This Quote Sums Up My Concerns

abcaines said:
So, not quite trying to disciple an enemy...
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You are aware that everyone starts out as an enemy of God aren't you? We are commanded to love them and point them to Christ regardless of any enmity they may have towards us.
 
There is an echo of Hillary and her basket of deplorables in the mindset that "they" are irredeemable enemies. But it shouldn't be surprising that we end up there when we focus on everything except their lost souls.
 
subllibrm said:
You are aware that everyone starts out as an enemy of God aren't you?
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That’s an interesting statement. I’ve never thought about it before, but I wouldn’t think of anyone being an “enemy” of God, other than Satan. Do you think God considers the unsaved as enemies?
 
Ekklesian said:
Stahhhp!
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I will be glad to when you see the eternal value in the black tranny who desperately needs the gospel. The merciful long suffering God, who wants to glorify Himself by eternally changing the course of that person's life, needs His children to see them as part of the mission field that is white unto harvest.
 
DrHuk&Duck said:
That’s an interesting statement. I’ve never thought about it before, but I wouldn’t think of anyone being an “enemy” of God, other than Satan. Do you think God considers the unsaved as enemies?
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James 4:4 (Phillips New Testament paraphrase)

You are like unfaithful wives, flirting with the glamour of this world, and never realising that to be the world’s lover means becoming the enemy of God! Anyone who deliberately chooses to love the world is thereby making himself God’s enemy. Do you think what the scriptures have to say about this is a mere formality? Or do you imagine that this spirit of passionate jealousy is the Spirit he has caused to live in us? No, he gives us grace potent enough to meet this and every other evil spirit, if we are humble enough to receive it. That is why he says: ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’


Romans 8:7-9 NKJV

“Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.”
 
subllibrm said:
There is an echo of Hillary and her basket of deplorables in the mindset that "they" are irredeemable enemies. But it shouldn't be surprising that we end up there when we focus on everything except their lost souls.
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No. The classic closet liberal stance is a "both sides" stance. The holy grail is abortion. Seemingly to come down on the Pro-life side, the litmus test of orthodoxy, as a mask.

Lo, and behold! Roe v Wade is no more, and what dost thou seek? A Sacralist pro-life edict...church and state separation be damned if it saves babies.

But you're just blowing smoke to look holy.

Focus on souls, if that's your burden, but another order of God's ministers bear a different burden. They bear the sword, and must do so with the enlightenment of the ground and pillar of the truth...the Church.

The fact that you can't recognize tips your hand.

One could wonder if you're really a Christian at all.
 
DrHuk&Duck said:
Do you think God considers the unsaved as enemies?
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The mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Rom. 8:7-8)

Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. (Eph. 2:12-16)​

Can't say I have a high regard for the way your church is catechizing.
 
Ransom said:
The mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Rom. 8:7-8)
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OK, but Jesus died on the cross for all. He desires all to come to the cross. That doesn’t sound like an “enemy.” Now, if someone chooses to not accept the Gospel (e.g., atheists), I can see that person being an enemy.
 
subllibrm said:
What difference does that make? You only share the gospel with people you don't consider enemies?
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I'll share the Gospel with whoever will listen. Trying to teach someone (discipleship) who wants no part of me or is out to harm me (an enemy) is at best an exercise in futility.
 
subllibrm said:
You are aware that everyone starts out as an enemy of God aren't you? We are commanded to love them and point them to Christ regardless of any enmity they may have towards us.
Click to expand...
Correct. That's sharing the Gospel.

I was an enemy of God until the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to the Gospel. After I repented, I became a disciple.
 
DrHuk&Duck said:
That’s an interesting statement. I’ve never thought about it before, but I wouldn’t think of anyone being an “enemy” of God, other than Satan. Do you think God considers the unsaved as enemies?
Click to expand...
James 4:4 (Phillips New Testament paraphrase)

You are like unfaithful wives, flirting with the glamour of this world, and never realising that to be the world’s lover means becoming the enemy of God! Anyone who deliberately chooses to love the world is thereby making himself God’s enemy. Do you think what the scriptures have to say about this is a mere formality? Or do you imagine that this spirit of passionate jealousy is the Spirit he has caused to live in us? No, he gives us grace potent enough to meet this and every other evil spirit, if we are humble enough to receive it. That is why he says: ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’

Romans 8:7-9 NKJV
​

7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
 
abcaines said:
I'll share the Gospel with whoever will listen. Trying to teach someone (discipleship) who wants no part of me or is out to harm me (an enemy) is at best an exercise in futility.
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In season or out of season. We have no idea when we are facing a futile situation. The command isn't about success for us but about giving God glory. We are blessed in the process because of our obedience. To decide that the person in front of us is irredeemable is a serious misunderstanding of the mission and way beyond our authority to make such decisions.
 
subllibrm said:
In season or out of season. We have no idea when we are facing a futile situation. The command isn't about success for us but about giving God glory. We are blessed in the process because of our obedience. To decide that the person in front of us is irredeemable is a serious misunderstanding of the mission and way beyond our authority to make such decisions.
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Sharing the Gospel is one thing. Discipleship is for those who have responded to the Gospel. In either case, you aren't going to do much with those who refuse to listen. If I reach out and I'm shut down, what am I to do but move on?
 
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