dyl (03/22/83)
Christians have been accused of preaching and evangelizing on the net. Part of the reason being that people equate preaching with quoting from the Bible. I myself like to back my foolishness up with scripture and see no reason to change. Quoting from scripture to me is like giving relevant reverences in an engineering journal. The last thing I would do is to plagiarize the Bible. The same people that accuse Christians of preaching are themselves preaching if you want to be *technical* about it. You are preaching against Jesus Christ, you are preaching godlessness, you are preaching confusion (so called open-mindness), you are preaching against freedom of speech, and you are trying to pick up followers. So, from now on, let us not accuse each other of preaching and simply exchange opinions on the net. There is no reason for us to see eye to eye on every issue. After all, what I think or you think matters very little as we all die like men before us. It is God that justifies. Though the Christian belief has no respect for other religions (One of God's names is I AM, meaning that all others are not), my knowledge in Christ helps me respect each person as an individual. I once also was a non-believer. P.S. I admire the person that has the wisdom of being fluent in 8 languages. I hope that you would seek the Bible on the subject of wisdom. Here are two starters. 1 Corinthians 1:25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength. 1 Corinthians 8:2-3 The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. But the man who loves God is known by God. floyd!dyl
tim (03/23/83)
Christians *are* preaching on the net. What's wrong with that? If they truly believe, it's their duty to preach. What I object to is distortion and confusion. Tim Maroney
don (03/23/83)
***** SEVERE FLAME WARNING!!! *****
In response to the following statement from Dave Lee:
The same people that accuse Christians of preaching
are themselves preaching if you want to be *technical*
about it. You are preaching against Jesus Christ, you
are preaching godlessness, you are preaching confusion
(so called open-mindness), you are preaching against
freedom of speech, and you are trying to pick up
followers.
Preaching, yes, but:
1) "preaching against Jesus"
It amazes me how little the fundamentalism that calls itself
"Christianity" has to do with the teachings of Jesus.
Jesus said "Resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee
on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also."
Fundamentalists seem to be adept at smiting, but I'm afraid
they have yet to master turning. Jesus prevented a mob from
murdering a woman for violating the sexual ethics of their
culture. I doubt Jerry Falwell would have lifted a finger.
I'm not against the teachings of Jesus; I am opposed to
taking a religion that represents centuries of doctrinal
changes, additions, and deletions, and declaring it to be
"Christianity" and everything else to be "against Jesus
Christ".
2) "preaching confusion (so-called open-mindness)"
Just who do you think is confused? To those with open
minds I submit the following, all the works of
fundamentalist "Christians":
* The Inquisitions
* The torture and murder of countless "heretics"
* the persecution of Galileo
* opposition to Benjamin Franklin's invention of the
lightning rod since it was "contrary to the will
of God"
* opposition to birth control as "contrary to the
will of God"
* opposition to anesthesia during childbirth
* failure to oppose slavery
* opposition to civil rights and racial integration
* opposition to the rights for women
* opposition to the rights of homosexuals
* failure to oppose wars
For brevity I will stop the list here. Any fundamentalist
who ignores the above is hardly open minded, and perhaps
even a bit confused. I think a more open minded view
would be to realize that the hope of the world lies not in
Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, Confucianism,
Taoism, etc., but in the hope that the followers of such
religions can learn to tolerate one another, learn from one
another, and learn to share this planet without killing one
another.
3) "preaching against freedom of speech"
Speaking of casting the first stone, historically,
fundamentalist "Christianity" has almost never failed to
oppose free speech, and it remains the greatest threat to
free speech in this country. I've never seen critics of
the fundamentalists burn any Bibles, censor any films,
declare a teacher unfit for holding "Christian" beliefs,
etc. Sadly, the reverse is not true. As far as I know,
fundamentalists in this country have never been denied
freedom of speech, and I don't hear any of their opponents
suggesting that they should be denied freedom of speech.
***** FLAMES DYING DOWN *****
Don Winsor
U. of Michigan
Ann Arbor