Evangelizing: Assistance Required

[Hephzibah]

Firstly, allow me to say that I would classify myself as one of those "Christian zealots". I am tolerant of other people, but not in the way you define tolerant I would think. I respect their free will as human beings to make decisions as to what religion to chose (and so on and so forth). However, I firmly believe with all of my being that Jesus is the ONLY way to God and Heaven; that all other religions are misguided and/or false; and yes, I even believe that Mohammed is a false prophet, for didn't he claim that Jesus was only a prophet?

By your definition, I suppose you would say I have a closed mind. That may be true to these areas, however I have an 'open mind' to God's will and to Jesus. Which leads me to this quote:

"A closed mind stays forever ignorant to God. An open mind seeks to understand and so comes closer to God." - Bishop Michaels (now sadly deceased), a bishop whose sermon I attended at school as a child.

From your above post, it seems that this quote is in relation to people having closed or open minds towards other religions. However, if you look at it from another perspective, it can mean that those who do not want to find Jesus won't find Him, but those that do and seek Him (seek and you shall find), then they will find Him and He will reveal Himself to them.

Unfortunately, I have to be studying for exams coming up and hence I cannot make a full reply to your post. Btw, welcome to CAA

[Mr. SmartyPants]

i would have to mirror what talame has said

but i read Voice's posts previously, and i did not sense any of this "rudeness" thou has spoken of... her usage of "got it?" merely seemed to just make sure both parties were on the same line and weren't sidetracked.

i do not believe in what you say epyon, she was merely defending her faith, under heavy circumstances of multiple people against one, untill when like 1 or 2 others posted right before it got deleted

you have NO evidence she was "emotional" because all you done was simply read some things you've typed up... you weren't next to you, you didn't hear her voice... nada... so don't say she was emotional. There's a difference between "emotional" and "spur of the moment"

[Fsiphskilm]

LORDI!!!!

Welcome!!!

Oh my gosh! We have a guest, this is so awesome, it's like a CAA talk show now. Mods meet mods, in "the gathering of great minds"

yeah sorry about that rant, little things excite me.

[Radical Dreamer]

We do NOT insult Christians.

...we are a compassionate, caring and considerate society

Hm. I think I'll most definitely have to disagree here. If anyone was to look at Voice's welcoming page, you would see that she was most certainly not welcome and was being insluted for her beliefs. All she did was merely mention the fact that she was a Christian, and was immediately attacked because of that. So I can't really see how you can say that the people at your site don't insult Christians, or how you could say that your site is compassionate, caring, or considerate. I read the things that were said to her in her welcoming thread and in the thread on the Bible, and 98% of the things that were said to her were harsh, crude, cruel, and hostile. The only reason I registered at your site in the first place was to say something on her behalf, and I've done it. So, I don't plan on visiting it again any time soon. I didn't agree with many of the things you said in your post, and I could rant for a re-eally long time about tolerance and whatnot, but since this is the first forum I've found that I can actually come to just to have a good time and not have to feel I need to defend my beliefs, I'll leave it at that for today. ^_^

[Yojimbo]

I too am tolerant as Talame said in that I am respectful to other people of different faiths and seek to understand and learn from them. It is a means to better bring these people to Jesus through this understanding. But ultimately as a Christian I still believe that our faith in Jesus Christ is true. And why would I feel any differently I'd expect a Muslim to feel the same way about their faith?

And not once did Voice/Lluvia ever come off as rude in that thread. And I read the entire thing over an hour's time. All I saw from the other camp with the exception of a few was insults, and people trying to make a mockery of Christians on a faith based and personal level. Especially from your mod Dark Firebrand...why am I not suprised it got deleted not even an hour after he cussed her out? He seems like a shining example of your so called tolerance on your site.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Epyon, I voice the same concerns and beliefs as others on this thread. The Bible by its very nature is offensive to our sinful natures because it confronts us with the Truth and we may not wish to climb out of our holes and turn over a new leaf and believe that Jesus provides salvation through Grace - His dying on the cross and rising to new life to save us from eternal damnation.

There is also a difference between acceptance and tolerance. We are all sinners and should love the sinner, but not the sin. This means we should accept people for who they are not for what they do (their behaviour). Jesus doesn't tolerate our sin, but he accepts us as we are and if we ask Him into our lives we have the gift of eternal salvation.

Although I don't agree or believe much that you wrote, thankyou for taking the time to post your view.
God Bless!

[THE ANIME MAN]

Just everybody calm down and take a breather here.

I'm not sure many of you are aware however I am also a Moderator at GFF. I'm The Anime Man (same name makes things easy across the board). You guys are being really nice and I can see that. However again as we said, we really tolerant people.

Dark Firebrand is one of my best friends at GFF. We have been friends since I joined in September of 2001 . . . or was it 2002. And I know he can be tough on people who heavily express their religious views. Well, I was, before joining the military, a priest. A VERY low level priest but I was still a priest. And he is one of my best friends on that forum. One of the other members, Sephy, is lthe daughter I will always want and I even tell her as such.

These are two of the people that were involved in all of this. So here I say, why would these people, who appear rude, crude, and cruel, by some of your standards, be nice, accepting, and some of the people I call my bests friends on GFF.

It's because as a priest, although I can preach the word of god, although mainly I do exorcisms. I do not force those beliefs I have into others. It is no better then the Spanish inquisition or the crusades. It was once said that the only true path to jesus and the lord is through finding them yourself.

Whether that be jsut one day you wake up and you realize that Jesus is the savior and leads to the lord. Or, you worship the lord himself, as well as give reverence to the High Angels of Heaven. It doesn't matter. God is God is God. Doesn't matter if its through jesus or not. God was around before Jesus, and he will forever be here after.

I talked to Voice right after one of these debates within that particular thread. She was indeed very distraught about what was being said and the denounciation of her religion by people who were not part of it. That is an emotional reaction to the thread. Sure a few people were slamming the stuff around. However, when it comes to debates, as Epyon also posted, the term "Got it?" does indeed mean just that.

Some of you are now going wondering who am I to say things. I'm a man who has many good and bad things in life. I've been a DJ, a Student, an Actor, a bar owner, a model, I've worked fast food, I was an Acolyte for MANY years, an anime fan, I've been part of a business, I'm in the military now. I've lived in the slums, I've lived in the hills, I've lvied in a preppy neighborhood. I have friends who are rich, I have friends who are poor. I've been raped, I've been arrested, I've had my heartbroken several times, I have broken other peoples hearts.

I have absolutely no right to go up to some one and say to them "You should believe in god. And I'm saying this as a low level priest. One of my best friends is a Father in my church diocese and he has said the same things to me.

So this is what I say to you all. God did not say go out and convert the world. But rather, he said go out and preach the word of god. Now granted there are different ways of doing that. However, donig it to the point where others denounce our religion and say its "Wrong" or "evil" as I have heard such done, causes not jsut you all to look bad, but also the Lord to look bad also.

My PM box and AIM is always open to talk. So if anything further would like to be said about this particular conversation. Please direct it to me and we'll talk. I'm more then willing to just sit and talk. You may walk away from it a scorched by some of the things I think but I'll always listen to anyone no matter what the problem is.

Cause no matter how much we go back and forth here, it won't solve anything. And most of GFF can tell you. I'm the most third party person in this whole affair. As I backed Voice a tad on the forum cause I know people did go overkill on her however she was as equally at fault for this as anyone else.

"It takes two to tango."

[Hephzibah]

Whether that be jsut one day you wake up and you realize that Jesus is the savior and leads to the lord. Or, you worship the lord himself, as well as give reverence to the High Angels of Heaven. It doesn't matter. God is God is God. Doesn't matter if its through jesus or not. God was around before Jesus, and he will forever be here after.

I'm sorry, but this paragraph has greatly disturbed me. It DOES matter if 'it's through Jesus", afterall He is the "way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6). Jesus IS God, and He says so:

"Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves." (John 14: 10-11)

[THE ANIME MAN]

[quote="Talame"]I'm sorry, but this paragraph has greatly disturbed me. It DOES matter if 'it's through Jesus", afterall He is the "way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6). Jesus IS God, and He says so:

"Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me]

So god and Jesus are one. So doesn't that mean if you worship God by himself wouldn't you also be technically worshipping jesus?

Remeber, part of the job of a priest is to teach others. And one of the best ways to teach is to question. For question cause growth and growth causes learning.

[Hephzibah]

So god and Jesus are one. So doesn't that mean if you worship God by himself wouldn't you also be technically worshipping jesus?

To answer this, I'm going to quote a good friend of mine, Kae:

If they're going with that argument, then that means that they have to be worshipping the true Trinitarian God, which means Jesus is part of Him. Meaning that they have to worship the God that sent His son, Christ, to die for our sins. Therefore that person has to accept that Christ was God and came to Earth and died on a cross for our sins. So they have to accept Christ regardless.

There is also Matthew 7:21-23, which states:
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'


Also, I found the verse that I was looking for in regards to your comment of God being around before and after Jesus:

John 1: 1-14
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.

Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

[Ashley]

At the point, I'm going to go ahead and close this thread. We agreed to let the staffers of GFF come over and explain their side of the story, in so much as they were not insulting to our own members or tried to discredit our theology. I feel this thread is skating dangerously close to that line, and is doing nothing but upset many members here. So we let them speak, which was more than expected of us, and now it'll end. Obviously no one here is interested in changing their point of views, so it's not worth the aggrivation to keep it open.