View Full Version : I am a Christian and I think I am stuck
qbit
18th March 2004, 05:20 PM
Mk 16:15-16: "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned."
A Christian should love his neighbour as himself; the ultimate example is Christ who laid down his life for us. It's my Christian Duty to spread this Good News to all the world.
God is very fair, initially a person from a Hindu country must have the same chance of going to heaven as a person from a Christian country. But once he hears and understands the message of Christ's gift he has to make a critical decision; reject it or accept it.
The probability that a person over a certain age accepts a new faith is very low. So in many cases we should not pass the Christian message on because the message could force a friend to make a critical decision that is likely to send him to Hell. His chances for Heaven are better if he does not know.
I love my neighbour, I want to save as many people as possible so I will not spread the Good News to the world. I would rather go to Hell myself then risk damning a friend by passing on information that is statistically likely to lead him to make a decision that will send him to Hell.
I should provide people with information, but the information is likely to hurt them and I don't want that because I love them!
If a person could have been saved by not hearing, such as a Hindu and hearing forces people to make a choice that is more likely to be the wrong choice, then hearing is bad for him.
I can stop people from hearing and it may help them. So I will sacrifice my own salvation because I love them!
Why did God give us a mind to think it limits my faith?
My problem is that there may be no truly self-sacrificing Christians in Heaven?
Is this true, I am stuck?
JVAC
18th March 2004, 05:30 PM
It doesn't matter at what age they are, what matters is the hardness of thier own heart. If the Word is given to a tender heart, it will eagerly follow, yet if it is given to a hard heart it will slide off. We shouldn't choose who we share the Good News with!
What I would suggest is instead of jumping in headlong, that you take time to establish a relationship with the person first. Show them the Christian Life you are living, then offer to them your motivation, that is Christ Jesus.
-James
BBAS 64
18th March 2004, 05:33 PM
A Christian should love his neighbour as himself; the ultimate example is Christ who laid down his life for us. It's my Christian Duty to spread this Good News to all the world.Good Day, Qbit
It is not only your duty but is a commandment.
God is very fair, initially a child from a Hindu family has the same chance of going to heaven as a child from a Christian family but once he hears and understands the message of Christ's gift he has to make a critical decision; reject it or accept it.
The probability that a person over a certain age accepts a new faith is very low. So in many cases we should not pass the Christian message on because the message could force a friend to make a critical decision that is likely to send him to Hell. His chances for Heaven are better if he does not know.?How are his chances better?
I love my neighbour, I want to save as many people as possible so I will not spread the Good News to the world. I would rather send myself to Hell then risk damning a friend by passing on information that is statistically likely to lead him to make a decision that will send him to Hell.
My problem is that there may be no truly self-sacrificing Christians in Heaven?
Is this true, I am stuck?With out the Gospel he has made his decision in his tresspasses and sin.
You are not stuck you worry over things that are not your responisbilty. While you neglect the things that are.
Peace to u,
BBAS
Yahweh Nissi
18th March 2004, 07:20 PM
Mk 16:15-16: "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned."
A Christian should love his neighbour as himself; the ultimate example is Christ who laid down his life for us. It's my Christian Duty to spread this Good News to all the world.
God is very fair, initially a person from a Hindu country must have the same chance of going to heaven as a person from a Christian country. But once he hears and understands the message of Christ's gift he has to make a critical decision; reject it or accept it.
Not necessarily. Remember, God is not 'fair' to any of us - if He was we would all be eternally dammned* for our sins as we deserve. Matthew 20:1-15 may well be addressing this - the parable of the workers in the vineyard:
1"For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. 2He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
3"About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4He told them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' 5So they went.
6"He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, 'Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?'
7" 'Because no one has hired us,' they answered.
"He said to them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard.'
8"When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.'
9"The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. 10So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12'These men who were hired last worked only one hour,' they said, 'and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.'
13"But he answered one of them, 'Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? 14Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?'[NIV]
Whilst I think that it may be possible for those who have never heard the Gospel to be saved, God would not command us to spread the Gospel if this would make people less likely to be saved. And what if people cannot be saved without hearing it? Unpleasent as this idea might sound to us it could well be the case - we cannot fathom the righteouness of God and what may seem wrong to us may well be right in His eyes, and so of course be right. By being timid in spreading the Gospel in the hope you are helping people may actually be doing the harm you are trying to avoid.
The probability that a person over a certain age accepts a new faith is very low. So in many cases we should not pass the Christian message on because the message could force a friend to make a critical decision that is likely to send him to Hell. His chances for Heaven are better if he does not know.
I love my neighbour, I want to save as many people as possible so I will not spread the Good News to the world. I would rather go to Hell myself then risk damning a friend by passing on information that is statistically likely to lead him to make a decision that will send him to Hell.
I should provide people with information, but the information is likely to hurt them and I don't want that because I love them!
My problem is that there may be no truly self-sacrificing Christians in Heaven?
Is this true, I am stuck?
I know it seems complicated and almost impossible to understand, but in the end we must just obey - we are directly commanded to evangelise and so we must.
God bless,
YN.
*deliberate miss-spelling to avoid being censored.
LynneClomina
18th March 2004, 07:39 PM
Mk 16:15-16: "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned."
A Christian should love his neighbour as himself; the ultimate example is Christ who laid down his life for us. It's my Christian Duty to spread this Good News to all the world.
God is very fair, initially a person from a Hindu country must have the same chance of going to heaven as a person from a Christian country. But once he hears and understands the message of Christ's gift he has to make a critical decision; reject it or accept it.
The probability that a person over a certain age accepts a new faith is very low. So in many cases we should not pass the Christian message on because the message could force a friend to make a critical decision that is likely to send him to Hell. His chances for Heaven are better if he does not know.
I love my neighbour, I want to save as many people as possible so I will not spread the Good News to the world. I would rather go to Hell myself then risk damning a friend by passing on information that is statistically likely to lead him to make a decision that will send him to Hell.
I should provide people with information, but the information is likely to hurt them and I don't want that because I love them!
If a person could have been saved by not hearing, such as a Hindu and hearing forces people to make a choice that is more likely to be the wrong choice, then hearing is bad for him.
I can stop people from hearing and it may help them. So I will sacrifice my own salvation because I love them!
Why did God give us a mind to think it limits my faith?
My problem is that there may be no truly self-sacrificing Christians in Heaven?
Is this true, I am stuck?
anyone who is a non-believer is automatically a "he who disbelieved", whether they have heard the gospel or not. the only way the dis-believers can ever become believers is if they hear the gospel.
sharing the gospel is the kindest thing we can do for them - because if God is going to work in their hearts, He first wants us to go to them with the Good New.
Ro 10:14 - How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
just becuase they havent heard the gospel doesnt mean that they are any less deserving of hell than all the disbelievers who HAVE heard it. the wages of sin is death, period.
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