Rev. Erudite Redneck, B.S., B.S., M.A., M.Div.

Pitiful; What ever happened to not letting one hand lnow what the other is doing when it comes to good works?

Pitifuler:
ER, you are so hard on people. Trying to hold them to their own standards is so, so, so ...Harsh!

Whoa,"...Passive-Aggressive Postmodernists...". Well it follows that if you can "name it" you can control it. Old magic at its most basic form.

Pitifulest: ???????
 

The greatest witness I ever encountered was the grandfather of the family I stayed with when I was 14 and an exchange student in Germany.

I didn't even realize, at the time, that he was a Christian (he was a quiet man and I hated Christians and he was married to a non-Christian, and his kids didn't believe).

When I came to know Jesus- on a different continent, and 6 years later, I suddenly recognized "his aura", as you will, and when he died that year I sent a letter of condolence implying heavily that I knew that he had loved the Lord and knew where he had gone to.
At that time I couldn't be 100%sure whether
I was just imagining this, because he hadn't witnessed (vocally and in your face) like I was being told to in church, and I as a new child of God.

I went to Germany a few months later to visit that family, and on the way to their house talked to some of the villagers I knew there, who spoke about his great love for God, and about what a godly man he had been.
When I saw his wife she mentioned the letter and told me how he had just loved God so much, he had read the bible every day and was a man of private faith.

I've since turned away from "witnessing at all cost", but somehow everyone still knows I'm a Christian. I tend to follow the HS' lead more than when I used to trample on people's sensibilities - and I'm always ready to give an answer, but think it's important to weigh out the situation and be careful in how much I say (giving meat to those who need to learn to drink milk can choke and kill them!).
To me that's a sign of increasing maturity in the faith, letting Christ increase while I decrease.
 

I guess I should add why I think the grandfather was a good witness: at that time my hate for Christians was so great (my Dad is a rabid atheist who loves to read and dispute many of the things talked about in the previous blog), and if grandpa had talked about his faith, I would have spit in his face(figuratively) and just dimissed him as a fool.

After I came to know Jesus, I often wondered how it was that I was able to accept my friend (who lead me to ask Him into my life) even though she was a Christian.

I have since come to the conclusion that I recognized in her the unspoken that had been in the grandfather: Jesus, who had been wooing me throughout the years in a quiet way.
 

Karen, amen and amen. Especially: "I used to trample on people's sensibilities ... (now) I'm always ready to give an answer, but think it's important to weigh out the situation and be careful in how much I say ..."

Hey, I went door to door on cold calls with Evangelism Explosion, back in the day. Now, I don't know whether I was dropping seeds or hardening ground! I think God can use the ignorant -- and does, much more so than the arrogant.


Drlobojo: I am sooo glad you spelled it out: It is totally fair to hold people up to their own standards.
 

Everything makes you want to puke, ER.
 

Whatever, EL.

BTW, there is nothing passive about my agression, and I wouldn't know a Postmodernist if one knocked on my door.
 

I don't know if you can have been born around the mid-20th century, write a blog, own a blackberry,or a cell phone, multi-task and not BE post-modernist (actually we're post-post now!)
The very fact that you can maneuver in this existence without wanting to run and hide in a cave or exclusive cult makes you post-modern.
If you thought the movie Memento was well-crafted, you're post-modern.
 

Personally I think being post-modern is much more honest than modernism was - accepting the fragments, instead of relying on the black and white.
 

OK. Ya got me on Memento. ?
 

Interesting that Modern is now history.
 

Memento is this very interestingly narrated thriller, filmed in fragments - so the movie has to be pieced together.(Came out 5-6 years ago)

I'm not a big fan of thrillers, but this one was worth it - I'd watch it again!

the very fact that we can watch and make sense of that movie makes us post-modern.
 

I LOVE Memento. And, as with ER, there is nothing passive about my aggression, either.

Neil and I have been around about this before. A passive-aggressive person is one who avoids direct confrontation with others, but deals through back-biting, gossip, and other forms of passive resistance and non-aggressive tactics to show their feelings.

A p/a person is one who, when asked how they fell, will answer, "Im fine" with a smile on their face, and the, when the questioner moves away, mutter about all the hurtful things done to them. A p/a relationship is one in which huge fights break out over toothpaste, but not the checkbook bouncing, or where were you on Friday and why did you come home with your clothes on backwards and inside out? Neil is mistaking my refusal to assert that I categorically accept certain Christian doctrines as Absolute Truth, even as I am willing to argue doctrinal points, as a sign of p/a behavior. Actually, it's a sign of pomo behavior, of which I am quite proud.
 

House elves are passive-aggressive!
 

"Memento", now there is a story about a man searching for himself.
I preferred, "The Usual Suspects". It is a movie that seperates the sheep from the goats.

I have been reading about Calvin and his attempts to create a Religious Civil Government in Geneva, Switzerland. I had just stopped at the place where he had ordered a 6 year boy beheaded because he had struck his parents when I got into your previous blog.

Up till then I was suspending my disbelief that anyone would allow such stupidity to happen in their community. Now however, I am reminded that such things are often condoned and supported as seemingly correct at the time.
 

Ya know, after studyin gin some detail Calvin's lunacies, I wonder: How in the heck is he still regarded as a Protestant church "father"????
 

Late to the game, but I had to comment. OK, I don't HAVE to, but...

Question: Is it worse to "back-bite" in the comments section, or to do so in a post? Geoffrey has no problem talking about me and my beliefs as a topic for a post. Now, I'm honored he thinks so highly of me, I just wish he'd not so badly misrepresent my positions. As he does that a lot, with mine and others, it's no wonder I'm the only conservative who gives him the time of day. BTW, Geoffrey, it's 2:00.

As to Eric, I stated at his place, where you commented in the same manner as you have here, that his point was that it was strange that so many ministers he visits never sought to ask him about what he believes. As I also stated, I visit a few churches myself in the course of my day and have not been approached either.

As to either of us sharing the faith on the clock, such can definitely lead to complaints from customers. This is not to say that should the subject come up (there is occasion for small talk with customers) I, and I'm sure Eric, would certainly share the Good News.

Finally, whether door to door, veiled references, or any other method of evangelism, it's all in the presentation.