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Becca posted an update
4 years ago (edited)
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I just had the most powerful conversation with an atheist ; Guess what? he has read the Bible! I was shocked at the wisdom that came out of his mouth….
Let us just say I left convicted. Watch out for my next post
Philip and Nia11 Comments-
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What was the conversation about? 🤔
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So apparently!
I happen to be acquainted with a MD who specializes in psychiatry; and we both tend to have a lot of conversations, and I often talk about how the deep waters was birth and compassion for humanity.So on this afternoon we were discussing- we don’t get to discuss about Christianity a lot because once we had a conversation about creation or evolution and he made it clear there was no God to him, I felt there was no need to go further, and didn’t bother to share the gospel with him; but on this special day we were talking about socioeconomic systems; and how classicism affects society, I asked him a question about the homeless people or the poor having access to his meetings; he said of-course that it’s a little off to think that as a Christian; because Jesus came for the poor; I mentioned that I know that; and I believe in charity, however our world doesn’t necessary live by those rules; we live in a capitalist society..He mentioned that one thing he finds that put him off against Christianity is the “ prosperity gospel” the idea that we all have to be rich , and powerful for Gods glory to rest on us. I said yes wealth can sometime manifest as a result of Godsblessing. He mentioned what about wealth that is gotten by greed and unevenly distributed, that the Christianity of olden days was one of charity, missions, widows , orphans, and community.. but the mega chruch and capitalism has turned it into a show ……. and he rounded up by saying what did Jesus do to the money changers? I said he whipped them….. and that led me to think; how do we present ourselves to the world , and unbelievers…. They watch our lives to see if we truly are living with compassion…How can the body of Christ change that?
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I’m curious to know what the conversation was about too
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So apparently! I happen to be friends with a MD who specializes in psychiatry and we both tend to have a lot of conversations, and I often talk about how the deep waters was birth.
So on this afternoon we were discussing; we don’t get to discuss about Christianity a lot because once we had a conversation about creation or evolution and he made it clear there was no God to him, I felt there was no need to go further, but on this special day we were talking about socioeconomic systems; and how classicism affects society, I asked him a question about the homeless people or the poor having access to his meetings; he said of-course that it’s a little off to think that as a Christian; because Jesus came for the poor; I mentioned that I know that; and I believe in charity, however our world doesn’t necessary live by those rules; we live in a capitalist society… He mentioned that one thing he finds that put him off against Christianity is the “ prosperity gospel” the idea that we all have to be rich , and powerful for Gods glory to rest on us. I said yes wealth can sometime manifest as. A result of Godsblessing. He mentioned what about wealth that is gotten by greed and unevenly distributed, that the Christianity of olden days was one of charity, missions, widows , orphans, and community.. but the mega chruch and capitalism has turned it into a show ……. and he rounded up by saying what did Jesus do to the money changes , I said he whipped them….. and that led me to think; how do we present ourselves to the world , and unbelievers…. They watch our lives to see if we truly are living with compassion…How can the body of Christ change that?
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Would love to hear about it too. Was it really wisdom he spoke? Because some atheists I have met have only read the letters of the bible and will argue based on those. But the beauty of the scripture is that it is encrypted by the Holy Spirit and it takes one who has the Spirit to decrypt the language of the Spirit as 1Cor 2 says. Anything else is just letters which the bible says that it kills.
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So apparently! I happen to be friends with a MD who specializes in psychiatry and we both tend to have a lot of conversations, and I often talk about how the deep waters was birth.
So on this afternoon we were discussing; we don’t get to discuss about Christianity a lot because once we had a conversation about creation or evolution and he made it clear there was no God to him, I felt there was no need to go further, but on this special day we were talking about socioeconomic systems; and how classicism affects society, I asked him a question about the homeless people or the poor having access to his meetings; he said of-course that it’s a little off to think that as a Christian; because Jesus came for the poor; I mentioned that I know that; and I believe in charity, however our world doesn’t necessary live by those rules; we live in a capitalist society… He mentioned that one thing he finds that put him off against Christianity is the “ prosperity gospel” the idea that we all have to be rich , and powerful for Gods glory to rest on us. I said yes wealth can sometime manifest as. A result of Godsblessing. He mentioned what about wealth that is gotten by greed and unevenly distributed, that the Christianity of olden days was one of charity, missions, widows , orphans, and community.. but the mega chruch and capitalism has turned it into a show ……. and he rounded up by saying what did Jesus do to the money changes , I said he whipped them….. and that led me to think; how do we present ourselves to the world , and unbelievers…. They watch our lives to see if we truly are living with compassion…How can the body of Christ change that?-
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Lovely chat you had there. Good to bring it up here.
He has a good and well known point which doesn’t really justify atheism instead he seems to use it as a cover, playing reverse psychology. I don’t believe there is a need for the term “prosperity gospel” because the gospel brings true prosperity. Many of the termed “prosperity gospel” is just worldliness or materialism on the pulpit. The image of wealth accumulation is against our faith. Yes we are called to live the good life and enjoy what God has granted us WITH CONTENTMENT. Godliness with contentment is great gain. That is the real prosperity, anything else is a fluke. I can go on about this but that is our family issue with brethren who are causing a reproach and will receive their reward. As for this lost brother, when he finds Christ, he won’t need to worry about that. We can’t stop using a true product just because there are fakes. He needs to relocate to the right environment in Christ. We’ll keep praying for him to find his way.
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@rebecca yeah I can see why he was so off-put by Christianity. The prosperity gospel is one of the main problems in church society today. I don’t want to point names but there are certain mega churches that go around preaching about wealth and using it for themselves, but then neglecting to talk about the giver who provided the blessing, which is God himself. I think this is a matter of the heart and we have to be careful not to idolize anything above God, and that includes money. This brings me to the Scripture verse in Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” The things of this world are so temporary and if we aren’t careful then we can become so blinded by the “god” of this world. We must fix our eyes on our eternal treasure in Heaven which is God himself. I think it’s perfectly okay to make money but how you distribute the money (i.e., giving to the poor, missions, tithe, etc) is what matters because that’s how you determine if your heart is in the right place. It also says in Matthew 24 that “no one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” I feel like if money wasn’t something many people idolized, it wouldn’t have been mentioned in this verse. I think money can be used to advance the Kingdom or it can distract believers from using it for godly purposes. In order for the church to do the latter, we have to truly die to our flesh and know that our ultimate treasure doesn’t lie in what this earth can provide but we have to choose God daily and not let the things of this world become our idols.
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Thank you @feng for putting it so well. I think that scripture says it all, I’ll paraphrase it as “… because where your money is, there will your heart be also”.
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This is so insightful, and spot on thanks a lot feng
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@michael thanks for the feedback Michael! Yes, it’s exactly as you put it.
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