Well, gee, thanks for that. If you look back at the whole thread you will see that I was repeatedly asked to clarify my opinion. So I have repeatedly. Harsh posters don’t affect me so I don’t mind being here. I find it instructive.
Stephen did get a little heated in his comments, but don’t forget they were getting ready to kill him! The situation was a bit extreme, don’t you think?
Scattershot ridicule and disrespect done anonymously doesn’t seem to me like something the early martyrs would do... to anyone. I’m comfortable with admonishing that.
If you think I’m wrong after the many passages I posted from Scripture detailing how Christians are supposed to treat others, including sinners and non-believers, I guess that’s okay. It’s too bad, but it’s okay.
Perhaps a poll of FR ex-Mormons about what kind of evangelization worked with them might be instructive. Maybe you, with your response to harsh techniques, are in the minority. Would it matter if the majority of ex-Mormons said a respectful discussion worked better with them? If I were committed to a certain technique of evangelizing, I’d make sure it was actually effective. Otherwise, I’d be wasting my time or actually pushing souls away from Christ. That would be awful!
I certainly would not want to face my Maker having influenced even one soul away from salvation. What was it Christ said about people who do that? Oh, yes, it would be “better for them if they’d never been born.” That’s why I like to be very cautious about how I approach other souls.
You've been repeatedly asked to IDENTIFY the poster YOU think are being harsh and judgemental; but have FAILED to do it?
Why?
You seem to have scrambled your verses and come up with something non-Scriptural.
Mark 14:21
The Son of Man indeed goeth, as it is written of him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had never been born.
Matthew 18:5-6
But whoso shall offend one of thes little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged around his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
Perhaps a poll of FR ex-Mormons about what kind of evangelization worked with them might be instructive. Maybe you, with your response to harsh techniques, are in the minority. Would it matter if the majority of ex-Mormons said a respectful discussion worked better with them? If I were committed to a certain technique of evangelizing, I’d make sure it was actually effective. Otherwise, I’d be wasting my time or actually pushing souls away from Christ. That would be awful!
I certainly would not want to face my Maker having influenced even one soul away from salvation.
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SZonian responed to your post about the techniques on here. I have witnessed to LDS and mentored ex-LDS for almost 17 years (and was LDS for several years myself). If you can say the same, you can “instruct” me on how to witness to them. Until you have walked a mile in my shoes...
Many of them came out due to what you would consider “harsh” techniques.
And different evangelization techniques work with different people. Recently someone did an study on evangelism techniques to the LDS, and came up with 7 different methods. All were deemed to be effective. The one you choose depends on several factors, but do not rule out any one (including ridicule).
I don’t convert, God converts, and I seek His guidance in what method to use with an individual. I have NO power to convert someone nor to push them away from the Gospel, only God has the power to convert. If my method is incorrect, then I will trust God to bring someone else into their life who has the method that God can use to reach them. And I have seen this literally hundereds of times in the last 18 years (including my conversion out of Mormonism). It is not about us, it is about HIM.
You said: “I certainly would not want to face my Maker having influenced even one soul away from salvation. “ Well, I would like even less to have to face God having NOT told someone the truth (especially about Mormonism), and to have just adopted and “I’m ok, your Ok, attitude (which many even here on FR have) and have them go to Hell. That would be worse. Also, we will not be judge on our ACTIONS, but the motivations of those actions. And my motive is truth, love, and the Glory of God.
FYI, I am not in the “ridicule” camp for the most part and am more temperate than some others here. I am even more temperate witnessing in person, and please remember things come across in forums and chat differently than in person.
I certainly would not want to face my Maker having influenced even one soul away from salvation. What was it Christ said about people who do that? Oh, yes, it would be “better for them if they’d never been born.”
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Bible scripture on that, please kid...
Where do you find this stuff ???