From: George Murphy (gmurphy@raex.com)
Date: Mon Jun 30 2003 - 12:46:35 EDT
Dr. Blake Nelson wrote:
>
> I'm sorry, but I beg to differ immensely with the
> sentiment apparently conveyed in the first paragraph.
> I don't have the time to do adequate justice to what I
> am trying to convey, but to say that living a life of
> poverty and defeat is not going to attract anyone to
> Jesus implies a lot that you don't perhaps intend.
> For example, it implies that the thing that attracts
> one to being christian is success in some popular
> sense (wealth, health, fame, etc.). Perhaps, what
> attracts someone to christianity is joy and love even
> in suffering, peace in turmoil, etc. Heck, it doesn't
> take faith in anything to be superficially happy with
> prosperity.
>
> Off the top of my head, a couple verses of Phillipians
> come to mind:
>
> But whatever things were gain to me, those things I
> have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
> 8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in
> view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus
> my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all
> things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain
> Christ,
> 9 and may be found in Him, not having a
> righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that
> which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness
> which comes from God on the basis of faith,
> 10 that I may know Him and the power of His
> resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings,
> being conformed to His death;
> 11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection
> from the dead.
> 12 Not that I have already obtained it or have
> already become perfect, but I press on so that I may
> lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by
> Christ Jesus.
Yes! & what ultimately attracts people to Christ is the cross (Jn.12:32), which
is hardly a good symbol of "prosperity."
Shalom,
George
> Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!
>
> 5 Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The
> Lord is near.
> 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by
> prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your
> requests be made known to God.
> 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all
> comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds
> in Christ Jesus.
>
> -----
>
> Perhaps, these outworkings of the spirit and this kind
> of attitude in poverty and "defeat" are just what
> makes someone wonder what is different about someone
> who is christian?
>
> --- Debbie Mann <deborahjmann@insightbb.com> wrote:
> > That was NEVER my claim. I'll try again:
> >
> > Our lives attract, repel or escape notice.
> > When Christians have the kind of life that other
> > people want, such as Sondra
> > apparently has, wealth not withstanding, then
> > non-Christians investigate.
> > Living a life of poverty and defeat is not going to
> > attract anyone to Jesus.
> > Living a life of abundance will. Abundance is
> > relative and can mean a lot of
> > different things. Abundance of joy is probably the
> > greatest attraction.
>
> (SNIP)
>
> __________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month!
> http://sbc.yahoo.com
-- George L. Murphy gmurphy@raex.com http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Mon Jun 30 2003 - 12:45:41 EDT