Believe it or not, I was able to share the Gospel with a fundamentalist this morning!

[Michael the Iconographer]

This guy was in my store this morning buying a pair of New Balance and he started to tell me about how he no longer pays taxes and the reasons why so many ppl dont pay taxes anymore. And he started to slip references to God in it, so I could kind of see where this was going. God has taught me to be patient in these kind of conversations anymore. Anyways after he was discussing his views of Govt and taxation and all he started to tell me a little about God's role in his life and he asked me where I went to Church. I told him I go to an Orthodox Church. And he said he had heard of it, wondered if I was GO, and I said no I am American Orthodox but we all believe the same thing. He asked is Orthodoxy scriptural? Is it Christ Centered? Does it proclaim Christ as Savior? ETC ETC and to all of those I answered yes. He asked if I had been born again. I told him that in a way I had been born again, as I was brought up Roman Catholic and that I had embraced Orthodoxy and I began to explain to him how Orthodoxy has a very healthy view of God and his love and how this brought me through my divorce. When I was done telling him this he deeply thanked me for what I had shared with him because a while back he had been through a divorce himself and it was good to see how tenderly God loves his children.

[countrymousenc]

:thumbsup: That's great, Michael! :)

[Moros]

he started to tell me about how he no longer pays taxes and the reasons why so many ppl dont pay taxes anymore.

Tax evasion is still a huge federal offense. I wasn't aware a good chunk of Americans don't pay taxes. Do explain ;)

[Reader Nilus]

They end up in court with everything they have being taken to pay off back taxes, the height of being stupid!
Reader Nilus

[Michael the Iconographer]

Both of you have totally missed the point. I do not care if people pay taxes or not, that is none of my business. I am mature enough and intelligent enough to listen to people when they are telling me things like this to see if there is not something I can learn from them or maybe something I can teach them. The point was not about this man's socio-political views, but rather that by listening to him I was eventually able to share the Gospel with him in a way which he had not heard it put before.

[Eusebios]

Michael,
That's wonderful my brother! Keep up the good work!
:thumbsup:
Eusebios.
(who also knows the pain of divorce)
:bow:

[Matrona]

I told him that in a way I had been born again, as I was brought up Roman Catholic and that I had embraced Orthodoxy and I began to explain to him how Orthodoxy has a very healthy view of God and his love and how this brought me through my divorce. When I was done telling him this he deeply thanked me for what I had shared with him because a while back he had been through a divorce himself and it was good to see how tenderly God loves his children.
A big hug for this defender of the Faith! :hug:

Our Church's teachings on God have helped me through many a dark time as well. I think I would have been driven insane if I had gone through that while still embracing the western theology and ecclesiology I grew up with!

[Michael the Iconographer]

A big hug for this defender of the Faith! :hug:

Thank you, you are so sweet.

[MariaRegina]

Both of you have totally missed the point. I do not care if people pay taxes or not, that is none of my business. I am mature enough and intelligent enough to listen to people when they are telling me things like this to see if there is not something I can learn from them or maybe something I can teach them. The point was not about this man's socio-political views, but rather that by listening to him I was eventually able to share the Gospel with him in a way which he had not heard it put before.


:hug:

way to go! :amen:

[Michael the Iconographer]

:hug:

way to go! :amen:

Thank you! I don't normally do this kind of thing, but since he was telling me about Christ and he had mentioned his divorce 10 years ago I thought I would share with him how God and the Orthodox Church helped me through mine. I didn't know that what I was saying would connect with him!

[MariaRegina]

Thank you! I don't normally do this kind of thing, but since he was telling me about Christ and he had mentioned his divorce 10 years ago I thought I would share with him how God and the Orthodox Church helped me through mine. I didn't know that what I was saying would connect with him!

Sometimes the Holy Spirit works through us in surprising ways.

When I went to see my Linguistics Professor, who is Chinese, I had no idea that he would be interested in the Orthodox Church -

all through the Greek word anaphora

[Michael the Iconographer]

Sometimes the Holy Spirit works through us in surprising ways.
[/b]

I am reminded of that every time someone tells me how moved they were by a particular icon which I had written.

[Andromeda]

Does it proclaim Christ as Savior? ETC ETC and to all of those I answered yes. He asked if I had been born again. I told him that in a way I had been born again, as I was brought up Roman Catholic and that I had embraced Orthodoxy and I began to explain to him how Orthodoxy has a very healthy view of God and his love and how this brought me through my divorce. When I was done telling him this he deeply thanked me for what I had shared with him because a while back he had been through a divorce himself and it was good to see how tenderly God loves his children.That's truly great, Michael! Amazing how God provides the opportunities to share isn't it? I'm quite happy for you! :clap: It sounds like you made a positive impression!

[RhetorTheo]

One of the best arguments I heard for not paying taxes is that the income tax law says that the people that must pay the tax "includes Washington D.C." and there is a legal principle that when a law says it includes X, Y and Z, the presumption is that it includes ONLY X, Y and Z. Thus, they reason, only people in Washington D.C. need pay the tax.

I don't buy it, of course, but it's interesting.

[Michael the Iconographer]

One of the best arguments I heard for not paying taxes is that the income tax law says that the people that must pay the tax "includes Washington D.C." and there is a legal principle that when a law says it includes X, Y and Z, the presumption is that it includes ONLY X, Y and Z. Thus, they reason, only people in Washington D.C. need pay the tax.

I don't buy it, of course, but it's interesting.

You totally missed the entire point of this thread. :idea:

[Xpycoctomos]

Sometimes the Holy Spirit works through us in surprising ways.

When I went to see my Linguistics Professor, who is Chinese, I had no idea that he would be interested in the Orthodox Church -

all through the Greek word anaphora
I remember reading the post about that (when you first talked to him.. I believe it ws in the bejing thread). Have you talked to him about it since?

[Michael the Iconographer]

The whole incident reminds me of the time at the very beginning of my conversion/embracing of Orthodoxy when I had an all night conversation with a Sedevacantist Catholic (a hard line traditionalist Catholic who believes the See of Rome is empty) in the language lab at the University of Toledo who tried to convince me that the See of Rome was vacant. I was willing to grant him all of the points he made if he could answer my final question: what about the other 6 rites of the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church? He could not answer and we parted ways. However, what this conversation did do was rattle my faith enough to cause me to pray a most sincere prayer asking St. Peter (my favorite saint who is wrongly accused of being the first Pope) to ask God to show me the true faith in Christ. That was in the Summer of '96, 2 1/2 years prior to my conversion to Orthodoxy!

Sometimes the Holy Spirit works through us in surprising ways.

When I went to see my Linguistics Professor, who is Chinese, I had no idea that he would be interested in the Orthodox Church -

all through the Greek word anaphora

[The Virginian]

I don't know why, but for some reason I got the sense that "fundamentalist" was being used as something bad. Remember, Orhtodoxy has the the fullest representation of the Truth, which means that oppsss, there is some in Protestantism. The difference is that whether the person is an Orthodox or Protestant "fundamentalist", is how Pharisicial they are about the truth they know, and the truth they live! Is Pharisicial a word?
Never stop sharing the Gospel, you never know who God will convert and use through your efforts.



the sinful and unworthy servant