know them by their fruits?

Question

I am posting this in hope that some people will think about what they are doing.....

I am not a Christian , but am aware that Christians believe that people will know a good Christian by their fruits

personally , I have the utmost respect for Christians who speak gently to people , not trying to persuade them or convert them ... not threatning them
it is these people who show the love that Christianity holds
and it is these people without even trying, that may draw others to Christianity
they walk the walk ... and speak in whispers when they talk the talk

then we have the burn in hell types
and as an outsider to Christianity , I can tell you that your preaching and your threats seriously turn me away
I dont want to listen when you yell..... people get headaches that way
and when you shout ... you loose your voice , you dont get heard

now as I said , this is my personal opinion
but I am hoping to hear others views on this

Meister , I do agree
and despite what Mrsbadgrumbles says ... I am actually saying all this with good intentions

Todays Prophet
you amuse me
the way you speak about peace and love , just after you call people spiritual losers

example right here ...
Godislove told me to get out of the way ...
so I did
I went on and read the post below , twice
because he called me a friend

Answer 1

To be honest my friend we need more people like you to help straighten Christians like us out. Sometimes we can't see our faults like others see us. Really our fruits do shine out to many that we minister to. Sometimes as the saying goes, one bad apple makes it bad for the others. I know that we try as hard as we can to maintain our daily walk with the Lord. But still there that flesh in us still. We need a refresher course in ministering to ohters. The longer we've been Christians, it becomes "this is the way it is" forgetting we need to start from the bottom when ministering to un-believers. Preaching hell from the start is not anyone's attention getter. Once they un-believer accepts Christ as their Savior, they will soon learn what hell is about. I'm sorry when you are ministered in a way that turns you off. Though I don't minister in any scare tactic or preach hell when ministering to un-believers, I do apolize for all of us Christians who one time or the other might have faulted in ministering to un-believers in the wrong way. The intention is to win that person over to Christ. But thank you for bringing this to our attention and prayfully one day you will come to know Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. God Bless You.

Answer 2

hi there

i am an ex atheist who became a christian but who has some problems with the collective christian lifestyle and some of it's politics and wrong teachings. people have become christians through me, but i have never preached. they have simply come to me wanting something that I have.

i don't go to church very often because i have a problem with the majority of the way churches are run.

i think it's important to remember that every christian is at a different stage in their faith and many are still working on things. it isn't the cowards way to be a christian, it's really hard and takes a lot of courage and hard work. Change is very difficult and is a process, longer for some that others.
i don't know anyone who yells their christianity, i do know people who are too over the top pushing it onto others and i avoid those people as i don't think they represent jesus in the best way.

I'm sorry you feel this way. many many strong christians are quiet, not yelling, but working silently towards what they believe, and helping others and being loving. its just those loud pushy types and awful television evangelists who give the rest of us a bad name.

Answer 3

Awesome points...you go girl.

I'm a Christian and I agree with everything you said. I do try to speak gently and avoid threats...but I'll admit I'm not perfect. However, most of the times when I've "shouted", I've been talking to another Christian.

Even as a child, I would cringe when I heard someone delivering a "hellfire and damnation" message to a non-believer. I remember being in college when a "street preacher" staged one of those sidewalk rallys where he stood on a box and told the growing crowd that they were all going to burn in hell for [fill in the blank with anything from drinking to joining a fraternity/sorority]. I became so angry with his "holier than thou" attitude that I grabbed a bible and went after him using scriptures...and yes, I shouted, but that was situationally necessary to make sure his huge audience had the chance to hear my gentler message *lol*!.

I just wish that more Christians understood what it means to follow Jesus...that it means they should follow his example. Jesus never threatened, shouted, or showed anger to non-believers...he reserved his infrequent bursts of anger for hypocritical religious leaders and practices (more "righteous indignation" than "anger"). To the rest of the world, he spoke about love and forgiveness.

Thanks for sharing, I hope others can really hear and understand what you're saying.

Answer 4

All I can say is that I agree with you, the ones who are the "hell burners" are the ones that give Christianity such a bad name, and the ones who are actually decent, well, they are the major minority in the religion but tend to be the most persuassive, I would like to know who and how many people were converted to Christianity with the threat of eternal punishment that the person in question might not even believe...

Answer 5

Hi
When someone becomes a Christian, God moves into their Spirit or you may have heard that term "the Holy Spirit indwells in them". When that happens, God begins to transform that person into the type of person He originally intended them to be (i.e like Adam who God made first). This is not like being demon possessed with heads spinning round and green vomit, it is a gentle and beautiful process and a strong bond forms between the person and God. The natural overflow of that bond is that the attributes of God are seen in that person. In the bible this is described in
Galations 5:22-23 and is called the fruits of the Spirit.

22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23. gentleness and self-control.

Depending on how well developed the Christian is, will dictate how many of the fruits are displayed. We are not all perfect by any means but this is what is meant by knowing them by their fruits.

Hope that helps

Andy

Answer 6

I do agree with a lot of your comments.

However it is incorrect to say that Christians yell, scream and ram their beliefs down the throats of others.

Firstly you need to know what a Christian is. A Christian is not a person who believes in a religion. Religious people have religious rules and self serving regulations to maintain power and control over others for both political and religious agenda.

A true Christian is a person who has made a personal choice (by free will) to follow the ways of Jesus Christ and follow the tenets of the Ten Commandment which were repeated by Lord Jesus at His Sermon on the Mount.

In other words to be Christ like. Walk the walk. "You will be judged by your fruits." in other words by what you do and how you treat others. "As you sow, so shall ye reap"

The people who have made that choice have been labelled Christians because they follow Christ. Not because they follow a religion.

This is the reason some religions have trouble accepting Jesus Christ as the Son of God.
It doesn't fit within their religious rules and regulations ending in lose of control over people.

So when you say Christians yell and scream, please consider the foundations of your comments.

I am a "Christian" person too, and before you ask NO I do not belong to a relgion. I belong to Jesus.

I couldn't care less what other people think of me. I am more interested in what God thinks of me. He is the only one that knows my heart! And hey, I'm not saying I'm perfect. If you want perfection then please ask God. I am only His Servant.

May the blessings, peace and grace of God be with you all.

Answer 7

What? I think you're on the wrong Yahoo! the preaching crazy Christians generally tend to come from America. That's the nature of a place where everyone lives so far apart.

I've not ever had a problem with Christians in England. In fact I am one.

Answer 8

I think a lot of the answers people give reflect their personality type..mine I am a "sanguine"..we are usually loud and we love to go on and on we love to tell stories and have them listened to and we usually give every detail that we possibly can, there are "phlegmatic" who are kind of like the hippies of the world..with a mellow attitude and as short as possible..there are the "choleric" types who don't like to listen to babble and will not babble on about any of their answers..they are short and to the point type of people and then there are the "melancholy" people who give a lot of thought to what they will say, they love the quietness and usually avoid confrontation...what I am saying is that we are all different and respond to things in different ways..this applies to our whole lives and all of our communication written or otherwise. I hope this gives you some food for thought. Peace.

Answer 9

But, but, according to the Fundies, a TRUE Christian should be loathed and vicitimized by everyone else. They should be persecuted and suffer for their beliefs. It's what Jesus would want for them, since they're the only ones who can see and speak the truth.

:P

Personally, I think the Christian that is good and loving is a better messenger for Christ. But I'm just a lowly "Incarnatrix of Evil."

Answer 10

Hi!

I like the way you have framed your question and the reasoning behind it. You are spot on.

I'm a Christian who works around Interfaith and inclusivity and have set up projects offering healthcare to sex industry workers. In my city - like many other cities - the gay community organise an annual "Pride" festival. This year, a group of clergy of all genders and sexuality walked with a banner that declared: "Changing attitudes - walking with pride for inclusive church".

Along the route we came across a group of "Christians" on a corner behind a banner declaring that "God slays sodomites". The crowd had given these folk a wide berth. On seeing their banner, I and my woman colleague stepped out of the parade and held our banner up to them. The crowd cheered. Some people even cried and a small voice whispered "at last". Someone else shouted: "The church is dead, long live The Church!" A young black man left the condemnatory banner and came over to me with a sad look.

"Until you guys came along", he told us, "I thought the crowd was hostile to Jesus and that was why they were avoiding us. Now I know they were hostile to our false message", and he stepped in behind us as we rejoined the parade.

The story of Sodom is one that justifies the rape of women to avoid homosexual practice. Anyone who really knows Jesus understands that rape is never right and that consensual sex is not for us to judge. Those who give energy to denouncing sexuality while ignoring the plight of abused children, oppressed women and issues of modern slave misery such as human trafficking do not know the Jesus who weeps at their ignorance. They seem to stand by while "priests" abuse little ones, shouting in the wrong direction.

Thank you for your question and I hope my response did not rise above a respectful whisper.

Good wishes.