Dealing with unbelievers in the Forum

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Hello peoples

I feel the need to discuss the Way some Believers are responding to new Seekers posting questions on the forum..

First things first..

We believers should be willing to turn the cheek a few times to give the Seeker a chance to moderate their attitude. Yes some Seekers seem to be arrogant and trolling.. But even those type should be given a few replies just to make sure because a lot of people who are unbelievers have been brought up to believe that belief in God is foolishness and they have not been raised to be polite either.. Some believe that being denigrating and mocking to people who don't believe what they believe is a sign of strength.. When dealing with a seeker like this you got to be willing to duck and weave and let them shots just fly past in the hope that you can deliver a seed to them that will cause them to think and reconsider.. Sometimes it takes a while to pacify an proud atheist

I got to say this and it's not pleasant.. There are some believers on this forum who should never respond to seekers because they start out swing verbal backhanders, they seem to see every unbeliever posting in this forum as an enemy... Please guys take a step back and assess yourself.. You may be well suited to engaging in passionate debates with other Christians or other religious people of other religions. But that does not mean you have the gift of gently dealing with unbelievers.. So if you come to the conclusion that you're not really gifted in handling seekers who have some attitude problems well maybe you should concentrate on discussing those hot theological discussions with other people who can handle a bit of verbal jousting in the BDF ring..

 

[FriendlyTalk]

If you swing verbal backhanders, as you said, one is walking - or answering in the flesh.
We are not to do this, but we are supposed to walk after the Spirit, and answer by the Spirit, - in the fruits thereof.

Galatians 5:22-23 King James Version (KJV)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

And - every believer should remember that he/she also was once walking darkness, with a darkened understanding,
without hope, and God in this world.

Ephesians 5:8-14 King James Version (KJV)
8 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:
9 (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;
10 Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.



Bring light to the ones that seek truth, and not darkness.
Be humble.

 

[JosephsDreams]

Pray for them.

 

[Lynx]

Mostly it's a matter of "Here we go again." We have seen the story, we know how it ends, let's get to the point without all the dancing around that argumentative atheists often do. Entertaining them does not profit anything because they are here to amuse themselves with arguing and make people angry.

Where we err is in calling "TROLL!" too soon. Sometimes we see signs that look like troll telltale signs, but are really indicative of other things. It happens a lot, mostly because the human tendency is to take shortcuts whenever feasible.

 

[Homewardbound]

Knowing how to reply to seekers can be interesting at times. Yes, seekers may have a few "rough edges", and realizing they do (or can) is of real value. But at the same time, seekers need to know that there is a conduct and attitude that is pleasing to the Lord.
Give seekers a chance to post, answer their questions, but steer them in the right direction.

 

[tourist]

Hello peoples

I feel the need to discuss the Way some Believers are responding to new Seekers posting questions on the forum..

First things first..

We believers should be willing to turn the cheek a few times to give the Seeker a chance to moderate their attitude. Yes some Seekers seem to be arrogant and trolling.. But even those type should be given a few replies just to make sure because a lot of people who are unbelievers have been brought up to believe that belief in God is foolishness and they have not been raised to be polite either.. Some believe that being denigrating and mocking to people who don't believe what they believe is a sign of strength.. When dealing with a seeker like this you got to be willing to duck and weave and let them shots just fly past in the hope that you can deliver a seed to them that will cause them to think and reconsider.. Sometimes it takes a while to pacify an proud atheist

I got to say this and it's not pleasant.. There are some believers on this forum who should never respond to seekers because they start out swing verbal backhanders, they seem to see every unbeliever posting in this forum as an enemy... Please guys take a step back and assess yourself.. You may be well suited to engaging in passionate debates with other Christians or other religious people of other religions. But that does not mean you have the gift of gently dealing with unbelievers.. So if you come to the conclusion that you're not really gifted in handling seekers who have some attitude problems well maybe you should concentrate on discussing those hot theological discussions with other people who can handle a bit of verbal jousting in the BDF ring..

In my opinion this is the best post that you have written since you have been a member. Outstanding in its content and the point was concise and on target. Well written and articulated. Must read.

 

[Deade]

Knowing how to reply to seekers can be interesting at times. Yes, seekers may have a few "rough edges", and realizing they do (or can) is of real value. But at the same time, seekers need to know that there is a conduct and attitude that is pleasing to the Lord.
Give seekers a chance to post, answer their questions, but steer them in the right direction.

Yes, a lot of Ego is displayed on this forum. Some think you can take God's word and browbeat somebody with it to change them. All that will accomplish is to put them on the defensive. We sometimes think we know exactly what God is doing with us. When we get like that, He usually must find someone else do the job He intended. If we quit trying to steer the Holy Spirit, we could possibly become useful. One sows, one waters, and another reaps, like it says.

 

[oldethennew]

our Heavenly Father is continuingly turning the soil, and sometimes the soil has to be purged & sifted,
so, every corrupt root and stone is lifted from the ground...

 

[ArtsieSteph]

I agree. We definitely need to let those who are trying to find Christ see by our actions and love that His love is the real deal. Literally His grace and mercy in us is the only way we could deal with trolling and prodding without blowing up.

That being said there are some discussions I won’t go into when I can tell the person posting is only trying to argue or get a rise. Just depends on the situation I guess.

A lot of time acting oblivious to their attempted badgering and being as polite as possible helps diffuse things. At least I hope so.

 

[Kim82]

I personally would not argue with an atheist or unbeliever.

Some of these people well know the truth. They just choose to ignore it.

 

[Kim82]

If you continue arguing with them, it won't be long before you start getting frustrated and losing your cool.

So its best to just say a few words, and if they won't listen, just let it be.

All you can do is pray for such individuals that God will open their blinded eyes. But arguing with them is pointless.

 

[JaumeJ]

When The Sower was told by His servants that the enemy had sewn tares among the wheat, He instructed them to leave them alone until the Harvest when the gatherers will gather both, separate them and burn the tares...……...the wheat goes to the barn.

 

[Bingo]

"Expressing ones purest love can only come from ones own heart, and so in confronting those
that believe not of Jesus Christ, we can only share our own love. To share how and why our
lives have improved is essential in any hope of bringing lost ones into any kind of relationship
with God. To bombard lost souls with words they have no feelings or knowledge of, most likely
always turns them away. They need to witness God's love in action, by our own actions!
Actions speak louder than words is a sound statement to seriously ponder. God doesn't call
the qualified, He qualifies the called."
'Praise God'

 

[Lanolin]

Its like me when playing tennis. The other person hits the ball to you, expecting you to lob the ball back. I would just catch the ball and say game over lets go have a cup of tea. They dont like that, they would rather keep hitting balls back and forth till you are exhausted.

Tennis is boring!