Hello DeSelys,
Looks like I have a few posts to respond to on this topic, looks like my original expectations have turned out to be accurate...
Originally posted by deSelys
(here we go again...Seagoon's hate of anything or anyone not following his religion makes me say bad things again...)
He's got a nice agenda indeed:
From Seagoon's sermons:
What's worse is our inability to call EVIL, EVIL in regards to Islam.
Islam: Jihad Against the Truth
While he is accusing Islam to be violent, he is not ashamed to use war, combat and armament analogies....quite ironic to say the least: The Whole Armor Of God
And finally: if you aren't a christian, you're doomed (hence you don't deserve any respect) He who is not with Christ is against Him (too bad that the html version is gone)
Oh, this one is quite educating too (don't be a moderate): Above All be Zealous for christ
It's difficult to know how to begin in responding because our worldviews are so dramatically different. You see I simply believe the message of the Bible, that the world really is fallen and that God sent His only begotten Son into it to redeem fallen mankind, and that the only way one can be saved from "the wrath to come"
(1 Thess 1:10) is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and that if mankind could have been saved by any other means, but by the atonement of Christ, then God would certainly have done that rather than have his own beloved Son endure judgment in our place. I know how "foolish" that message sounds, it sounded foolish in the first century to the sophisticated Greeks to whom Paul preached (1 Cor. 1:23), it sounded utterly idiotic to me as well for the first portion of my life. But like Paul, I was converted by the power behind that foolish gospel message, and went from hating it, to loving it and proclaiming it. I am a sinner saved by Grace, and for that grace I am eternally grateful.
So why do I preach the gospel? I don't preach it for gain, and I certainly don't preach it out of hate. I actually preach it out of love, I preach it for the same reasons I would seek to awaken someone sleeping in a burning building and lead them to the exit. The message that I preach is the same simple but admitedly exclusive gospel message that Christ and the apostles proclaimed
"Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6) If you read the sermons you quoted, you'll notice that I am simply expositing either the words of Christ or the Apostles, rather than publishing abroad my own opinions and in essence what I preach is no different in substance from what John Bunyan procalimed in the classic
Pilgrim's Progress or what men like Spurgeon, or Jonathan Edwards preached.
As for unbelievers "not deserving respect" far from it, I have always endeavored to follow Peter's admonition:
But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15) So if you feel I have treated you or any other member of this community disrespectfully, please tell me so that I might apologize and repent. As far as not being a "moderate" in ones Christianity, that too is what Christ commanded. He himself stated that it would be better to hate him outright than to be "lukewarm" in following him (Rev. 3:15-16). Again if you disagree, and feel that the bible teaches us to be lukewarm in our faith, rather than zealous, by all means feel free to contradict what I preached in the sermon you put a pointer too.
Finally, yes I use armor and combat analogies, because Paul did in Ephesians 6. But unlike so many Imams, I don't teach men to hate unbelievers, Muslim or otherwise, and certainly do not teach men to take up the sword and kill them for Christ. Quite the opposite. Just this past Sunday, I preached on Luke 22:47-53 where Jesus is arrested in Gethsemane and Peter wrongly attempts to defend Him by striking off an ear with a sword, and I included the following application. Keep in mind that almost every man in the congregation is either a member of the Special Forces or the82nd Airborne or retired military:
"Here I particularly want to speak, to the men of the congregation. It has been my great privilege to get to know many of you well. You are men of courage, conviction, sacrifice and zeal. And partially because of that, I have no doubt that many of you would find it difficult not to react exactly the same way that Peter did when you see Jesus and his gospel threatened. But I implore you never to do that. Be bold for the gospel in your speaking and writing and living, but never think for a moment that you can defend Christ or advance the gospel by striking with the sword. The sword is given to the magistrate and it is intended to be used in punishing the evil-doer and defending the citizens.
In many ways Magistrate makes it easier to advance the gospel. We worship freely because the sword arm of the magistrate suppresses those who would love to close our church, kill our officers, and scatter the sheep and we can see that in the fact that that is exactly what happens in places like Iran and Indonesia. But don’t cross the line into thinking you can strike a blow with the sword for Jesus. So Never, ever, think that it we should become Christian Jihadis.
Also, as a number of men have pointed out, it is much easier to be a crusader than a martyr. Much easier to fight for Christ, than to suffer for him. And in some cases men who would gladly storm the gates of hell will not take up the cross and follow Christ. And that tendency can become very sour. For instance, I know of men who are always fighting tooth and nail in the public arena for Christ, and yet whose own practice of piety, of self-denial, of Sabbath keeping, of turning the other cheek, of esteeming others more highly, of all the personal disciplines of grace, are a shambles. I know of one young man who confronted his own father, after his dad had once again carried on a personal crusade, who said essentially “Dad, I’ve seen you attacking the men you think are the enemies of Christ again and again, but as we were growing up, you know I can’t recall ever seeing you just sit down to read the word of God by yourself.”
DeSelys, I know you will find this difficult to believe, but hating people was something that I will confess to my shame that I did a lot prior to becoming a Christian (in fact, Christ and Christians were near the top of my "most hated" list), today however, one of the things that I try to be zealous about is
loving and serving people and esteeming others more highly than myself. I will admit however that I do try to obey the biblical command to hate lies and love the truth, and that obeying that will necessarily cause me to condemn not people, but any ideology that the word condemns as a lie.
Anyway, my life is an open book, if you think I really could do what I do week by week simply by being consumed by hate, then you've obviously not spent much time counseling or at hospital bedsides.
- SEAGOON
