About 9 or 10 baptist friends had asked me the exactly same question along this and last year:
"If you were to die today what will you tell God so he let you enter his heaven?"
And then they tell the exactly same stories: "right key" illustration, and then the judge-thieve, the Russian General and his mom, and then all other bullsh1ts...
I'm totally bored of these and I know where their point will be.
My question is how do they ask & tell the EXACTLY SAME thing, they don't even know each other. I count the probability 9 guys asking and telling the exactly same stories is less than 0.0000000000000000001
Do the southern baptist churches now have a gospel spreading/re-christening manual book or an evangelization "standard operational procedure"?
2007-06-17 06:18:54 · 24 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Lose the Attitude by Griff L. Ruby:
"The parent who merely scolds and punishes abuses the child. The parent who merely rewards and allows everything spoils the child. Either way the parent who does either equally conveys no message to the child but his own meanness or niceness. A good parent punishes the evil acts and rewards the good, that the child may learn right from wrong. Let we who are the Church behave in a manner consistent with that parental role with respect to everyone else which we do in fact possess. Let us proceed with the calm assurance of the authority our traditional bishops truly possess, and which all the rest of us traditional Catholics derive from them while in obedience to them. We traditional Catholics are to admonish, encourage, and direct as needed.
Leave it to the others to do the ranting and raving. "
2007-06-17 07:55:30 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Hmm...IF the subject came up, I might ask you just why you think you ought to be allowed into God's Paradise...the point would be that not one of us really does deserve what God offers to us. IF you seemed interested, that is. I see no point whatsoever at all in trying to force you or anybody else to listen to the same ol' same ol' over and over again. It makes me sad to think you aren't interested in God's gift of eternal life...I guess I take after my Father. I am not willing that anyone should perish.
But I don't know the story of the judge-thief, or the Russian General and his mom...I can see how a judge and a thief might be a fair illustration, but I gotta admit, the Russian General and his Mom idea totally escapes me. Is it at least an interesting story?
And, if there is a manual, why the heck didn't I get a copy?
Did I miss the memo, or something?
Maybe I'm just not freaking enough...I dunno...but I am a Christian, and I am concerned that you see the love that Jesus has for you. Don't miss out on it because of some "freaking Christians"...
2007-06-17 06:33:00 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
"Right-key"? The Russian general and his mom? Wow; am I ever out of the loop since converting from Baptist to Catholic. Never heard of these.
But yes, as a denomination the SBC strongly emphasizes personal evangelism and I remember there was no shortage of resources to coach and equip folks to do so. To be honest (and I emphasize that this was in just ONE congregation and not intended to apply across the board), I felt a great deal of pressure to go out and convert total strangers, or at the very least talk them into attending worship service -- to the point that I wondered if something was wrong with me when week after week, I was the only one in Bible study who didn't pipe up with "I led X number of people to Christ". It was as if there was a Great Scoreboard somewhere and I was in danger of getting cut from the team. I guess I saved them the trouble.
2007-06-17 06:39:18 · answer #3 · answered by Clare † 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It's because of your answer. They don't let up because you are not denying God. They know that you are making excuses with these 'stories' which are really non sequitors to the real subject; who's going to justify you, since they know that there isn't anyone who could justify themself.
You see, they care about you ( I'm telling you this not because I do, but because I am responding to what you say about them) , and wouldn't want you to suffer. There were many Christians who knew that I would be one of them one day, they could see the Spirit drawing me, and the only one in denial about that was me. Perhaps they are saying the same thing about you. When they talk about Jesus at times, you probably pause at times that are telling them that you are being chosen.
Perhaps, if anything that I said was true about you, you wiull aviod making the choice I had to, either commit suicide or give God a chance. I gave God a chance, and there have been things happening in my life that even Christians are astounded and find difficult to believe. I hope that you will have those things happen as well. ( I say jealously, though).
2007-06-17 06:28:42 · answer #4 · answered by Christian Sinner 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I am Baptist, born and raised in the Baptist church, and this is not a question that a person that is Baptist should be asking. The reason is that we believe that Christ died for our sins so that we can go to heaven. Our fate is decided way before we get to the gates. We don't need to convince God of anything to let us enter into heaven. So I am confused about who all these Baptists are that are asking you this question.
2007-06-17 06:24:36 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
It sounds like you live in the bible belt part of the US.. Just so you know, the majority of Christians aren't that bad, but some are pretty psycho, and the majority of those psychos are in the south. My advice would be to associate with less militant religious-minded people, or to at least discuss things aside from religion when you're around them.
And Mikalina, no offense, but for someone who calls themself an educated pagan, you don't seem to know shxt about christianity.
2007-06-17 06:25:42 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I think that it is a standard question that they ask each other.
Boring isn't it?
Personally, I like this one....
Matthew 7:4
"Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye? (NASB ©1995)
A classic Jesus answer for those that are so busy judging others that they can't see their own faults.
But then, they wouldn' t really like to do that would they???
They might have to question their own behaviour and stop bugging you! Much easier to bother you than to change their own faults!
2007-06-17 06:27:48 · answer #7 · answered by Goddess of Laundry 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I am a freaking Christian and have never used those illustrations when talking to people about God. It must just be Baptists.
2007-06-17 06:23:23 · answer #8 · answered by Kaliko 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
They have been programmed to issue certain responses and make certain statements. It's called "indoctrination," and it's the leading cause of many Christians' inability to think for themselves. Instead, they have opted to use rhetoric and stories from the Bible to justify their beliefs. A prime example is the circular logic they use when spouting off about the "word of God." You see, they'll tell you, the Bible is the word of their god, and the proof is that the Bible says it's the word of their god. Not all Christians are this limited in intelligence, but too many of them are.
The only thing you can do is ignore people like them. It is pointless to engage an intellectually stumped person in an intellectual manner.
2007-06-17 06:27:55 · answer #9 · answered by seattlefan74 5 · 4⤊ 2⤋
Yeh, we Christians have to come up with more creative questions and answers. Like to the answer of that question about responding to God in judgement a Christian could say - "You'll have to speak to my Lawyer. He's sitting at your right hand."
"But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense— Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world." 1John 2:1,2
2007-06-17 08:01:55 · answer #10 · answered by Steve Amato 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋