Preach, use words if you have to
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Should we share the Lord? Should we learn apologetics to do so?
I live with an evangelical step son who is a pious Pete. Daily bible studies with the help. Always having preachers visiting. Posts bible verses from his cult on the bulletin board.
And if I live here long enough, I'm going to be a F****ing athiest.
I am fairly smart, and can outargue most people...but when I do so, I am obnoxious and superior, so rarely touch the heart.
My stepson preaches, but he is sweety nicey, but his sweetness is actually "passive aggressive", like the Church lady on Saturday night Live.
So I say, furgedabotit.
You don't know how to present the Lord to people unless you know them and actually love them...(not the "fake" love of "I'm a good Christian and will be neighborly to you because I want to convert you to the truth, you stupid deluded catholic--or if you are catholic, you stupid deluded fundamentalist)...
People are hurting, and often they turn from the church because of this hurt...often the hurt was done by church people (I myself have been hurt by "christians" whom I trusted, but that is another story).
And their hearts may not be ready to be invited to the Lord...
When you plant a garden, first you prepare the soil, you add the fertilizer, you plant, you mulch, and you weed...and maybe, if the Lord sends the right rain and keeps the cutworms down, you will get a crop...
But we are NOT responsible for the crop. We are only to do our best, and "the battle is the Lord's".
Presenting the Lord in the wrong way at the wrong time will actually harm people...often it will increase their pain.
On my medical blog, I wrote about doing physicals...that the time we spend with people and the rituals help us to get to know people, so that when they develop problems like cancer or heart problems, the doc is a friend.
As a doctor, often I listen, but don't find the pain until many visits are finished. So the lady with Diabetes and a slipped disk finally admits her pain: A son in prison. the husband of another Diabetic is called in by his wife, because they lost their son, and he is unable to sleep...and a druggie going thru a divorce wants the Lord, so you refer him to the drug counseler, and advise him of the local churches that have AA...
In all these things, as we get to know people, we can nudge them to find healing in the Lord...and usually they already know him...but the pain kept them away...or they were ashamed of past deeds (Do you know how many women hurt because they had abortions that they felt they had no choice in this? ).
But preach? Naaah. Pray with my patients? Nope. not my style. But once in awhile I promise to pray for them...
Should we share the Lord? Should we learn apologetics to do so?
I live with an evangelical step son who is a pious Pete. Daily bible studies with the help. Always having preachers visiting. Posts bible verses from his cult on the bulletin board.
And if I live here long enough, I'm going to be a F****ing athiest.
I am fairly smart, and can outargue most people...but when I do so, I am obnoxious and superior, so rarely touch the heart.
My stepson preaches, but he is sweety nicey, but his sweetness is actually "passive aggressive", like the Church lady on Saturday night Live.
So I say, furgedabotit.
You don't know how to present the Lord to people unless you know them and actually love them...(not the "fake" love of "I'm a good Christian and will be neighborly to you because I want to convert you to the truth, you stupid deluded catholic--or if you are catholic, you stupid deluded fundamentalist)...
People are hurting, and often they turn from the church because of this hurt...often the hurt was done by church people (I myself have been hurt by "christians" whom I trusted, but that is another story).
And their hearts may not be ready to be invited to the Lord...
When you plant a garden, first you prepare the soil, you add the fertilizer, you plant, you mulch, and you weed...and maybe, if the Lord sends the right rain and keeps the cutworms down, you will get a crop...
But we are NOT responsible for the crop. We are only to do our best, and "the battle is the Lord's".
Presenting the Lord in the wrong way at the wrong time will actually harm people...often it will increase their pain.
On my medical blog, I wrote about doing physicals...that the time we spend with people and the rituals help us to get to know people, so that when they develop problems like cancer or heart problems, the doc is a friend.
As a doctor, often I listen, but don't find the pain until many visits are finished. So the lady with Diabetes and a slipped disk finally admits her pain: A son in prison. the husband of another Diabetic is called in by his wife, because they lost their son, and he is unable to sleep...and a druggie going thru a divorce wants the Lord, so you refer him to the drug counseler, and advise him of the local churches that have AA...
In all these things, as we get to know people, we can nudge them to find healing in the Lord...and usually they already know him...but the pain kept them away...or they were ashamed of past deeds (Do you know how many women hurt because they had abortions that they felt they had no choice in this? ).
But preach? Naaah. Pray with my patients? Nope. not my style. But once in awhile I promise to pray for them...
posted by Nancy Reyes at
2:22 PM
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