Posts Tagged ‘converting’

Cross pic by freefotouk…

I saw a snippet of a sermon by Creflo Dollar this morning that got me thinking about faith, and my own path over the years. Now mind you, I only caught a snippet, and I don’t know the total context of Dollar’s sermon. This is not an essay against Creflo Dollar at all, a man of great faith and belief, but just a musing on the statement I heard this morning.

So, just what was this statement that I heard?

“Get away from those who are framing your thinking.”

I say to this, hogwash! Pirates never retreat, we never blame others for our problems, and we all aspire to be super pirates. Superheroes of the faith!

Opposition is our greatest ally. Without solid opposition, there usually is no growth. Let’s be serious here, we all need to grow in the spirit.

A Bit of Clarity

Let’s look at Micheal Phelps, an almost certified superhero of swimming. What would have happened if he was told to stay in the wading pool if he had problems in the deep end of the pool as a child? We would be one less great swimmer in the world.

It feels great to be around other Christians, people of the same belief. As a matter of fact, it is very powerful. But, in this world, to be the best we can be, we need some opposition to grow. Not just us, but the faith as a whole. How can we show the world the beauty of faith if we avoid those without belief?

Jesus was comfortable breaking bread with the non-believers. I would bet the conversations that took place were not all about faith. Jesus would have been kicked to the curb pretty quick otherwise. I am sure he tempered his “teaching” with great conversations and laughs, showing as well as teaching, thus winning them over.

When questioned by the faithful why he was spending time with the unsaved masses instead of the believers, he basically asked what was the point of saving the saved? You have to reach out.

What Does This Mean?

I have a great respect for those that were born into the church, and never left. But, at least in my own life, I find my faith was only strengthened by falling away from faith and having to scrap my way back to belief.

I was raised Catholic. The thing was, through all the catechism classes, and questioning my family, no one could ever tell me the why of belief. Nobody ever connected the love of Christ beyond, “because you have to,” or “because we say so.”

I have always been overly inquisitive. All I saw was the hypocrisy. My family never seemed to get joy out of church, or if they did, they never shared. I saw people go to church, then gossip and badmouth other members of the congregation. What I saw drove me away for the first time.

Over the years, especially my time in the military, I was searching for something, but  I never knew what. It was a horrible time mixed with minor blessings. I became somewhat of a monster, as I tend to when I have no direction. I know what it is like to have evil in me, and it is not good.

Then I was brought into Christianity again in Denver, CO. I was shown the Heritage Christian Center, led by then Pastor, now Bishop, Dennis Leonard. I was brought to the church by a fellow Airman in the Air Force. I so wish I had been ready at that time, but I was not. Just like an alcoholic, you can only accept change, even to faith, when you are ready.

Those months were a mix if great happiness, mixed with great horrors. I only wish now that I had been ready as Heritage Christian Center was a very blessed place. The problem was, that since I was not ready, I went for the wrong reasons, and the fall was much harder.

I went full force for New Age and Paganism. I will  talk about this more in a future post. Let me just say, now, in retrospect, I would not change a thing.

In falling away, twice, I needed a damn good reason to come back to the faith. When the calling came, I was stripped naked of all pretense. This time it was real. I was filled with the love if Christ. I feel like a stronger Christian now. Not stronger than other Christians, but stronger in my belief and convictions.

Huh? Ramble Much?

So, back to the original point. Opposition strengthens. If you have people in your life that challenge your faith, or create temptations, use this to your advantage. If you give into the temptation, turn to prayer to make you stronger next time. If your belief gives you the ammo to resist temptation, you are on your way to being a superhero in faith!

(look here at yesterday’s post about how to argue with non-believers and tempters)

Another thing then happens. Those that are trying to tempt you start to see your inner strength brought on by love of Christ. They see the peace that Jesus brings. They start to shift, and maybe will be more open to letting the lord into their lives as well.

How beautiful a thing is that?

If I have learned one thing on my path, it is that you can’t touch another person’s soul by promises and talk. You can only reach others through showing them the power, peace, and love of the Lord as it shines through us. We can only show this by interacting and dealing with the outside secular world and the evils and temptations contained there.

We are soldiers. Here,at this site, we are more specifically pirates. The booty we are out to collect is new souls for the Lord. So forget the easy and comfortable. Let’s get out there and plunder!

Argh!

Eban