I find it is the nice people who God seems to pass over ,it is because they themselves think they are nice in there own eyes ,and they resist the conviction of the spirit some what , refusing to believe there are exceedingly sinfully
The reality of this whole thing is that people see 'nice' as being good so if someone is overtly nice then they have nothing wrong with them and that is very seducing. The way to cut through that is to introduce the Gospel of Jesus by bringing in the Law to convict of sin. Soon that 'nice' will transform into anger because of the nature of the heart but then it has to be balanced with God's Grace and then God's Love, all in stages.You get misunderstood in the process.I had a classmate..........from years ago, tell me I quote the bible too much and he worried about me. Said I don't represent all Christians and that I was too fanatical. He calls me pastor John which I take as a complement. His foundation is philosophy and post modernism. He is book smart but not street smart.John
_________________John
Sandra - I think you have answered your own question:- Until the Holy Spirit says to speak/write I will not confront.Keep on praying for him...
_________________Colin Murray
Just saw a quote allegedly by Martin Luther with an interesting barb- "Always preach in such a way that people will either hate their sin or hate you!"The bible says it is through the foolishness of preaching that men are saved, it does not advocate counseling as the primary tool for disseminating the gospel. When a person preaches the hearer can be awakened and convicted by the Holy Spirit as an individual if they choose to let the message come in. The preacher is not in direct contact with that person, and may not even know the effect of his or her words. But that is the preaching realm, your relationship with this individual does not revolve around a "preaching/hearing" model. You are not obligated to confront this person, rather you are obligated to love and behave in such a way as to allow the Holy Spirit to work through the progression of awakening, conviction, repentance, and new birth.So many people love the concept of religion, building a system in their own imagination with a God of their own design properly positioned in a little psychic shrine in their heads. Then they become "nice people" who live in such a way as to convince those around them of their niceness.Some of these will meet a person like Sandra whose faith is genuine- and this will make them very uncomfortable! That deceiving spirit living in them will become very agitated in the presence of the Holy Spirit, and an opportunity for ministry just may present itself. I don't think picking an early fight is the answer, though the Spirit may prompt a question to light the fuse!I do like Reidhead's prescription of praying for that person's first need in the road to salvation, the awakening unto sin. Nothing much will happen anyway until that happens!
_________________Tom Cameron
That's good Sidewalk.People have transformed Christianity into a nice religion, a pseudo-Christianity, because the real Christian faith places people in an extremely uncomfortable position that of freedom guided only by love and all in the context of God's radical demand that we be holy.Freedom -- Love -- Holiness the opposite of "nice" religion.
Here is an update.Our nephew posted a like to an article that appeared on my wall that contained mocking of Christians' stand on homosexuality. Its content bordered on the blasphemous. I felt compelled to respond.I wrote something like this: I consider it bad doctrine (in hindsight should have used the word exegesis but maybe they would never have uderstood its meaning) to use OT scriptures to prove homosexuality wrong but one should refer to New Testament ones. You have Romans chapter one, (and listed another one - forgot which)... You may not give the Bible much credit but you must admit that illicit sex will put one at risk for diseases which can and do kill." This was the gist of my post on that thread.I posted this on Saturday evening before retiring for the night. I went to check it out on Sunday evening - was scared to because I was sure they tarred and feathered me. In any case, that thread was GONE! I could not find it anywhere! Wonder why?Sandra
_________________Sandra Miller
Just as the belief that if we can kill that Jesus character we can live without the condemnation of His words, not much has changed. They can't take your life (yet) but they can remove your statements when they ring with stinging truth. Go Sandra!
