Please help...

[pam4him]

  Hi everyone,
     I am a member of a board where people post because they need support-it is a kidney disease support group. I am afflicted with this and I want to help others-especially those who are new to these problems.
    There is a poster who puts down the Christian faith and every word I say about the Bible, Jesus and what I believe in. I have tried to be gentle and kind to him although what he says does upset me a lot because these things about my faith are very precious to me. How do you respond to someone like this?
    He began by asking me what I thought about the movie, "The Passion of The Christ" and "how do we know that is what Jesus said in the Garden of Gesthemane,Jesus couldn't have been beaten that bad because it would have killed Him", etc. I sent him a respectful and (I thought) intelligent post back about how the Bible was written by men inspired by the Holy Spirit, etc. Today he has sent me another post totally tearing my Christian faith apart!
    I know that the Holy Spirit has to touch someone's heart and that they have to see their own sin to repent and believe. I know that some people's eyes will never be opened to the Truth, but how do I respectfully reply to this man? He is 80 yrs old and I have always been taught to respect older people.
    His latest post has me very upset...despite all his disrespect, I feel sorry for him. How can I reply to all his so-called "intellectual" answers for everything in the Bible and the Christian faith? I have tried to respond to him as faithfully as I can but I am not yet as Biblically literate as I would like to be.
    Could someone help me with this?
     Thank you and Jesus be with you all,
     Pam

[cris]

Hi Pam,

I'll try to help you.

I can't read your posts from the other board you're referring to, nor can I read the responses from this other 80 year old person you speak of.

IGNORE HIM Don't communicate any further with someone like this.

You, precious person, have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ that no one else has a right to question you on.  Again, ignore this person and quit feeling sorry for him.  Move on!

cris

[chicklittle]

I understand your compassion for him, I have been in several simular situations.  I do have a little advice and encouragement for you.

1.  Remember that you are BLESSED and your reward in heaven is great when people persecute you for the sake of Christ.  
2.  God's ways are so high above man's ways that we cannot comprehend them.  This DOES make defending your faith difficult at times, because man's "wisdom" can sound very convincing.  However, man's ways derive from Satan, the father of all lies.  For this, this man is worth pitying because he has bought into it apparently his entire long life.
3.  You are right, sometimes there is nothing you can do or say to turn a person.  If he is being rude and disrespectful of you as a person, there is probably nothing you could ever say or do that he will listen to.  This stems from a hatred that is not worth reasoning with. The Bible says to have nothing to do with people like him.  His heart is hardened and he is resisting the Holy Spirit working through you to save him.  This is the blaspheming of the Holy Spirit spoken of in the Bible that cannot be forgiven.  Pity him indeed.

Finally, I suggest you write him a final message (make it clear that it IS final and you will no longer respond to him no matter what he says, unless perhaps, if you wish, he is ready to have a civilized, kind discussion).  In this finaly reply, you might tell him that if you are wrong and he is right, you are loosing nothing.  If he is wrong and you are right, you gain more than he can understand and he looses and suffers more than he ever thought possible.  Tell him that THAT is worth considering, even if you don't have the factual and "man's wisdom" that he has.   Also, if you want to reap some coals on his head in your final reply, tell him that you have committed to pray for him every day for x-amount of time.  Then DO IT and END IT.

God bless sister!