Haррy Felix Posted January 30, 2019 Group: Members Followers: 0 Topic Count: 14 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 38 Content Per Day: 0.02 Reputation: 17 Days Won: 0 Joined: 01/27/2019 Status: Offline Share Posted January 30, 2019 Hi all, I have a difficult question, maybe. I believe there is a heaven and a hell because in the gospels Jesus tells us so. I am the only believer in my family and in the past I almost killed our marriage trying to convert my wife. Our marriage was saved but my family was not. I try to live an exemplary life but no-one will start to believe. How do you guys deal with such a thing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xethea Posted January 30, 2019 Group: Advanced Member Followers: 4 Topic Count: 11 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 262 Content Per Day: 0.12 Reputation: 57 Days Won: 0 Joined: 02/25/2018 Status: Offline Share Posted January 30, 2019 God chooses who he will save. Only God can change someone's heart, we don't change our own. You just need to do what scripture tells you to, love them, tell them the truth and be the example more than try to convince them. A human will not be able to convince one to believe entirely, but God will convict their hearts and make them come to him. There is scripture about him choosing who he saves, as if we are destined to be saved. Ephesians 1:4-5 Paul says God “chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.” A few verses later, in verse 11, Paul says, “In [Jesus] we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.” Similarly, Paul writes in Romans 8:29-30 that “those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xethea Posted January 30, 2019 Group: Advanced Member Followers: 4 Topic Count: 11 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 262 Content Per Day: 0.12 Reputation: 57 Days Won: 0 Joined: 02/25/2018 Status: Offline Share Posted January 30, 2019 The main thing that really makes people feel like turning around isn't hearing the truth, it isn't that you try so hard to convince them or make them read the word and go to church, but it is convincing when they see Christ working in your life to know he is real. They see a difference in your life than everyone else. People pay more attention to actions than words when it comes to being a real Christian. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willa Posted January 30, 2019 Group: Worthy Ministers Followers: 68 Topic Count: 186 Topics Per Day: 0.04 Content Count: 14,242 Content Per Day: 3.33 Reputation: 16,656 Days Won: 30 Joined: 08/14/2012 Status: Offline Share Posted January 30, 2019 Pray. I prayed day and night for my husband's salvation for 4 years. Only God can save. It is an undeserved gift. You can't create faith in them, only God can. You can love them, serve them and be an example to them. You cannot force it down their throats or preach it into them. I tried that and failed as well. An ancestor of mine made a pact with God to pray till midnight every night till her husband and 8 kids were saved. It only took 6 months. Perhaps if I hadn't preached at him God would have saved him much sooner. The more I prayed for my husband the more God changed me to be the kind of wife he needed. Perhaps God will change you to be the kind of husband and father you family needs as well. 1 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haррy Felix Posted January 30, 2019 Group: Members Followers: 0 Topic Count: 14 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 38 Content Per Day: 0.02 Reputation: 17 Days Won: 0 Joined: 01/27/2019 Status: Offline Author Share Posted January 30, 2019 Thank you for your beautiful posts, @Xethea and @Willa. It's not that I use words toward my family to achieve what God could achieve. I stopped doing that a long time ago. I just prey and try to be good. But sometimes I feel guilty for perhaps not doing enough. I should stop doing that. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xethea Posted January 30, 2019 Group: Advanced Member Followers: 4 Topic Count: 11 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 262 Content Per Day: 0.12 Reputation: 57 Days Won: 0 Joined: 02/25/2018 Status: Offline Share Posted January 30, 2019 25 minutes ago, Happy Felix said: Thank you for your beautiful posts, @Xethea and @Willa. It's not that I use words toward my family to achieve what God could achieve. I stopped doing that a long time ago. I just prey and try to be good. But sometimes I feel guilty for perhaps not doing enough. I should stop doing that. No one in this life, even given a 900 year life span, could do enough or reach the limit to doing things for God. Do all you can, there is no limit or minimum that God has set, but he would appreciate you live the most you can for him. If you aren't, he already knows what you're going to do until you get to heaven, so it wont surprise him. Overall, he wont be disappointed in his saved people. He appreciates even the smallest things you do greatly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnOrangeCat Posted January 31, 2019 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 5 Topic Count: 57 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 1,403 Content Per Day: 0.27 Reputation: 1,824 Days Won: 0 Joined: 12/24/2009 Status: Offline Share Posted January 31, 2019 I'll just echo what's been said here. God brings conviction and changes people. So long as you're praying and setting a good example for them and keeping yourself close to God you're doing exactly what you need to be doing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xethea Posted January 31, 2019 Group: Advanced Member Followers: 4 Topic Count: 11 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 262 Content Per Day: 0.12 Reputation: 57 Days Won: 0 Joined: 02/25/2018 Status: Offline Share Posted January 31, 2019 3 hours ago, AnOrangeCat said: I'll just echo what's been said here. God brings conviction and changes people. So long as you're praying and setting a good example for them and keeping yourself close to God you're doing exactly what you need to be doing. agreed. basically what I said in a more... "basic" way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billiards Ball Posted January 31, 2019 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 3 Topic Count: 5 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 1,502 Content Per Day: 0.66 Reputation: 662 Days Won: 0 Joined: 02/05/2018 Status: Offline Share Posted January 31, 2019 18 hours ago, Happy Felix said: Hi all, I have a difficult question, maybe. I believe there is a heaven and a hell because in the gospels Jesus tells us so. I am the only believer in my family and in the past I almost killed our marriage trying to convert my wife. Our marriage was saved but my family was not. I try to live an exemplary life but no-one will start to believe. How do you guys deal with such a thing? As a Jewish believer in Jesus, who experienced great heartbreak, I take solace that for every 1 I lost I get 100, and that I can relish fellowship with Christian "family" in church. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haррy Felix Posted January 31, 2019 Group: Members Followers: 0 Topic Count: 14 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 38 Content Per Day: 0.02 Reputation: 17 Days Won: 0 Joined: 01/27/2019 Status: Offline Author Share Posted January 31, 2019 Interesting. I am about to read three books by Pinchas Lapide. What do you think of him? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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