by Cowboy Bob Sorensen
Edited 3-09-2019
As Christians, we have to stand up for the faith against Satan's schemes and false arguments against God's Word (Jude 1:3). We have a great deal to do in accurately presenting the truth to unbelievers, pulling down fortresses raised up against the knowledge of God (2 Cor. 10:3-5), refuting old earth and evolutionary falsehoods, and more. We don't need to be commencing cat fights with each other.
This has gone back practically to the beginning, where believers seemed to want to be better than others (1 Cor. 1:12-23, Luke 9:46). The Bible has a passel of things to say about pride, old son. I think that pride is one reason folks are swapping lead in the internet style, shooting at people who do not do things or believe the way other people think they should. Don't be disunderstanding me. When people are publicly teaching false doctrine, they need to be called out. What bothers me is when these hissy fits are over minor points where pride is at the root of it all. I've seen witch hunts against teachers, and it is quite distressing to say the least.
On a personal level, believers are instructed to not only put aside pride and other works of the fleshly nature that unbelievers practice (Gal. 5:19-21), but we are to walk in the Spirit (Eph. 5:18, Gal. 5:22-23). We are also to instruct and rebuke other believers (2 Tim. 4:2, Titus 1:9), taking care to do it in love and using care with older believers (1 Tim. 5:1-2). Paul rebuked Peter (Gal. 2:11-14), so nobody is too established in the faith to receive instruction.
However, not only must we give rebukes and instruction, we must also receive them. I reckon that when such things are not done with the love of Christ and the truth of the Word, the one doing the rebuking may not be walking in the Spirit.
I had occasion to challenge someone on Fazebook who is burning with hate toward atheists. He or she set up a Page to strike back, but there is no sign of love of the lost or urging them to repent. Just revenge. This bothered me, so I posted a comment to rebuke them:
It can be difficult in the heat of the moment to accept chastening or caution from another believer, I'll allow. Even so, a Spirit-led believer should be willing to consider the words of a Christian trying to pull on the reigns and slow the gallop. Outsiders are watching our conduct, often laughing about it.
Unbelievers should know that we are Christians by our love (John 13:35, Rom. 12:10, Phil. 1:9, Heb. 13:1, 1 Peter 1:22, 1 John 3:10). This includes humbling ourselves by receiving and prayerfully considering instruction and rebuke (Prov. 27:6), especially in our apologetics methods and attitudes. We don't need to be giving enemies of God's Word reason to rejoice, you savvy?
EDIT: I forgot to add something. Some people seem to think that love is a manifestation of sappy emotions, which has nothing to do with biblical teachings. Here is a post with links to some sermons by Dr. John MacArthur on the subject. Also, it should not have to be said, but people progress in different rates in their sanctification. That means we're not as skilled in some areas as we are in others. This adds to the importance of being willing to listen to others who are more mature in the faith, as well as getting into the Word.
Edited 3-09-2019
As Christians, we have to stand up for the faith against Satan's schemes and false arguments against God's Word (Jude 1:3). We have a great deal to do in accurately presenting the truth to unbelievers, pulling down fortresses raised up against the knowledge of God (2 Cor. 10:3-5), refuting old earth and evolutionary falsehoods, and more. We don't need to be commencing cat fights with each other.
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| Credit: Pixabay/maturika |
On a personal level, believers are instructed to not only put aside pride and other works of the fleshly nature that unbelievers practice (Gal. 5:19-21), but we are to walk in the Spirit (Eph. 5:18, Gal. 5:22-23). We are also to instruct and rebuke other believers (2 Tim. 4:2, Titus 1:9), taking care to do it in love and using care with older believers (1 Tim. 5:1-2). Paul rebuked Peter (Gal. 2:11-14), so nobody is too established in the faith to receive instruction.
However, not only must we give rebukes and instruction, we must also receive them. I reckon that when such things are not done with the love of Christ and the truth of the Word, the one doing the rebuking may not be walking in the Spirit.
I had occasion to challenge someone on Fazebook who is burning with hate toward atheists. He or she set up a Page to strike back, but there is no sign of love of the lost or urging them to repent. Just revenge. This bothered me, so I posted a comment to rebuke them:
After several days, I received a reply:Just...no. Sorry, but I'm having trouble keeping the players straight in this game. YES, we can respond to mindless attacks of atheopaths. YES, we can use them as bad examples. But NO, we cannot act just like they are (this only applies to Christians, however). Christians have to be above their level, and glorify God with not only our apologetics and proper use of reason, but our attitudes.It is tormenting to these insignificant cheerleaders of atheopathy when they are ignored. Their father down below pulls their strings and they dance, and the dance step is often to waste our time. If this Page is run by a Christian, I urge you to repent and get into your Bible.
Do me a favor and focus more on attacking militant atheists instead of engaging in self righteous rants against fundamentalist Christians like myself.
Whiny, pompous, and overly judgemental "Christians" like yourself have splintered Christianity into numerous factions that weaken it and give strength to the enemy.
Remember who the actual enemy is and who the greatest deceiver of all truly is.
In these times we need warriors for Christ and not mealy-mouthed pushovers.Notice the pride and judgmental attitude. It smells of self-importance, and is loaded with fallacies that I will not take the time to examine. But what's this about "warriors"? Since they did not use any Scripture, I doubt that this was in reference to 2 Cor. 10:4-5 or Eph. 6:10-20. I wrote another response along the lines of, "Yeah, who needs Jesus", then deleted it a few minutes later. The next response was extremely carnal:
Go run your own page. Your poor interpretation of scripture isn't wanted here. I'll worry about my own salvation you pompous pr**k (followed by a laughing with tears in the eyes emoji).I didn't see any sign of humility or respect for someone who has been in the faith for many years. Also, the personal attack with profanity makes me wonder some things. First, is this person actually a Christian? Second, do they pray for their enemies, or are they just content to slap them down and keep the cycle going? Third (and worse), is this an atheist pretending to be a Christian? They do that, you know. A few other Christians joined in. EDIT: That Page seems to have been removed. I posted my screenshot here.
It can be difficult in the heat of the moment to accept chastening or caution from another believer, I'll allow. Even so, a Spirit-led believer should be willing to consider the words of a Christian trying to pull on the reigns and slow the gallop. Outsiders are watching our conduct, often laughing about it.
Unbelievers should know that we are Christians by our love (John 13:35, Rom. 12:10, Phil. 1:9, Heb. 13:1, 1 Peter 1:22, 1 John 3:10). This includes humbling ourselves by receiving and prayerfully considering instruction and rebuke (Prov. 27:6), especially in our apologetics methods and attitudes. We don't need to be giving enemies of God's Word reason to rejoice, you savvy?
EDIT: I forgot to add something. Some people seem to think that love is a manifestation of sappy emotions, which has nothing to do with biblical teachings. Here is a post with links to some sermons by Dr. John MacArthur on the subject. Also, it should not have to be said, but people progress in different rates in their sanctification. That means we're not as skilled in some areas as we are in others. This adds to the importance of being willing to listen to others who are more mature in the faith, as well as getting into the Word.