When are we gonna start acting like Christians

[Gerioke]

Romans 12

17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.

19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord."

[mizzdy]

That is a good story. I did not mean to focus on the homeless alone, but it is a good story. You are blessed for your compassion. It's just that maybe a lot of Christians should focus more on showing people how to be Christians as opposed to just telling them the Word. When I read my Bible, and I read about Jesus, not only did He speak the word of God, He walked in the foot steps of God. Maybe as Christians we could better minister if we not only spoke what we said, but walked in the Word as well. Brothers and Sisters in Christ, am I wrong for these feelings?

No your not wrong for seeing how if we are talking the bible we should be walking the bible which is basically what you just said. If we are sharing the truth with others at least some of the truth needs to be visably evident to others. Some of us are much better at it than others with our varying strengths and weaknesses.

[nebula]

I have surfed the forums here and read numerous posts. I have read everything from gay marriage rights, to posts on Obama and much more.

But my question to everyone is, What does it mean to be Christian?

Do we have the authority to judge? Are we mad at another Race?

We have spent so much time as Christians trying to look for the negative in people to make ourselves feel righteous. . . .

Steven -

I believe you have a good message here, but there is something to be said for attracting flies with honey rather than vinegar.

Message Boards are about sharing our thoughts, feelings and opinions. Yes, things get ugly at times - but learning to deal with such helps us to grow.

It is good to encourage one another to walk the walk, though.

[Guest shiloh357]

QUOTE (StevenFowler @ Nov 18 2008, 09:27 AM)

I have surfed the forums here and read numerous posts. I have read everything from gay marriage rights, to posts on Obama and much more.

But my question to everyone is, What does it mean to be Christian?

Do we have the authority to judge?

We have the authority to judge that which God has judged.

Are we mad at another Race?

This is just ridiculous. Nowhere on this board has anyone made the recent election about race. That, is being "Judgmental" on your part. If someone opposed Obama, then you assume it is racially based. I am proud to say that on Worthy Boards EVERY expression of opposition to Obama stayed clear of racial slurs and bigotry. We NEVER made it about his skin color, and I for one am offended at being judged by you in such a manner.

We have spent so much time as Christians trying to look for the negative in people to make ourselves feel righteous. . . .

Which is a value you are assigning to the rest of us. You do not know us and do not know our hearts and have no right to assign motives to us. That is exactly what the NT teaches against, and that is how you preface your post.

[StevenFowler]

QUOTE (StevenFowler @ Nov 18 2008, 09:27 AM)

I have surfed the forums here and read numerous posts. I have read everything from gay marriage rights, to posts on Obama and much more.

But my question to everyone is, What does it mean to be Christian?

Do we have the authority to judge?

We have the authority to judge that which God has judged.

Are we mad at another Race?

This is just ridiculous. Nowhere on this board has anyone made the recent election about race. That, is being "Judgmental" on your part. If someone opposed Obama, then you assume it is racially based. I am proud to say that on Worthy Boards EVERY expression of opposition to Obama stayed clear of racial slurs and bigotry. We NEVER made it about his skin color, and I for one am offended at being judged by you in such a manner.

We have spent so much time as Christians trying to look for the negative in people to make ourselves feel righteous. . . .

Which is a value you are assigning to the rest of us. You do not know us and do not know our hearts and have no right to assign motives to us. That is exactly what the NT teaches against, and that is how you preface your post.

I mean no offense to anyone here, I don't mean to word anything to imply another person on this forum has not acted like or is not a Christian. I wish to spread the word....but also don't wish to be a stumbling block amongst others. Maybe what I am trying to get at is......We call ourselves Christians. We tell the message of God's love for humanity. How He sacrificed His only Son so that we could be saved from eternal suffering. We tell people how much Jesus loves us and that we should love everyone as He does, but do we?

[Guest man]

I mean no offense to anyone here, I don't mean to word anything to imply another person on this forum has not acted like or is not a Christian. I wish to spread the word....but also don't wish to be a stumbling block amongst others. Maybe what I am trying to get at is......We call ourselves Christians. We tell the message of God's love for humanity. How He sacrificed His only Son so that we could be saved from eternal suffering. We tell people how much Jesus loves us and that we should love everyone as He does, but do we?

That depends on ones level of faith and what they consider important to them.

[kross]

I sometimes think that we, as a whole, think that each person is going to have all of the gifts of the SPIRIT. Or, we think that everyone else will be motivated to the same work that we are. As a result, some see others as not doing what we should because they are not doing the same things.

The truth is, as a body of believers, a congregation will have people with individual gifts that make up the whole body. Some will be evangelists, some teachers, some will have the gift of mercy or encouragement. As individuals, none of us are the complete package. Together, we are the body of CHRIST.

I am currently attend what I would call a disfunctional church. There are many here that have a desire and the gifting to do geat works, but they are in a church that doesn't empower them. So some do individual works outside of the church and some sit frustrated by the leadership of the church, unable to excercise their gift in the congregation.

I am one of those who has works outside of this church. But, I would gladly help if I was alowed. Right now, I am new and on the outside looking in.

[Pilgrim7]

Steven,

Christians act like Christians. A good tree produces good fruit, and bad tree bad fruit. You will know them by their fruit. This is the word of God.

It would seem to me that though this person was 'homeless', he was not a bum, because he worked and spread the gospel. He had access to many people because of his work.

If we were to view Jesus and His apostles, they were homeless, but not bums, yet that is how they were viewed by many of the Church leaders of their time. They travled from place to place serving and sharing the Gospel. Jesus had no place to lay His head.

Mat 8:19 And a certain scribe came, and said to him, Master, I will follow you where ever you go.

8:20 And Jesus said to him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has no where to lay his head.

It would seem to me that this man did not need ministering to so much, as for others to join him in spreading the word. He was trusting His Father and doing His will as best he knew it.

Jesus didn't spread the Gospel from a church building, with air conditioning and entertainment, but from the streets, where the sinners were. Sounds like a good plan, one that worked well for Jesus and His Apostolic Church.

God bless and keep,

Dennis

[StevenFowler]

I didn't mean for this topic to be strictly about the homeless. I am sorry if it derailed from where I was going with this. My point...

Christ taught us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves, why can't we. I hear people say they do all the time, but do they truly? Some do have different ways of ministering, and have different gifts to spread the Gospel, but what is that Gospel? That only through Christ we have salvation. Well...if we want people to have that salvation....we want people to believe in Him.....why don't we start acting like it. If every Christian in the world showed the kind of love to one another that Jesus showed to us.... never mind. People will be the way they are...it's prophecy. Well i have thoroughly enjoyed posting on this site, but I am not going to be posting here anymore...or anywhere else. I have said what I felt needed to be said. Maybe I should do like a lot of the congregation and just keep my head down and mouth shut. I just know that there is something more we can all do....why don't we do it? God Bless everyone in this forum...may Christ be with you always.

Love in Christ,

Steven