GiovannaNicoletta wrote: “Is there no one left on the earth who claims the name of Christ that feels immense sorrow about the fallen state of man and who is burdened to tell as many people as possible that there is a way of escape from God’s judgment? Is there anybody?”
I witness when I can, but the topic doesn’t come up nearly as often as I wish. People nowadays definitely don’t discuss religion as much as when I was young, and it’s often considered impolite to broach the topic.
To tell the truth, I’m not led to simply blurt out, “Jesus saves!” to everyone I meet. Yet, I remember one time when I was taking a flight and this guy climbed on board and started handing out tracts while exclaiming his love for Christ. Perhaps he planted some seeds that day, or not. Either way, we should never be afraid to speak of our faith when given the opportunity. May the Lord grant me more opportunities to witness!
“I witness when I can, but the topic doesn’t come up nearly as often as I wish. People nowadays definitely don’t discuss religion as much as when I was young, and it’s often considered impolite to broach the topic.”
True but its amazing what kind of depraved things can be discussed without problem.
The old image of shoving religion down someones throat turns many people away. I’ve found the simple works best. A well placed comment, a personal statement of what you believe. Telling people what they should believe doesn’t work. Telling people what you believe and why does work. Then simply ask if they are interested. Having a simple tract to hand them helps as a follow up.
There is absolutely no possible manner in which the way of the world, which loves sin and rejects Christ, can be reconciled to the way of God, which is narrow and provides only one way out of eternal damnation. To see men who have answered the call of God to be ministers attempt to please the world by ignoring the central, unyielding truth of the Gospel; that is, without Christ one cannot know God or spend eternity with Him, is frightening and immensely dismaying.
I suppose it's just one more sign of the times we live in.
May the Lord grant me more opportunities to witness!
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Listen for a while. Ask “Are you a spiritual person?” “What is your spirituality?” If you sit back and listen you’ll be shocked at how much people talk . . . if you don’t start talking to them in the first few minutes as they lay out what they believe.
“I witness when I can, but the topic doesn’t come up nearly as often as I wish. “
Here on FR, when I’m in a discussion with atheists and agnostics who assert that belief in God is predicated only on blind faith, I contradict that assertion.
They say, “There’s no proof of the existence of God.” And I reply, “Certainly there is.”
Now, you’d think they’d be all over that like ducks on a junebug, but you know what? Every single time I’ve done it, it has been completely ignored.
And if afterward I have pointed out that they ignored it, they ignore that.
Go figure.
But they do discuss religion... I remind them all the time...
Just two examples:
People ask me what I am doing for Halloween and I tell them I do not practice Satanism.
People ask me about astrology and I tell them it is a silly superstition from the old Chaldean pagan religion.
Usually those who tell you it is not polite to discuss politics or religion are the ones who bring those topics up.
I let them have it with both barrels...
The origins of drama come from the esoteric ideals directly related to religion. Religious ritual is psychodrama designed to conjure up images in the mind of the viewers and/or participants. This is illustrated no better than by the Greek traditions of using masks in their plays.
The actor can hide himself behind the illusion of a character’s mask, the audience can focus not on the actor, but on the image of the character represented - - one form of idolatry, among others in pagan Greek polytheism.
The Greeks were idolaters and were pagans. The images in their drama were a representation of something. What did Oedipus represent?
To the pagan Egyptians, the pharaohs were gods. Gods had their own special privileges of divinity. The pagan Egyptians had their own pantheon of gods like the pagan Greeks, several of which the Greeks adopted. (Set and Typhon are convenient examples.)
The pagan Egyptians were also idolaters like the Greeks; their temples, architecture and art are replete with sacred idols. They both practiced human sacrifice. (These practices extended to the pagan Romans as well.) Is Oedipus representative of the pharaoh Akhnaton?
One of Sigmund Freud’s earlier followers, Karl Abraham, contributed an essay to the first volume of Imago, published by Freud in 1912, entitled Amenhotep IV (Akhnaton). This was of interest in that the essay talks about how Akhnaton did not entomb his mother Tiy next to her husband after her death and that Akhnaton’s rivalry with his father for possession of his mother extended beyond death.
Dr. Immanuel Velikovsky has many critics, but his assertions are most profound in his book Oedipus and Akhnaton. There appears to be a particular level of viciousness directed toward Velikovsky from many Egyptologists. Like Akhnaton, Velikovsky is reviled for tearing down some idolatries of previously accepted thinking. Examinations of reaction concerning his other books (Peoples of the Sea and Ages in Chaos) are ample evidence of this in such historical and literary circles of research. I attribute much of this to the ancient conflict between the pagan and the Judaic that still rages (even from within Judaism itself, see the Steven Plaut article: The Rise Of Tikkun Olam Paganism) although the pagan civilizations of Greece and Egypt are long since dead. This conflict was represented by Othello, Death of a Salesman, and many other places in art, literature and science. Here with Oedipus, it is also represented in the modern arguments over historical chronology, pagan idolatry of the Greeks and Egyptians, along with modern idolatries commonly found in both domestic and international politics.
The Sun and Bacchus are Apollo and Dionysus, two gods, or two aspects of religious experience from the ancient Greeks, and their juxtaposition is of some importance - - a statement of belief in the duality of human nature, symbolized by Apollo as the light of reason, and Dionysus as the underground power of emotion (see Camille Paglia's Sexual Personae).
Egyptians worshipped Harpocrates, the god of silence; for which reason he is always pictured holding a finger on his mouth. Athenians had a statue of brass, which they bowed to; a figure made without a tongue, to declare secrecy thereby. The Romans had a goddess of silence called Angerona, which was pictured like Harpocrates, holding her finger on her mouth, in token of secrecy.
There is an occult nature to certain politics and this progression of culture (ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome and the modern iconographic idolatry of Marxist paganism) can easily be illustrated, but is most often ignored or rejected for reasons of political expediency, like the aforementioned pagan idolatries of secrecy and silence. The use of such religion is essential for many aspects of political power over the ignorant, unwashed masses. It is no surprise that Akhnaton's monotheistic approach was completely and abruptly destroyed by the successive generation, restoring the pantheistic idolatries of previous pharaohs. This phenomenon is not historically isolated and is played out in a myriad of instances today.
Plato’s Euthyphro and Apology are great illustrations. Socrates advances the argument to Euthyphro that, piety to the gods, who all want conflicting devotions and/or actions from humans, is impossible. (Socrates exposed the pagan esoteric sophistry.)
Morality and all of its associated ideals are are rooted entirely in the belief some higher power defines what is correct for human behavior. Today, "morals" are a religious pagan philosophy of esoteric hobgoblins. Transfiguration is a pantheon of fantasies as the medium of infinitization. Others get derision for having an unwavering Judaic belief in Yahweh or Yeshua, although their critics and enemies will evangelize insertion of phantasmagoric fetishisms into secular law.
Plato’s Apology is a drama that portrays the current Left wing frustration with talk radio in America. The people of Athens (the Left) are demanding that Socrates (Rush) be silent. Socrates refuses and the elite of Athens demand the execution of Socrates. The modern Left wants a figurative execution of Rush Limbaugh and others like him (although ‘figurative’ would quickly become tangible, if the Left ever had the unchecked power they desire, just as it was with Socrates). In terms of this ‘figurative execution’, the cancellation of the Michael Savage and Dr. Laura Schlessinger television shows are perfect examples!
Try an experiment:
The next time you are confronted by a neo-pagan, New Age animal rights eco-fascist who claims humans were not "designed" or "meant" to eat animal flesh, ask them about the origin of their creationist philosophy. Inherent in such a claim is the idea that there is a "designer" or some divinity of "meaning" in human existence. Would they apply this to abortion, embryonic stem cells, or homosexuality? No?