I
believe in hell fire. I believe there is a choice...Him or not. I believe the
path is narrow and few find it. I wouldn't say I live and let live. I tend to
"tell it like it is" in certain circumstances. However, I don't get in
people's faces and scream at them about how they're whores and going to hell.
I tell them what I believe Scripture says and why they may be struggling the
way they are. I guess maybe I do take advantage of situations and emotions at
times. I know that doesn't sound good the way it's written. For instance...one
person comes to mind as an example right away.
Cheryl was an atheist and I took her case. She was
leery at first when she first contacted me because she knew I was a
"Christian". She let me know she thought Christians were hypocrites who
basically sucked and she was an atheist. She made it clear she didn't want to
hear any "God stuff" because she thought He sucked, too. I worked with her for
a few months and watched her life go downhill. Things escalated and she wound
up getting into more trouble. I knew she was going to get a jail sentence, but
I did help her beat one rap. When her trial and stuff was going on, I asked
her if maybe she needed to think about there being "someone else" who could
fill her gaps in her life. Did she think there may be another way? She asked
me if I was going to "give me that Christian crap". I said I wasn't a
preacher, but if she wanted to listen, I could tell her a few things. She gave
me three minutes. Hehehe....I don't remember what I said to her. She did get
sentenced and went to jail. No one wrote her. She would write me letters and I
would answer her...with big envelopes. I'd send her stuff from the groups,
updates, print off portions of a book she had wanted to read. The first couple
of letters, I got a little "preachy"....she couldn't talk back to me or tell
me to shut up! Her letters were pretty sad....she would rather be dead and
jail was awful. I guess you could say I "played" on her emotional state and
told her about God. There was noone who could pull her out of the dump she was
in, except for God. I gave her my own experience of being in jail (Yes,
TTer's, been there, done that.) I knew what she was going through. I knew what
got me through and what would get her through. I just had to wait for HER to
see it. The next few letters, I began sending her CHICK tracts and other
things I could find. Of course, I sent her the Messianic articles, too. I'm
not an evangelizer, so I get help from things I find form others who have more
talents in that area. Simply put, I improvise.
Here's a quote from her letter to me dated
8-11-04:
107 days to go,
out of 219. I'm learning alot about religion-what it means to live
"God-like"--why it's good. So, I'm becoming educated about this. I really
didn't know anything. I admit that there's a lot to be said for living in such
a manner. It can't be bad, if done correctly and NON-JUDGMENTALLY. My sister
just got religion big-time over the last year and she got baptized a few
months ago. Now she's not worth talking to! Righteousness out the
ying-yang...she wants me to look in the mirror and take a look into my heart,
blah, blah, blah--with regard to fighting CPS and she couldn't spell tyranny!
Sorry-she's smart but not educated like you and me.
At
that point, Cheryl saw her sister "getting religion" and dumping her off.
Yelling and screaming at her, doing what she would perceive as judging her
would not work with her. She was hurt that her sister had dumped her and
didn't understand her. She blamed God for doing that to her sister. I had
shown Cheryl an example...when she called me in the middle of the night, I
talked to her. I didn't make her feel like crap or disown her. Her letter in
late-October informed me...."I HAVE FOUND GOD!!!!!!! I REALLY HAVE!!!!!!" Then
she gave me the details of her new-found love. Her whole demeanor was
different. Cheryl now had hope. Her letters were now very different. She was
excited, alive, a new person. Cheryl was even released a few days early...in
November. She credited that to God. I've gotten a few emails from her, and
she continues to be very vibrant.
So,
do I live and let live? Maybe in a sense. I let people know I don't agree with
their lifestyle and what I know God says about it. But I'm not the one making
the decision of where they spend eternity. Do I get pushy? No. It didn't work
with me, in fact it caused me to NOT accept Messiah for a longer period of
time. I treat others the way I wanted to be treated, using what worked with
me, with my own "style" tailored into it. I can't change people. People change
themselves by allowing God to do the work in them.
Kay
DAVEH: Hmmmmmmm.........You
don't sound like a typical Christian who believes in hell-fire and damnation
stuff, Kay. Does that mean you live and let live without getting
pushy about trying to change people?
