Ok Hi guys,

I don't know who this "chick" guy is (originally when i read chick tracts I assummed u ment tracts aimed towards girls!lol) but it sounds like he's using a tactic that worked for one culture and is using it for all cultures. The emerging generation is a totally new culture, they are more diserning and won't change their opinions based on the argument of one individual. Mostly to successfully convert someone who is part of this generation it takes work and dedication.

I use tracts every saturday, I reccommend Ray Comforts resources, they are bright, attention grabbing, funny and relevent!

The truth is a sinner needs to know about hell, because it's a real place, but trying to scare 'em isn't going to cut it. Showing them that without God thats where u end up is the main thing. I believe it's important to show the truth of the Gospel and Jesus so once they understand this truth, Hell becomes a reality and worth thinking about!

So when I present a tract I often speak first on he authenticity of the Bible, once the person understands this I can then speak about salvation (which includes the reality of hell). I must then be prepared to follow up whatI said, answer questions, take that person for a drink or a bite to eat. Meet up with them later that week etc.

So my answer : Chick tracts? by the sounds of this thread don't use 'em try Ray comfort instead! PPL gotta know about hell but u have to earn the right to tell them about it, thats just the way this generation is. If u don't recognise this ur not being an effective witness. Fortunatly u can earn the right to talk about hell within a single conversation. But it takes work + follow up work!! and shouting HELL at 'em won't work anymore, sorry it just won't

I think what the guy was trying to get at about "that question" what Do u like the part of the bible that talks about hell? If not then ur picking and choosing what to believe. If u believe the bible as it sounds like u do then u gotta believe in hell. I think u do believe in hell u just don't like telling others about it, or maybe like me don't believe in shouting it at them without the right to first, would that be accurate?

Also The origination of Halloween is not Satanic or even Pagan. It was the Celtic new year and had no spiritual attatchment (Celt's only had 2 seasons and there new year started when harvest was over) They would remember the dead on that day (Like we all do i'm sure, on new years). Unfortunatly some fool thinks that Celt's believed that the dead spirits would rise on this day(They also believed that Pict's had handle bar moustaches and sabre styles swords, which shows u how little they knew of celtic Scotland at that time) and would have a festival and do many pagan styled things (sounds like any new years to me) . Total fabrication unfortunatly most christians won't do enough research to understand this. U would understand this as false when u understand that the Pagan celts and Picts had a differant belief system than what we understand, they mostly believed in a single god, but that interpritation of god differed from clan to clan. So we can see that celts wouldnt get together to worship a "god of the dead" as they all believed in their own interpritation of god. I dont' support halloween now though, too much demonic activity attached there now.

Hope this helps

Ian

the way i see it is pretty simple, people put money into what they love the most. If your a big football (oops sorry soccer) fan then you'l spend thousands easily a year of strips, season tickets and other things, if you love music you'll blow all your money on concerts, CD.s related merchandice and stuff like that, if you love God you look for every oppurtunity to give to Him and his Church.

Ian

I dunno so much as u guys,
Maybe ur all older or something but I look at the sweater and as a young man I don't see anything sexually alluring about it, especially if your friend is wearing a bra underneath it. The tube top I suppose is a little more questionable, it looks pretty thin and see through and doesn't leave much to the imagination.

This one thing I do know, culture is changing and opinions of appropriate dress is changing. I know loads of girls wearing clothes like that and I don't have uncontrolable urges to commit sinful acts nor do any of my male friends.
I suppose it depends largly on the culture of your area, if it's not normal to wear those types of clothing then I can see the problem, men in that area who aren't used to seeing such clothing would i guess be a little more prone to look (and thats what this is all about really isn't it? does this outfit cause ur fellow brother to fall?) just the same as if you were to pluck a lady from the sunny shores of brazil and have her strolling down the streets of Scotland here, I'm sure she'd get more than a look or two (not from me).

I don't agree that the lady with the all in one flowery dress is the only right way to dress, personally if I saw any teen girl with that on I'd give her some money out of compassion for the poor lass. She'd never persuade any of her friends that becoming a Christian is a good idea thats for sure.

Here's a question:

If an unchurched girl walked into your church wearing what you would consider inappropriate dress whatever that may be, what would you do? ask her to leave? let her dress that way for a couple of weeks then challenge her when you know her better? or something else?

Ian

I could share similar experiances of financial strife effecting my tithing.
At my church tithing is recommended as a good biblicial practice, although as a church member it is up to you to choose what you do with your money and it has nothing to do with your salvation, but it does have alot to do with how effectivly God can bless you in this life. Deuteronomy 28:1-14 goes into detial of how God can bless you if you honour his word concerning the tithe.

I believe this is yet another area we can see man putting his dirty hand on a good and Holy thing making it harder for God to get his blessing out to his children. Yes give unto God with a cheerfull heart knowing that what you give wll be given back to you, bountifully. It won't save your soul but it will help advance the Kingdom, and that I believe is reason enough.

Ian

Let's say that you spent 6 hours a day working out and trying to look like one of those muscle-men, and you spent 6 minutes per day studying your Bible. Your priorities would be out

Amen to that, However if you trained your body for 6 hours a day and studied your bible for 7 hours a day  this would be fine (although I would ask where you get so much free time from)

It's not so much do less exersice to match your study time but rather do more studying to make your Spirit-man as muscley as your body.

Ian

Hi there,

I'm a Christian from Scotland and I go to an independent (non-denominational) church that believes in the power of the Holy Spirit.

My concern is not so much with what you are doing but why you are doing it. You want to slay people in the spirit without the aid of someone else?


First of all to be "slain" is a personal response of the person being prayed for not the person who is doing the praying. Falling down is often a by-product of being touched by the presence of God to such an extent that your physical body just gives out and you shift into a deeply Spiritual communion with God where he can effectively minister to your spirit.


Although we have no scriptural references for the term "slain in the Spirit" we can see it happen on a number of occasions especially in the new Testament where the power of God's Holy Spirit is most at work. Rev1:17 and also Acts 9:4 are examples that come to mind where someone is physically effected by the presence of God.
It is also worth noting that we have no scriptural references for the "Rapture" (or at least the word rapture is not used in the bible) but we accept it and the word we use for it as we can find the "action" in scripture.


After such an encounter the person will have experienced the power of God either by healing, the impartation of spiritual gifts, visions or some other life changing altercation that must happen whenever someone comes in contact with God's Spirit. Unfortunately this is where we find the most problems, too many people do "fall for show" or feel pressure from the evangelist or a visiting speaker. I myself have felt a mans hand forcing down on my temple, but I resist I don’t do sucker falls. The result is often not good, no vision, no healing nothing but "I simply enjoyed the presence of God" which I believe as a false experience.


Falling under the influence of God's Holy Spirit is a real thing but it certainly does not happen as often as you see on "Christian T.V."


People who criticise such a powerful display have often never encountered it (or at least a genuine experience) and also do not believe in God's power to heal, they use this as an example of their disbelief as they often have little leg to stand on as far as supporting the belief that God no longer heals in the manner that he did in the days of the bible.

I believe its a mix of things we see here: the genuine experience which happens rarely but when it does it changes lives, people however sincere falling as an act in the hope it will deepen their experience with God (which doesn't happen), peer pressure after watching other show droppers, the speakers expectations and even pressure (which i believe is dangerous) and also peoples unbelief due to lack of genuine experience, watching false occurrences and/or lack of faith in Gods Transformational power all leads to a very unfortunate position. The power of God is diluted and lost in a sea of human "religious acts" (a religion is Mans attempt to get to God ) and hindered by critical human thinking.


What we are seeing is the Religious-isation of the Charismatic movement, what started as God's power manifesting has now been turned into a ritual like rehearsing certain prayers not from the heart which is where the power of that prayer originated but because that's what your meant to do.

Don't look at someone falling as the desired end result of your praying for them, it's never by your power but by God's if you seek such a thing you are under a religious spirit and need prayer yourself

God Bless hope this helps

Ian