At work

:thumbsup:
You saved me more typing again, thanks. :laugh:

 

Matthew 5:10Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

What should you do? REJOICE! (Of course, make sure that the reviling is for Christ's sake and not your own faults.)

Rom 12:19Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. 20Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. 21Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

What should you not do? Anything seeking to repay his wrong. You will have to judge for yourself what reporting him would be motived by.

What should you do? Take opportunity to do him good.

What should you do? Overcome evil with good.

Rom 5:2By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 4And patience, experience; and experience, hope: 5And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us

What should you do? Glory! Tribulation leads to patience, patience to experience and experience to hope. And hope make you not ashamed.

I think that about covers it. Easier said that done however.

 

I too work with a person who doesn't beleive there is a God.

We've worked together for more than 10 years now.

We respect each other and argue our points every once in a while.

I bring my books to work: he bring his books (recently Hawkings).

I tell him about church events that excite me,
I share how I witnessed to someone (and in doing so I witness to him).
I tell him my failures and troubles.

Recently I brought the book "Belief" to work (see the book forum) and started talking to him about it.

He's heard of the author and knows the author is respected in the scientific community.

His comment astonished me, the author was "blinded by his faith".

I had to write that down, I really liked the comment... and I let him know that it made me think.

Angelo believes that everything that is true can be proved through science.

I've told him over and over again his belief in science is faith ... faith in rationalism, faith in science ...
That makes him a very religious person.

I believe in something too, something different, something that offers me hope.

My suggestion to you is listen to the gent. Honor him, let him know that you have a faith in somthing different that he does,

Tellhim about your weekend events at church, the fellowship you enjoy,
Tell him about the troubles you have and later let him in on how God helped you to figure out a solution to the troubles.

Tell him about the wonderful works of God in your life

and put up with his bashing.... you're above that anyway.

Rob

 

You may be right, we really can't know. However, how we are to act towards others shouldn't be based on that.


1Cr 13:4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,


1Cr 13:5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,


1Cr 13:6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;


1Cr 13:7 [fn] bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.




Col 3:12 So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and [fn] patience;


Col 3:13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.




Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,


Gal 5:23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

 

To the atheist who believes that "everything that is true can be proved by science..." ask, "Which scientific experiment proves that science is the only way to know things?"

To the atheist who insists that they "KNOW" there is no God (deity, higher power, first cause, force in the universe, etc.) ask, "Are you not assuming knowledge that is beyond your capacity to know, unless you yourself are god, therefore refuting your own argument that there is no god?"

To the atheist who turns to the physical universe as the explanation of all things ask, "Is it not logical that something that begins has a cause? What is the cause for the beginning of the universe?" (Science agrees with the Bible that the universe has a cause.)

To the atheist who turns to a multiple universe scenario to explain the cause of our own "fine-tuned" universe (fit perfectly to a level unsupported by mere chance for human life) ask, "How can we know about alternate universes since we are bound by space and time to our existing universe without escape? Is the concept of multiple universes not a metaphysical belief by faith akin to believing that God created the universe?"

If there is disagreement and insistence on all things being mechanistic and natural (versus super-natural) ask, "How does having multiple universes solve the problem of there being an actual infinity, which is impossible?" (What is infinity plus or minus one? There must be a finite number of things, including time and universes, which does not avoid the issue of a First Cause, but rather just pushes the First Cause back to a point where no one can access it.)

The battle ground with an atheist is first to get them to admit that their position is weak, and that they cannot sustain it without faith akin to faith in God. Indeed, their position, once reasoned logically, is untenable, which is why it has not been a majority position in the history of the earth.
Most atheists are at best agnostics of one form or another, either not caring if there is a God or not, or not caring to do the work required to know if there is a God or not. Additionally, most atheists actually do invoke God in their arguments without even knowing it. They must "borrow" from the Christian worldview to even argue most of their points. For instance, arguing that there is no God assumes, actually, that there is a God, for what are they arguing against? If there is nothing then there is no argument... As was said above, based on Romans 1, they DO know that there is a God. They just don't like the ramifications or implications of that being true.

 

You said that you have been friends in the past. I assume by that you are no longer friends, just co-workers that tolerate one another and who totally disagree with one another on the subject of God.
It sounds like you are taking this too personal. He/she is the Lord's problem not yours. All you are suppose to do is offer the proof you can that the gospel is true and leave it alone. I assume that you have done your best to give this person the information that he/she needs to get right with God. Now it is up to the Lord. Just leave him/her alone unless they ask a direct question about your faith. Continue to practice your faith pray for him/her, but leave this person alone.

 

Most athiests consider themselves scientific. I had a good friend years ago who could not quite make up his mind whether he believed in God or not. He was highly educated and very intelligent.

One day I asked him where life comes from. I pointed out that true science proves life always comes from life. Life has been scientifically observed to come from life 100% of the time. Life has been scientifically observed to come from non-life exactly 0% of the time.

Therefore, if life exists now, and it does, then life must have always existed from eternity, for if life ever ceased to exist for even one moment, it would never exist again. This is evidence for God himself who is life eternal.

I spoke to this fellow about the odds of evolution and many other matters over about a year. I loaned him a book by Henry Morris.

Anyway, to make a long story short, he accepted Christ and has been a very devout and faithful believer since. I can't take all the credit, he met a good Christian girl whom he married, she also had a big influence on him.

 

I agree with freeatlast.

At my last contract there was woman who used the proverbial truckdriver's language.

When she discerned that it made me uncomfortable she stopped and knowing that I was a Christian made her uncomfortable with me.

She became very confrontational with me and one day I snapped back at her.

My conscience kept bothering me and I went to her and told her I was sorry for how I had reacted.

Though she didn't formally apologise, things changed for the better, much better and she stopped badgering me.

HankD

 

It generally comes as a great shock to co-workers, Internet buddies, etc., that we Christians are actually real people. :smilewinkgrin:

We have feelings that can get hurt. We will defend ourselves when backed into a corner. We actually care about the things we believe -- just like they do. And, we (for the most part) don't live in ivory towers of isolation.

I intentionally seek out other avenues to share my faith and to build relationships on-line and in person. That invariably sees some form of stereotyping, these days based on "The Simpsons" and "Family Guy" type programs on television. Even this morning, I was called out on another forum for not being able to have an opinion about homosexual issues because I was a Christian and couldn't possibly understand. I replied that the poster wouldn't have a clue. He said "try me" so I did. Long story short, I am not clueless. I'll not share everything here, but I've lived through stuff that would make people puke.

As we are fond of saying, "We're not perfect, just forgiven. I am not "religious" so that isn't a sticking point (I really don't give a rat's patootie what people have to say about God or the lack thereof.). I do have a biblical salvific relationship with the Living God of the Universe through the atoning work of Jesus Christ, and am indwelt and sealed by the Holy Spirit, for which I am eternally grateful. I will try to share the difference at every turn to every person eventually as God allows. That will invariably involve challenging some worldviews, including some that are religious in nature. So be it...

 

Sometimes I can be smug with people like this because they are ridiculous. Take this with a grain of salt and use any, all or none.

I would come to work really upset about unicorns. Rant and rave that you don't believe in unicorns and that it just really gets under your skin when people believe in them. You might even get going on how people who believe in unicorns are destroying the world.

Hopefully this will get the atheist thinking that you are being a little over the top and ridiculous yourself. The point in this is to help them see what they are doing.

The Atheist claims to not believe in God yet they are upset at Him and people who believe in Him. Why do they spend so much time speaking about something they "don't believe in?" Ultimately it is because they do believe in something bigger and greater than themselves. Because of sin they lash out at God in their Atheism. Hopefully this will end up in a time to share the Gospel.

And at the end of the day; no matter what happens; don't be angry. This person is lost in their sin. They don't need anger they need pity and prayer.

 

Interestingly, what I've seen in the many atheists I've encountered is that Christians they have previously encountered generally "tell" them what they have to believe, including citing a litany of Bible verses for their edification.

Of course, this doesn't work at all and just serves to drive the wedge of hard-heartedness even deeper because the atheist is easily capable of assuming a position of superiority about their own worldview because he or she knows that the person spouting all that "stuff" at him or her cannot live it themselves.

Seldom does a Christian come to an atheist and ask them to explain their own worldview -- then listen politely as this view is shared. It is almost as if we are fearful of being convinced by the atheist if we actually listen to their hope (or lack thereof).

I've gotten much farther with atheists (I just officiated a wedding ceremony where all except 3 couples in the room were atheists!) by actually having a conversation than by "telling" them what to believe. In fact, I've developed a form of witnessing based on just the methods I am sharing. Ask big worldview questions, knowing that the answer is one of three things: God's view (biblical) some other view (science, naturalism, other religion), or "I don't know" (which can be honest or dishonest-- I really don't know, or I'm putting you off, go away). Once you hear the person share their view of those big questions (How did life begin? What is the big problem in the world? What is the answer to that big problem? What happens when we die? Etc.) you begin asking questions to clarify... "I heard you say that the universe was always in existence, yet Science says that we had a definite beginning. How do you reconcile that, and if we did have a beginning, how do you think that might have looked or worked?" Keep honing in. Ask them what is there hope for salvation. The conversation can go all over the place, but what I've seen is that it doesn't take very long for the atheist to admit that he or she really has no hope nor many true answers. If done right, you'll gain the chance for them to ask you, "What do you think." At which time you can share -- very generically, no Bible spouting -- what you hold to be true in generalities. If you keep this up, you will find an interested conversational partner and eventually you will be able to share the gospel fully. This actually works, but we must trust the God who draws instead of our sales ability!