Replies

... I dislike disparaging others faith or their walk with Christ. But you would do well to not insult those you have been charge with persuading. To do that goes against the charge we have to be good examples. Jesus spoke of foolishness but I don't recall him ever calling someone a 'fool' to their face. That is not good Christian witness no mater what provocation you have been given. I am sure you recall the passage about removing the plank from your eye so you can see clearly enough to remove the speck from your brother's eye. I have a feeling it applies here. You should take a good hard look at what approaches get people to listen to what you have to say and what approaches lead them to mock you and turn farther from Christ.

When Jesus implored his disciples to sell their cloak and buy a sword if they did not have one, what was the cloak representative of? After all, he wasn't suggesting that they actually buy a sword according to you, so he couldn't be suggesting that they actually sell a cloak, could he?

Sorry, you are mistaken. He was telling his disciples that physical danger abounded and we need to take responsibility for our own physical safety. He did not condemn Peter for owning a sword in the garden, he just admonished him for using a physical weapon in a spiritual battle.

And in quoting scipture, let me remind you of another statement of our Lord Jesus the Christ:

Matthew 5:22

But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.

You specifically said to orionblamblam:

You are a fool. Still there is hope.

Maybe you could explain why you put yourself in danger of the fire of hell.

> You are a fool.

Wow. You've convinced me. The staggering weight of your rhetorical genius is unassailable.

> Still there is hope.

Indeed so. It's called "reason." Reason says that since there are unreasonable people in the world, prepare for them. And since the evidence shows that the Word Of God doesn't stop a bullet, and a Bible will probably only stop a small one, you find something that does. And while a kevlar vest might stop a bullet, a gun in the right hands can stop that bullet from being fired int he first place.