was, the wrath that created that aweful scene is not worth comparing to the wrath God has toward the unrepentant...When he executes that wrath it will be infinately more terrible than what you saw.

The difference is, God's actions will be absoultly just, righteous and deserved."

Is that an unreasonable response?

Thanks for the input

matthew


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matthew bauer

 2004/5/25 14:15Profile
Yodi
Member



Joined: 2004/4/23
Posts: 663
Escondido, California

 Re:

Ummm... so do we want this kid to be afraid of God? I mean, what you said is true, but don't you think that might scare the kid away from God? That doesn't sound very welcoming to me. That may be something you would tell a believer, to encourage them to have a heart for those who aren't saved and will be separated from God forever in hell. But to a kid who doesn't really know about the many characteristics of God (or does he?) and doesn't personally know Him in a loving relationship yet... I wouldn't go with God's wrath.

Like what I posted before, how about the fact that Jesus' suffering on the cross for our sins, so we could have a direct relationship with God, is nothing compared to the suffering that one guy went through in Iraq?

"God showed how much He loved us by sending His only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through Him. This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins" (1 John 4:9 & 10).

I think it's God's love that draws unbelievers to Him, not His wrath.


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Yolanda Fields

 2004/5/25 14:31Profile
moreofHim
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Joined: 2003/10/15
Posts: 1632


 Re: wrath

I agree with Yolanda. I think presenting him with God's wrath under these circumstances is not appropriate. Here is a guy that is hurt and sickened by "man" and his ways. God's ways are different. (not that God doesn't have wrath) but this guy probabably needs comfort and to see that if man truly lived for Christ - they would not do things like this.

What happened there with the beheading is an example of a people without a relationship with Christ.

In Him, chanin


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Chanin

 2004/5/25 14:36Profile
matthew
Member



Joined: 2004/4/22
Posts: 57


 Re:

Thank you,

Here is where he (the kid) is with his understanding of God, and the Gospel.

He knows that God's holiness and justice demands that ALL sinns ever committed be punnished. He knows that He has sinned. He knows that Jesus' death was enough to pay for EVERY sin. He knows that forgiveness is offered to all who will repent and trust.does that change anything?

I was hoping that telling him what I planned would bring a real image to the wrath of God against sin.

Thank you, Sometimes I am too intense...I appreciate help tempering me.

matthew


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matthew bauer

 2004/5/25 14:49Profile





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