Help With A Question?

[springbreeze]

Dearest Spokenword

I do not believe that life can be assessed without looking at death and what that is.

To live life is to live knowing that life ends and if life ends, what then?

Is there life after this earthly life? Why even should we die? You know we can find the answers to all this in Sacred Scripture and you know where to look dearest friend.

You know one thing is true, you can talk for England about faith but that doesn’t mean that someone will listen to you or be convinced by you.

Your best testimony to them of faith is to show them by your life, your conviction in Christ Jesus this means all you do say and think…tall order, but how can you convert with words if in the first place you do not live it and live it with all you heart soul and mind?

Pray and pray and pray because no talent will come to you for conversion of souls unless you commune daily with God in the way God desires you commune with Him, not the way you or I may desire, but to follow Him the way He leads you to Him and we must not be proud about this!

So trust in God’s Providence for this person, consecrate them to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

You dear friend, pray upon how you will tell the truth and then ask God to show you how to tell the truth and the truth will always bear fruit…‘You will know them by their fruit’

You are one of my very favourites Spokenword

God Bless you and your wife and much love and peace to you both and those you love and hold dearest to your hearts

Teresa

 

[fulloftruth]

As said by AnAtheist:

If you believe and there is a different God than you expected,
when you die, you’ve lost everything.

Actually, that would depend on what that God was like, right, he could be greater than you imagined, more merciful, etc…

A question I have always wanted to ask an atheist is, “why is there something instead of nothing?”

How do you explain the existance of anything, or do you not care to explain it. In that case the fact that there is a God should be just as viable an option to believe in as there not being one to an atheist, if you don’t care one way or another. If you do care than what says you.

Steve

 

[Peace-bwu]

This is scripture I find very helpful when it comes to the question of conversion and our great responsibility toward it. I read this often when I pray for the conversion of others to Truth. Not everyone will be open to it, but we can pray that they will. I included this, it is the best plan I know.

1 Judge not, that you may not be judged, 2 For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again. 3 Any why seest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the beam that is in thy own eye? 4 Or how sayest thou to thy brother: Let me cast the mote out of thy eye; and behold a beam is in thy own eye? 5 Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.

6 Give not that which is holy to dogs; neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest perhaps they trample them under their feet, and turning upon you, they tear you.

7 Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you. 8 For every one that asketh, receiveth: and he that seeketh, findeth: and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you, of whom if his son shall ask bread, will he reach him a stone? 10 Or if he shall ask him a fish, will he reach him a serpent?

11 If you then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children: how much more will your Father who is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him? 12 All things therefore whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you also to them. For this is the law and the prophets. 13 Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. 14 How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it! 15 Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

16 By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. 19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. 20 Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them.

21 Not every one that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that doth the will of my Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day: Lord, Lord, have not we prophesied in thy name, and cast out devils in thy name, and done many miracles in thy name? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity. 24 Every one therefore that heareth these my words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock.

26 And every one that heareth these my words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof. 28 And it came to pass when Jesus had fully ended these words, the people were in admiration at his doctrine. 29 For he was teaching them as one having power, and not as the scribes and Pharisees .

 

[quaysman]

I think St. Paul in the Areopagus provides a timeless model for evangelization. Now every situation is unique, and there are many reasons why someone “should become a christian”, but the bottom line is “[God] commands all men everywhere to repent”.

Acts 17:30-31 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all men everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all men by raising him from the dead.

 

[AnAtheist]

Tmaque:

That’s simply false. Sounds like an excuse to not explore a relationship with God.

It is as false as the initial argument. What if the Muslims are correct, and you have never made a pilgrimage to Mecca? Then you are in serious trouble.

 

[Tmaque]

AnAtheist:

It is as false as the initial argument. What if the Muslims are correct, and you have never made a pilgrimage to Mecca? Then you are in serious trouble.

No, you don’t understand Islam. This is from the Qur’an.

Surah Al-Baqarah #2:
62. Verily, those who believe and those who are Jews and Christians, and Sabians (Sabi’in), whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day and does righteous good deeds shall have their reward with their Lord, on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.

I’m not Muslim. I think even Atheists can enter God’s embrace after death. But, I could be wrong too.

 

[wolpertinger]

Mickey: Pascal’s Wager is a morally bankrupt basis for religious belief.

Tmaque: AnAtheist critique is valid, because if one is inclined to accept the wager, one must consider which religion offers the best heaven and the worst hell. There are many other objections to Pascal’s Wager - to give but one example, the wager is based on a false dichotomy; nothing prevents an atheist to believe in a non-theistic version of an afterlife.

And why would an atheist need an excuse to not explore a relationship with something that from their point of view is extremely unlikely to exist?

fulloftruth: This has been discussed at length in previous threads. I prefer the intellectually honest answer - I don’t know and probably never will. Until such time as there as it is possible to do better than speculation, it is not a question in need of answering.

 

[Tmaque]

wolpertinger:

Tmaque: AnAtheist critique is valid, because if one is inclined to accept the wager, one must consider which religion offers the best heaven and the worst hell. There are many other objections to Pascal’s Wager - to give but one example, the wager is based on a false dichotomy; nothing prevents an atheist to believe in a non-theistic version of an afterlife.

.

I never mentioned Pascal’s wager. That is a poor reason for believing and something I have never subscribed to. Truth is truth and should not be ignored because it is painful or inconvenient. If you believe that it is impossible for God to exist then it would be wrong for you to believe in God. My point is that he is criticizing something that he is obviously very unfamiliar with. I started to believe in God because I came to the conclusion that it made the most sense…that’s it…nothing more. I became a Christian because the Christian concept of God made the most sense. Once there I started to realize the absolute peace that could be found in belief. But, I do not blindly accept every teaching from the Catholic church or any other faith tradition. I’m constantly questioning and re-evaluating all my beliefs and motives for believing. For an atheist to condemn a believers logic is to me, like a deaf man criticizing a hearing man’s love of Mozart. He just has no idea what he is not experiencing. You can’t imagine it until you experience it. I believe that someone that has found God in a real way will never go back to total non-belief. The experience is too real and profound.

 

[SPOKENWORD]

quaysman:

I think St. Paul in the Areopagus provides a timeless model for evangelization. Now every situation is unique, and there are many reasons why someone “should become a christian”, but the bottom line is “[God] commands all men everywhere to repent”.

Acts 17:30-31 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all men everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all men by raising him from the dead.

Hi Quays,I,m in agreement with you. Without repentence one cannot enter into the kingdom. God Bless

 

[Ozzie]

SPOKENWORD:

Hi Mickey, I have that tract in my wallet. God Bless

I thought your question was why someone should become a “Christian?” Just believing there is a God doesn’t make you a Christian. Are Islamics Christians?

 

[Ozzie]

quaysman:

I think St. Paul in the Areopagus provides a timeless model for evangelization. Now every situation is unique, and there are many reasons why someone “should become a christian”, but the bottom line is “[God] commands all men everywhere to repent”.

Acts 17:30-31 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all men everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all men by raising him from the dead.

“Repentance” means to change one’s mind. One is required to change his mind about Jesus Christ and turn from his *unbelief *to *belief *in Him, then he is saved. Only then is he a “Christian.”

 

[WhatIf]

I used to be an non believer. I think first I would ask if they want to believe in God or perhaps what they believe God is.

If they say they want to, then calmly listen to what he finds as barriers and then gradually knock them down.

For example, barriers for me were that God looked like a Man with a long beard. I thought a “man” would have to reside somewhere and with all the space exploration, I didn’t believe that up in the sky is heaven. You need to give them some room on “visualizing” God because it doesn’t have to be as we visualize Him. It just needs to be understandable to the person. I do not picture God as a man, but some people need to see Him this way.

Also, I wouldn’t even bother knocking down their evolution beliefs because it is practically irrelevant. We don’t know how God created everything, we just know that he did, so it is not unchristian to believe he has used the process of evolution to get where we are today. They do not have to have literal translation of Genesis as some religions do. NO one should claim they know how God started life. We really don’t since the creation story has a lot of figurative language in it. You can begin by asking the person if they can entertain the idea that God is responsible for creating the evolutionary process and maybe get to the bottom of this without pushing your perceptions on them. Each person has an individual way of grasping these great mysteries. Try not to box them into something that is impossible for them to believe.

It was impossible for me to believe some of what Christians told me as I was growing up. I must believe in evolution. There is too much evidence to support this, but I also believe that God created everything and it is good. That about covers it. For a long time, I wanted to believe, but it isn’t as simple as that. There has to be a spiritual awareness eventually that gets the person to explore the right things and get rid of barriers. Just don’t box them into one particular image of God or Heaven.

 

[WhatIf]

AnAtheist:

If you believe and there is a different God than you expected,
when you die, you’ve lost everything.

In a way I agree with you even though I am Christian now. Simply believing does not cause us to gain everything. It is the start, but here we go into the faith without works is dead which I don’t want to hijack this thread with it.

What Christians should remember though is those people who through igorance die without knowing God might be saved whereas those of us who do believe, but do not follow those commandments anyway are perhaps in big trouble when we die. I think many atheists may go to heaven while many Christians who failed to live as Christians may not go to heaven. It just depends on their repentance of sins etc. I think it depends on why the atheist is an atheist. What do they know “in their heart”? Do they know they are holding some kind of grudge or is it ignorance because of upbringing. In my case, so many barriers were built by my parents before I ever became old enough to really think this all through. Also, God converts us, not people, but people open up our minds to keep the search going.

 

[SPOKENWORD]

springbreeze:

Dearest Spokenword
Pray and pray and pray because no talent will come to you for conversion of souls unless you commune daily with God in the way God desires you commune with Him, not the way you or I may desire, but to follow Him the way He leads you to Him and we must not be proud about this!==================================================Hi Teresa, This is so true.If we on a dayly bases are not spending time in prayer and seeking His face,we are missing the whole picture as a christian.There is nothing more intimate than being alone with God and resting in His love and being close to His heart.Yes God will equip us with the necessary tools we need to be His faithful servant.God is preparing us for this walk to do what He is asking all of us , and that is to spread the Good News. My prayer is that God will send workers into the fields,for the harvest is ready. I believe this in my heart. I can no longer just sit and do nothing about the lost.I do not want the blood on my hands knowing that many will enter into the fires of hell including many members of my own family. We need to be led by the spirit But we must also be willing to say to God ,Here I am Lord,send me and use me for your Glory.God Bless Sister and may Gods peace and love draw you closer to His Heart.

 

[SPOKENWORD]

SPOKENWORD:

springbreeze:

Dearest Spokenword
Pray and pray and pray because no talent will come to you for conversion of souls unless you commune daily with God in the way God desires you commune with Him, not the way you or I may desire, but to follow Him the way He leads you to Him and we must not be proud about this!------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Teresa, This is so true.If we on a dayly bases are not spending time in prayer and seeking His face,we are missing the whole picture as a christian.There is nothing more intimate than being alone with God and resting in His love and being close to His heart.Yes God will equip us with the necessary tools we need to be His faithful servant.God is preparing us for this walk to do what He is asking all of us , and that is to spread the Good News. My prayer is that God will send workers into the fields,for the harvest is ready. I believe this in my heart. I can no longer just sit and do nothing about the lost.I do not want the blood on my hands knowing that many will enter into the fires of hell including many members of my own family. We need to be led by the spirit But we must also be willing to say to God ,Here I am Lord,send me and use me for your Glory.God Bless Sister and may Gods peace and love draw you closer to His Heart.

 

[Drew98]

Mickey:

If you believe and there is no God,
when you die, you’ve lost nothing.

This seems to be saying that you can become a Christian without giving up anything or making any changes to your life. I think most Christians would disagree with this. There’s more to being a Christian than simply professing a belief that God exists.

 

[SPOKENWORD]

Drew98:

This seems to be saying that you can become a Christian without giving up anything or making any changes to your life. I think most Christians would disagree with this. There’s more to being a Christian than simply professing a belief that God exists.

Hi Drew, Thats true,even satan believed in God. God Bless

 

[Drew98]

fulloftruth:

A question I have always wanted to ask an atheist is, “why is there something instead of nothing?”

I would reply “why is there God instead of nothing?”. Whatever answer you give could probably be used to answer your question above.

 

[Drew98]

fulloftruth:

A question I have always wanted to ask an atheist is, “why is there something instead of nothing?”

I would reply “why is there God instead of nothing?”. Whatever answer you give could probably be used to answer your question above.

 

[Tmaque]

Drew98:

I would reply “why is there God instead of nothing?”. Whatever answer you give could probably be used to answer your question above.

Yes, but the answer would confirm the believer’s view, not the atheists.