Kaffis Mark V wrote:
And now, in this thread, Bery trolls his own thread.
Beryllin, I'm not going to join Taskiss in his accusations that you're an agent of Satan quoting scripture when it serves him, but I think the mere fact that somebody could walk away from your posts with that notion might cause you to consider how effective your proselytizing is here.
I've always been bemused that you seem more intent and dedicated to telling the choir they're damned than actually trying to expose people who don't even *think* they know Christ to Him and His love. At least, that's the way your efforts on this board come off. I'm sure you think you have good reasons for what you do, but look at how many self-professed Christians on this board react to your aggressive assaults and insistence that your understanding of Christ is magically more thorough than theirs, your personal relationship with Him more true than theirs.
You really seem to have adopted, in some supreme state of hubris, this notion that you're some modern day Apostle with all the answers, and that if you force yourself into some kind of position of mentorship with everybody you meet, God will use you in their lives. It doesn't work that way.
Perhaps you should think about who on this board a fellow Christian having a crisis of faith might be more inclined to feel comfortable seeking strength, support, and guidance from -- you, who is at the center of all kinds of contention even between (or, more accurately, with) the Christians here, or somebody with the quiet conviction and attitude of setting an example of living a Christ-like life of, say, Screeling, or FarSky?
Food for thought, to be sure. I'm not sure whether you'll believe it, but I am quite aware that I am capable of mistakes. For one, I get too zealous, sometimes. I know that and try to temper it. I usually succeed, but not always.
But one thing you will never find me doing is dismissing Scripture just because it makes me uncomfortable. You won't find me watering down the wholeness of God because in this age, it's not politically correct. I don't pick and choose; I accept it all and do the best I can to understand it all: the why's and the but's and the if's. And yes, I get over-zealous when people who claim Christ dismiss this or that for no better reason than they're not comfortable with it.
1) Are we saved by grace, through faith, as a free gift? Yes.
2) Did Christ teach that we are to repent of sin? Yes.
3) Did He teach that some people were going to say to Him, "Lord, Lord", but still find themselves rejected when He says to them "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who work iniquity."? Yes.
If you teach 1), but not 2) and 3), you are not telling the whole story of God and deceiving (by omission) the listener. Yes, I get zealous about that, as well as other such things.
Yes, I am capable of mistakes, I know that only too well. But I try my best and I am not ashamed of the whole story of God. Hold that against me if you must.