Justices Turn Aside Ten Commandments Case

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Santa:

Suppose you are correct, the fact is you still were not able to change his heart and so you failed him and you failed God. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I or anyone else are never able to change a heart toward God; that is the work of the Holy Spirit. The believer is called to faithfully preach the gospel of Christ; conversion is the work of God. And conversion is never a mark of success or failure; faithfulness is. (Ezek 2:3-8).

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Our obligation as Chrsitians is not just to present God's message but to present it in a manner keeping with his compassion, understanding and unconditional love. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

True! Though it must be stressed that His compassion and love is centered in Christ who died for sinners.


<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>
Telling a life long Muslim he is going to hell if he doesn't convert is not a Godly method of teaching God's faith because it lacks the understanding that this Muslim has lived their entire life in that faith and are not likely to change it on a whim simply because [ad hominem] tells them they must.

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No one is advocating running up to someone and yelling in their face "You're going to hell!" Yet Muslims have a very well-defined (yet incorrect) understanding of heaven and hell. They also do not understand God atoning for man's sins. These must be clearly articulated to them. Again, you betray a lack of understanding of what real conversion entails. It is not just the Muslim who does not convert "on a whim simply because they are told they must", but rather everyone. Conversion is the work of God through regeneration by the Holy Spirit; the gospel is the means by which He ahs chosen to do it. Whomever the Spirit moves will respond; man left on his own will not.
BTW, Jesus was not opposed to preaching hell as a warning to the lost and dying (Matt 5:22;29-30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15; 33; Mark 9:43-47; Luke 12:5).

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> If a weirdo in the airport wearing rainbow colored robes told you must convert to his cult or you will go to hell, would you do it? And yet you expect non-Christians to do just that when you throw the Bible and Jesus at them. It simply isn't realistic and I find it highly unlikely this is what God intends of us.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

What God intends is his people to be faithful witnesses to Him, and to preach Christ and Him Crucified to the farthest parts of the world. God requires faithfulness, and He will provide the fruit of the harvest.

Being as this thread began as the Ten Commandments, it is probably best to move it over to Baptist Theology.