I
believe in hell fire. I believe there is a choice...Him or not. I believe the
path is narrow and few find it. I wouldn't say I live and let live. I tend to
"tell it like it is" in certain circumstances. However, I don't get in people's
faces and scream at them about how they're whores and going to hell. I tell them
what I believe Scripture says and why they may be struggling the way they are. I
guess maybe I do take advantage of situations and emotions at times. I know that
doesn't sound good the way it's written. For instance...one person comes to mind
as an example right away.
Cheryl
was an atheist and I took her case. She was leery at first when she first
contacted me because she knew I was a "Christian". She let me know she thought
Christians were hypocrites who basically sucked and she was an atheist. She made
it clear she didn't want to hear any "God stuff" because she thought He sucked,
too. I worked with her for a few months and watched her life go downhill. Things
escalated and she wound up getting into more trouble. I knew she was going to
get a jail sentence, but I did help her beat one rap. When her trial and stuff
was going on, I asked her if maybe she needed to think about there being
"someone else" who could fill her gaps in her life. Did she think there may be
another way? She asked me if I was going to "give me that Christian crap". I
said I wasn't a preacher, but if she wanted to listen, I could tell her a few
things. She gave me three minutes. Hehehe....I don't remember what I said to
her. She did get sentenced and went to jail. No one wrote her. She would write
me letters and I would answer her...with big envelopes. I'd send her stuff from
the groups, updates, print off portions of a book she had wanted to read. The
first couple of letters, I got a little "preachy"....she couldn't talk back to
me or tell me to shut up! Her letters were pretty sad....she would rather be
dead and jail was awful. I guess you could say I "played" on her emotional state
and told her about God. There was noone who could pull her out of the dump she
was in, except for God. I gave her my own experience of being in jail (Yes,
TTer's, been there, done that.) I knew what she was going through. I knew what
got me through and what would get her through. I just had to wait for HER to see
it. The next few letters, I began sending her CHICK tracts and other things I
could find. Of course, I sent her the Messianic articles, too. I'm not an
evangelizer, so I get help from things I find form others who have more talents
in that area. Simply put, I improvise.
Here's
a quote from her letter to me dated 8-11-04:
107 days to go, out
of 219. I'm learning alot about religion-what it means to live "God-like"--why
it's good. So, I'm becoming educated about this. I really didn't know anything.
I admit that there's a lot to be said for living in such a manner. It can't be
bad, if done correctly and NON-JUDGMENTALLY. My sister just got religion
big-time over the last year and she got baptized a few months ago. Now she's not
worth talking to! Righteousness out the ying-yang...she wants me to look in the
mirror and take a look into my heart, blah, blah, blah--with regard to fighting
CPS and she couldn't spell tyranny! Sorry-she's smart but not educated like you
and me.
At
that point, Cheryl saw her sister "getting religion" and dumping her off.
Yelling and screaming at her, doing what she would perceive as judging her would
not work with her. She was hurt that her sister had dumped her and didn't
understand her. She blamed God for doing that to her sister. I had shown Cheryl
an example...when she called me in the middle of the night, I talked to her. I
didn't make her feel like crap or disown her. Her letter in late-October
informed me...."I HAVE FOUND GOD!!!!!!! I REALLY HAVE!!!!!!" Then she gave me
the details of her new-found love. Her whole demeanor was different. Cheryl now
had hope. Her letters were now very different. She was excited, alive, a new
person. Cheryl was even released a few days early...in November. She credited
that to God. I've gotten a few emails from her, and she continues to
be very vibrant.
So, do
I live and let live? Maybe in a sense. I let people know I don't agree with
their lifestyle and what I know God says about it. But I'm not the one making
the decision of where they spend eternity. Do I get pushy? No. It didn't work
with me, in fact it caused me to NOT accept Messiah for a longer period of time.
I treat others the way I wanted to be treated, using what worked with me, with
my own "style" tailored into it. I can't change people. People change themselves
by allowing God to do the work in them.
Kay
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