* If your body was ill would you treat it? Yes!

* If your family was hungry would you feed them? Yes!

* If your church was on fire would you fight it? Yes!

* If your country was under assault would you defend it? Evidently Not.

The wishy-washy Christian says we need to suppress our own moral convictions in order to befriend the lost, so then we can convince and convert them to lead a life of... moral conviction.  This is twisted logic and not the example Christ gave us.

Did Christ suppress his goodness, rather, did he suppress himself in order to attract the lost?  No!  When some suggest we Christians, whose life mission is to become like Christ, should suppress our moral convictions, they are really telling us to suppress Christ within us.

I've never understood the notion that when it comes to politics & government--the process of governing ourselves, how many Christians disengage from the process.  What is appauling, is that we have a treasure in wisdom in our scriptures, handed down from God himself as to how to live our lives here on earth.  The Christian who withholds that wisdom from the public process of self-governance does his fellow man a grave disservice.  (Grave is not a pun).

There is a mental deficiancy when one considers a moral conviction wrapped in a policial issue an excuse to withhold our God-defined conviction, as though not offending those who are moraly vacant is the mechanism by which we win them over.  That is not the formula and example Christ gave us.

He turned the rich man away.  He told the woman to "go sin no more".  Yes he ate with sinners, but he didn't withhold himself from them.  Why then do we withhold Christ withhin us from the public square?

Hot or cold people.

I guess my "philosophy" is different than most believers. My vision for CN is not where everything is royal purple and gold plated and everybody sings with the Gaithers, then we take up an offering and tell you how blessed you will be for it. I WANT the lost, hurting and especially the deceived here. Not so we can beat them up and kick them out, and forever lose them to the world.  It’s dangerous to assume that if we wont work with them, somebody else will be there to pickup the slack.

Ezekiel 22:30
I looked for a man amongst them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.

It's my prayer the lost become spiritually trapped like 'fly paper' so we persistently sow seeds of truth to them. Yes, that means we will be exposed to crap, but our faith is stronger than that isn't it?  I would expect that the truth and love we sow via the Spirit in return is superior, boxes them in, and brings conviction without us infusing our judgment in it.  It’s hypocritical for Christians to say "we want to save the lost", without willing to put up with the baggage the lost carry.  Jesus didn’t ask the sinners he ate with to clean themselves before hand.

I've never seen so many "of the fringe" flock to a Christian website like this disproportionately. I don’t view that as coincidence but on purpose. The deceived are like drug addicts, some get miraculously healed while others need time to detox. The deceived have layers and years of corruption of the mind. I'm not saying CN is an open forum for them to spew their untruths (their baggage), but I am saying that if and when that happens those untruths are met with a vigorous correction while the person is met with love. I'll rail all day against Islam-ISM, Mormon-ISM, and Ath-ISM, etc., but I wont rail against an Islam, Mormon, or Atheist, and that’s the big difference.

I'm confident this approach works, because those that have been written off still find me offline to keep an open channel of communication. Why? Not because I embrace their beliefs, on the contrary, but because I haven't condemned them to hell and I treat them with respect and dignity. As long as their is communication, then there is opportunity to minister and sow seeds.  How do we minister to those we write off? We can’t. Many that I respect on this site don’t necessarily agree with this approach. But I am here to share why I believe this approach is THE Biblical approach.

It's easy to only focus on the examples of Christ when he overturned tables, when he brushed off the rich dude and told him to go sell his possessions, when he rebuked the Pharisees, etc., and use them to justify our approach with each other. But we do so ignoring the bigger example Christ set when he spent 3 years patiently and diligently teaching and working with the disciples.  Yet despite his frustrations, as amongst them were doubters, betrayers and deniers... yet he persisted. Since Christ called us to make disciples of men, we should be inclined to follow the example of Christ in how he did just that. Even Judas was permitted to remain amongst them and even assume the title of Apostle. There is so much more to be said about Judas, but note that we are quicker to cut off those whose grievances pale in comparison. Likewise, we put up with and extend all the patience, latitude and prayers towards our own family members who are lost and deceived, yet when it comes to “strangers” (as though we aren't all brothers and sisters) we are quick to condemn and cast them away? It's hipocrytical and makes absolutely no sense to me.

Which example of Christ did Peter follow when he cut off the soldier’s ear? How did Christ respond to that? He put it back on.

Christ reserved the prerogative to cut to the heart of the matter and be short with some because (1) his time was limited and (2) he had the unique ability to see through the deepest depths of the heart. We have decades to minister and it’s by design, I’m grateful, that we don’t see the depths of each other’s heart, because we aren’t the one’s to heal and mend it, only Christ can. We have specific instructions, spelled out in scripture, as to how to deal with those who persist in wrongs that we recognize on the exterior.  (I'm not saying we don't have discernment, but that's another topic).

It may take a lifetime of sowing seeds, and decisions may ultimately be made on death beds, but our job is to disciple and to sow seeds.  A a lifetime of doing that is a small sacrifice in light of the eternal consequences facing those lest we would rather spend our time cutting off ears.

I see the Apostle Paul following in Christ's footsteps of providing methodical instruction, as most of his writings, thus most of the NT are letters he wrote addressing churches correcting their FALSE doctrines. Our NT is a book of apologia, and the lessons we learn from it have been drawn out of apologia. In most cases Paul didn’t take the approach "you are NOT saved until you correct XYZ", but rather "now that you are saved, correct XYZ". Paul's approach was firm yet with encouragement. We need to be the same way towards each other.