Religion & Spirituality - 14 November 2007

1. Present an unbalanced message. Only let them see the heart-warming part of God’s character. Preach God’s love but leave out His holiness and justice. That way they’ll think He’ll let them into heaven no matter what.
2. Don’t mention repentance until they’re repeating a “sinner’s prayer.” Just get them to say, “I repent of all my sins” while they’re echoing you. They won’t know what they’re saying and they won’t count the cost.
3. Above all else, be dignified. Don’t get heart to heart with the people. They would get something out of what you said.
4. Skim over the gospel and push the prayer. Pretend the lost naturally understand what Christ has done for them.
5. Preach Jesus as a life enhancer not a life rescuer. Tell them how Jesus can improve their life but don’t show them Jesus as the only One who can save them from Hell. People will think if they reject Him they’re only losing out on a spiritual high.
6. Try to please the people instead of convert them. Tell them what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear.
7. Compromise the message to speed up the process. The Christians who have heard it a hundred times before will be pleased with that. The quicker they get out the quicker they can get to the restaurant.
8. Give them the impression that God is so good He won’t send anyone to hell. Don’t present the whole counsel of God or they might realize He is so good that He’ll see to it that justice is served and that all unrepentant sinners will be punished in the fire that is not quenched.
9. Speak to sinners as though they were saints. They’ll think they’re God’s children instead of the enemies of God they’ve made themselves into because of their sin. You’ll give them false assurance and mislead them.
10. Don’t mention sin or man’s guilt. Resist the urge to explain what Christ came to deliver us from. Don’t show them their need for the Savior. Otherwise it may all make sense.
11. Don’t look to the Bible for the substance of your altar call. Only mimic other preachers with large congregations.
12. Tell the lost not to feel bad about their sins. That way you will work against the Holy Spirit who’s convicting them
13. Whatever you do, never mention Judgment Day. Your audience might take spiritual matters seriously.
14. Tell them Jesus is the only way to heaven but don’t explain why. They may think it’s nothing more than fear tactics and leave offended instead of enlightened.
15. Confuse the call. This is a great way to botch up an altar call. Don’t let people know you’re asking them to commit their life to Christ. Be vague and general in what you’re saying. Neglect to mention following Christ in your evangelistic altar calls and say things like, “If you don’t feel you’re as close to God as possible raise your hand,” “If you feel lonely come to the front for prayer,” “If you want more of God this is your time,” and, “If you have struggles and need the answer come down.” Just get them to raise a hand. That way no one will be able to count the cost and you’ll even get saints to respond to salvation altar calls, making the results look more successful.
16. Only give them half the story. Tell them Jesus died to forgive everyone but overlook the fact that they must personally receive Him to partake of that forgiveness.
17. Present the truth as though it isn’t. Be so funny when you share Christ that you belittle the seriousness of the matter.
18. Preach forgiveness without repentance. That way no one will know how to be forgiven.
19. Be unbiblical. Present repentance and faith as an offer instead of how God does as a command (Acts 17:30).
20. Let them think next Sunday is the day of salvation. Don’t make them feel it’s urgent to respond today.
21. Never warn of hell. Dangle heaven in front of their nose but rarely mention hell, certainly not as much as Jesus did.
22. Only do altar calls inside the church. Never take the gospel where sinners congregate. The lost might get saved.
23. Use churchy terms. Use words like, “saved,” “repent,” and “born again,” without any explanation. That way your hearers won’t comprehend what you’re saying. If they can’t understand it, it’s probable they won’t be changed by it.
24. Give false assurance of salvation to unsaved Christians. Assure church folk that they are saved even if they bear no fruit. So that you don’t offend the unsaved pew warmers never quote 2 Corinthians 13:5: “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith.” You could lose some financial supporters and have to depend on God.
25. Never mention the wrath of God. If you mention it, people might be awakened to flee to Jesus who “saves us from the wrath to come.” ( 1 Thess. 1:10)
26. Study how the apostles preached and witnessed and do the opposite. Don’t explain Jesus’ suffering death on the cross. Otherwise they may think of running to Him for forgiveness. Don’t speak of His burial or resurrection or they might realize He is God. Refrain from commenting about the hundreds of eyewitnesses who saw Jesus after He rose from the dead. That way they can go on thinking He’s a fairy tale. Overlook talk of the messianic prophecies Jesus fulfilled or they might realize that the Bible is true. If they see it’s the truth they may see that following Christ is the logical decision. And whatever you do, avoid what the apostles did when it came time to call people to obey the gospel. Don’t tell them to trust Christ and live for Him. That is too accurate. If they know how to get saved your altar call will be a success.
27. Put more emphasis on the “sinner’s prayer” then on repentance and faith. Satan will smile over your departure from Biblical instruction. We are never taught to use a ‘sinner’s prayer’ throughout the entire Bible. If you decide to use it and put more emphasis on the technique than on what we’re commanded to preach: faith and repentance you’ll certainly botch things up. A ‘sinner’s prayer’ doesn’t equal salvation, only faith in Christ and repentance toward God do.
28. Let Christians think you’re the only one who can do it right. Always leave the impression that they should only invite friends to church and never actually witness themselves. It will keep you in business and the lost unsaved.
29. Don’t let the lost know they are. Disregard subjects like Judgment Day, God’s holiness, man’s sinfulness and justice. That way the lost can continue to think they’re “good enough” to get into heaven.
30. Rely upon psychological techniques to manipulate people into responding to the altar call. Don’t rely upon the Holy Spirit or they may actually get saved.
31. Make sure you’re the main attraction. Remember the goal in botching up an altar call is for people to leave and say, “What a wonderful preacher,” instead of, “What a wonderful Savior.” Draw all possible attention to how great a speaker and person you are. Otherwise people might see Christ in your preaching and get saved.
32. Don’t focus upon Jesus. Finally, the best way to botch up an altar call is not to preach the gospel. Just get people to lift up a hand and pray a prayer with you. Resist the urge to speak of the only One who could save them.

2007-11-14 09:49:39 · 8 answers · asked by mg© - anti VT™ MG AM© Fundi4Life 6

OK dont make fun of me for asking this but do catholic priests have to be virgins for them to become priests??

2007-11-14 09:48:51 · 19 answers · asked by Anonymous

It was only a little over a year ago that I heard the story of Mithra.
I was like WOW!!!!

Then I knew FOR SURE that the bible was entirely man made.

Honestly does it make you think about the validity of a story that has been used so much?

2007-11-14 09:48:51 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous

2007-11-14 09:48:49 · 11 answers · asked by Anonymous

what made you change your opinion, belief, view on things?

I am just interested.
I am not digging for any huge arguments.

2007-11-14 09:46:58 · 16 answers · asked by Ann(ie) 2

I mean, those stories are full of supernatural fantasy and miracles.... things that we just don't see today and are just downright impossible...

Why would God expect anyone to buy into that stuff? It seems pretty unreasonable to me... I mean, I wasn't there to see Mohammad, Abraham or Jesus, so why would I believe ANYTHING about them?

Why can't we just choose to believe that there may be some God or God force out there, and that it's all going to be OK somehow, without all of those silly rules, doctrines and literally UNbelievable events?!?!

2007-11-14 09:46:54 · 9 answers · asked by John Galt 2

2007-11-14 09:45:40 · 18 answers · asked by ashigurifury 1

can you guess why?

2007-11-14 09:44:43 · 20 answers · asked by qayyumpuri 1

what will you expect us to say when we're all standing around looking at one another? c'mon, let's do it right this time?

2007-11-14 09:43:19 · 6 answers · asked by Virtual Evie 4

don't waste space with Bush bashing and muslim bashing. You can go two ways. either say what it would have been like from thousands of years back..to now.
or just from starting say tomorrow.

2007-11-14 09:43:12 · 18 answers · asked by Anonymous

The church my family attends has no youth group (my kids are the only ones there!), the pastor's sermons are basic and uninspired, and the Bible study my wife attends is monotonous. For these and other reasons, we have decided to find another church. We are not set on any denomination (we attend an Episcopal church now, and we know we don't want the Assembly of God-type worship). I plan on calling and possibly setiing up meetings with pastors of the other churches in our very small town.

Do any Christians have suggestions or advice on how to break off our realtionship with our current church (I have coffee with the Pastor almost every Saturday) and how to find the church that is best for my family? Any specific questions I should ask?

A thousand thanks in advance.

(Sadly, I must write this: please, no atheists writing derogatory comments. My wife, children, and I love science, and are not so ignorant as to be swayed by petty, half-informed pseudo-science.)

2007-11-14 09:42:51 · 7 answers · asked by Jonathan 3

Can anyone prove the that there's a trinity???

2007-11-14 09:42:19 · 11 answers · asked by Ro 2

Kids with religious parents are better behaved and adjusted than other children, according to a new study that is the first to look at the effects of religion on young child development.
The conflict that arises when parents regularly argue over their faith at home, however, has the opposite effect.
http://www.livescience.com/health/070424_religion_kids.html
John Bartkowski, a Mississippi State University sociologist and his colleagues asked the parents and teachers of more than 16,000 kids, most of them first-graders, to rate how much self control they believed the kids had, how often they exhibited poor or unhappy behavior and how well they respected and worked with their peers.
The researchers compared these scores to how frequently the children’s parents said they attended worship services, talked about religion with their child and argued abut religion in the home.
The kids whose parents regularly attended religious services—
How many Kids admit having Atheists Parents?

2007-11-14 09:42:09 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous

Like Christians to Athiests?

2007-11-14 09:40:38 · 20 answers · asked by Virtual Evie 4

and what is the origen of the habit

2007-11-14 09:39:19 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous

2007-11-14 09:38:54 · 11 answers · asked by Anonymous

Yep.

2007-11-14 09:37:50 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous

2007-11-14 09:36:53 · 18 answers · asked by Anonymous

I'm mostly Celtic and I personally feel a deep connection with Cernunnos and Rhiannon.

2007-11-14 09:36:29 · 9 answers · asked by rhaevyn 2

2007-11-14 09:36:19 · 23 answers · asked by Anonymous

i asked a quesiton and one guy said there was a good science book called the bible.
i cant help but this made me lough...

2007-11-14 09:34:51 · 15 answers · asked by Smoking Frog 2

2007-11-14 09:34:30 · 21 answers · asked by Anonymous

someone comes up to you and says, what is the gospel of Jesus, who is this God you worship, what would you say

2007-11-14 09:33:22 · 4 answers · asked by magnetic_azimuth 6

Timothy
4:8 For bodily exercise profiteth little

2007-11-14 09:32:36 · 2 answers · asked by Anonymous

So my question is after you accept Christ and become saved is it okay to continue to get tattooed? I am looking for opinions but also be able to back it up scripturally

2007-11-14 09:31:01 · 14 answers · asked by Belgrademitch 5

Traditionally Dec 25 was a Roman Pagan holiday. The burth of Christ was chosen to be celabrated on this day to aviod persecution. Now adays it is a commerical juggernaut allowing companies to make money. So do you celabrate the holiday in some form, gift giving family dinner etc?

2007-11-14 09:30:08 · 28 answers · asked by MyNameAShadi 5

If I were God, I'd have a three page pamphlet that states exactly what it is you need to do to get to heaven and what would send you to hell. An actual photograph of heaven and hell would have helped too.

Long confusing stories don't convince me of anything. I don't need to know how the universe was created. I can learn all those details in heaven.

2007-11-14 09:29:38 · 11 answers · asked by Anonymous

Last Sunday, our Associate Pastor (Baptist) announced from the pulpit that he had run out of answers for skeptics and could no longer scientifically and historically defend the Bible.

He said that he loved us all, but (like Mother Theresa in her recent journal) has come to the inevitable conclusion that Jesus Christ never really existed, but was a fabrication.

He used to get our youth groups to be able to debate skeptics using Tektonics and AnswersinGenesis, but in his deep and scholarly studies he says that he has finally seen the truth for what it is and that he is now going to work for http://www.pandasthumb.org/ as a researcher!

He has his doctorate and can read Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek - he also has studied many original Bible manuscripts and has found that Christianity is a lie!

The congregation is in shock and he said that new technology will reveal the truth about Christianity within the next couple of years!

Where do we go when Christianity topples?

2007-11-14 09:29:04 · 18 answers · asked by John Galt 2

Serious replies please.
My understanding of the 10 commandments is that they were sent not as laws for us to keep but so that we COULD NOT keep them.

ie Gal 3 - Law given to be a curse.

Law was given to drive us to Jesus because we couldnt keep them.

Whats the catholic stance on that, my belief is that if we could fulfill the law Jesus wouldnt have needed to die but we couldnt so he was the one that fulfilled it.

2007-11-14 09:27:27 · 15 answers · asked by Anonymous

I was raised in a Christian home, so I didn't have a drastic salvation experience, but I did notice that I could finally read and understand the Bible. It made sense, you know?

2007-11-14 09:26:02 · 16 answers · asked by Jade <>< 3