2 timothy 2:24-26 24 And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, 25 in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, 26 and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.
ya know folks, this is a free site.. and in my opinion its the best ive ever been on.. and its not our GOD given right to be here.... no what we should all remember is that it is a privalege for us all to be here.. that they open the doors to anyone.. from unsaved folks, to all different kinds of denominations and even non denominations.. and from all walks of life..
all gathered here under one roof..
we come to the forums to fellowship and discuss our beliefs to each other.. and we give lessons on why we believe as we do.. and that my friends is all good.. but if we all were to start just insulting and belittling and making fun of other denominations here..and various groups of people.. we all could do it..we all can find something we dont agree with in other denominations and even non denominations and the unsaved too..to ridicule ,insult and belittle.. ya know..
but then it no longer is a discussion, but yet is just a smashing and bashing of others and their beliefs.. that does no one any good whatsoever.. it only drives those who dont agree with you and your beliefs further and further away from what you believe... and any parts of you.. if you try to teach in this way..
folks all of us can be good teachers.. if we treat others with respect and dignity when we are tryin to teach them what we believe to be the truth.. you got to present a learning environment for folks.. not a hostile environment.. folks dont tend to learn much then,,, and a learning envirionment wont ever come with insults and insensitive remarks and disrespect ..
what does the bible say about us treating our neighbors as ourselves? it says to love them and do unto them as ourseleves..
do we love it when people call us names? do we love it when folks make fun of or ridicule our beliefs? do we love it when folks make fun of us or belittle us ? or when folks talk condescending to us? do we really?
i sure dont believe we do.. so why would we in turn turn around and treat our neighbors that way when we dont like to be treated that way either?
now we can try to justify it any way we wanna.. but folks any way you slice it ,it just aint right.. and it is my belief that if we do so then we are goin against what i believe the word tells us to do unto our neighbor and also on how i believe the bible tells to go about teaching others as well..
Thanks Ole for those words, they should be posted in the first page on this and all christian sites... and not christian sites too.
It is just about Christ told us, but which it is so hard for us to take it to practice.
It is hard because there is a tendency, in these moderns times, to constantly show our "value" to others, for them to respect us... But the real value is in the eternal Love of God, not in what we expect others see in us. It is so hard to find that equilibrium between give ourselves "our place" in front of others, including defending our faith, and keep ourselves as humbles as Christ is.
It is written that we will be head among people on Earth, but that does not mean been proud. Non extreme is good, we should be trying learning where the equilibrium is in our behavior... that is soooooo hard...
I have always been a lioness to face life, motherhood, my classroom when teaching, my believes, to defend a friend, etc. That is the way I have been known for many... because I am passionate... But, in the bottom of myself, where no one see, I prefer retire when discussions start, real and usefulness discussions ... my tendency is ... get soft... for the sake of not arguing or impose myself... and I retire... sometimes I have let other people step on me , wrong... I know, but I could find a way to the balance between the lioness and the humble christian.
You know? this site has helped me a in some way to find that equilibrium... Thanks to all of you... the warriors and the sweet sisters...
thanks for that reminder ole friend! guess we're all prone to speak or act before thinking and praying at times...we'd do well to consider the One who gave us life and look to Him before taking action on our own as I tend to do way too often. amen!
Hey cattleman, I wish I'd of viewed this before posting in another thread the other day. Thank you. I particularly like what you wrote... " folks all of us can be good teachers.. if we treat others with respect and dignity when we are tryin to teach them what we believe to be the truth.. you got to present a learning environment for folks.. "
Much of the times, when we, members in this community are honest in sharing about our own lives and God's impact in our lives, is sometimes all the teaching we need for some to reinforce, build up faith that God's word is truth. Our testimony is powerful and effective in administering the truth of God's word, otherwise "teaching". ~ GraceMae
