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Originally posted by ProfessorChaos
In my short time here on ATS, I have seen a large amount of religious flame-wars between non-Christians and Christians.
Originally posted by ProfessorChaos
3) If a post offends you, STOP READING IT! Replying to voice your disgust with someone else's point of view of your faith will only make you look backward and ignorant. Move on to a topic that you can take part in in a mature informed manner, after all, this site is NOT a Christian site; there are a great many different belief systems being employed by the posters here and though you may be offended by it, it is their right to post their opinions regardless of your sensibilities.
Originally posted by ProfessorChaos
In my short time here on ATS, I have seen a large amount of religious flame-wars between non-Christians and Christians. With that in mind, I would like to offer a few thoughts regarding how Christians reply to flagrantly anti-Christian posts.
1) Stop threatening non-believers with fire and brimstone. In most cases, they've heard it all before. You telling them that God will smite them will most likely NOT result in "Oh, wow! I had no idea that was what he would do if I didn't follow him. I'll just run off and worship him now! Thank you Christian!" If they do not believe in God, or follow Christ, threats of of his wrath are hardly going to sway them.
and
What I am trying to say is this: We should know from the bible that true Christians are and always will be the extreme minority in this world, get used to it; otherwise, you'll actually be hurting the cause of Christ rather than helping it. Share your faith with those that want you to, don't force it on those that do not. If someone is going to be in the Book of Life, they'll get there in their own time.
Originally posted by jiggerj
But, as soon as I receive a reply with the word 'You' in it, I automatically know that the debate has gone from sharing each others thoughts on a subject to name-calling and childish insults - as if that would win a debate.
Sad really, because I do find it fascinating how humans can buy into the bizarre and the impossible.
Originally posted by BlueMule
Originally posted by jiggerj
But, as soon as I receive a reply with the word 'You' in it, I automatically know that the debate has gone from sharing each others thoughts on a subject to name-calling and childish insults - as if that would win a debate.
Sad really, because I do find it fascinating how humans can buy into the bizarre and the impossible.
Correction... into the things that YOU personally consider to be bizarre and impossible. It's a matter of opinion.
Oops.
1) Stop threatening non-believers with fire and brimstone. In most cases, they've heard it all before. You telling them that God will smite them will most likely NOT result in "Oh, wow! I had no idea that was what he would do if I didn't follow him. I'll just run off and worship him now! Thank you Christian!" If they do not believe in God, or follow Christ, threats of of his wrath are hardly going to sway them.
2) Scripture verses will NOT prove your point to a non-believer. If the Bible is nothing more than fairy tales to the poster, what is the point of tossing verses at them? It's like if you and I were arguing about the possibility of the existence of giants and I roll out Jack and the Beanstalk as my proof of their existence; It would look pretty foolish, wouldn't it?
3) If a post offends you, STOP READING IT! Replying to voice your disgust with someone else's point of view of your faith will only make you look backward and ignorant. Move on to a topic that you can take part in in a mature informed manner, after all, this site is NOT a Christian site; there are a great many different belief systems being employed by the posters here and though you may be offended by it, it is their right to post their opinions regardless of your sensibilities.
"The ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas...that the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market, and that truth is the only ground upon which their wishes safely can be carried out. That at any rate is the theory of our Constitution. It is an experiment, as all life is an experiment. Every year if not every day we have to wager our salvation upon some prophecy based upon imperfect knowledge. While that experiment is part of our system I think that we should be eternally vigilant against attempts to check the expression of opinions that we loathe and believe to be fraught with death, unless they so imminently threaten immediate interference with the lawful and pressing purposes of the law that an immediate check is required to save the country.”
4) There is a lot of hate and disdain out there for the Christian church, some of it is well founded. Why do I say that as a Christian? Simple. WE ENCOURAGE IT WITH OUR BEHAVIOR! If you want to change someone's view of your faith (which in my opinion is a fools errand anyhow), Display proper Christian behavior in your posts. Only by exhibiting the love of Christ can we expect others to even begin to entertain the thought of wanting to know Him.
5) Stop feeding the Trolls. This one is easy to understand (or it should be). There are plenty of folks out there that want nothing more than to confound Christians with their posts; stop falling into the trap and move along.
6) Not everyone is going to follow Christ, so stop insisting that they recognize Him. As believers, we are told in scripture that there is going to be only a select few that make it into Heaven, so why on earth would you feel shocked that there are so many non-believers?
7) Expect persecution; be it warranted or unwarranted. Christ told us that as believers we would fall prey to intense persecution because of Him. Don't get all butt-hurt when it happens, when you gained faith in Christ, you should have been aware that it would happen, so stop whining about it.