Demarrco said...
I want everyone to check this story out. Leave your comments in reference to: I Cringe. Just highlight the address, copy and paste it to your browser box.http://www.adventistreview.org/2004-1514/story4.htmlBlog on Family!
August 30, 2007 10:19 AM
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13 comments:
Family,
The cut and paste in the original post, somehow got messed up. Here is the web address:
http://www.adventistreview.org/2004-1514/story4.html
This is a good article and I thought it would be good to create a separate discussion thread on just this topic. However, I don't know if we can "handle" multiple discussion threads?
Never-the-less, This article is certainly thought provoking! One particularly interesting point is around the things we do which could make a visiting SDA comfortable could make a non-SDA uncomfortable and never come back.
What do you guys think? What about our service/church could make a non-believer uncomfortable and not feel welcome? Do they get to meet Jesus when they come in the door?
wdc
In an effort to be Adventist it seems that we view a focus on the Gospel-the good news that God came to save man from sin and death through the gift of the cross, as not hard core enough for our services. I've never seen someone won over to the Sabbath by an argument...revealing truths in terms of how they bring joy to our lives or how we've experienced that they fix problems usually leads folks to want to have that same experience. Putting down those who don't observe the special truths we have uncovered seems only to alienate them.
But sometimes we say things in church putting down Sunday worshippers that from my observation leads them to never return.
dcg
The idea in all that we do is to bring Christ to others. Our message is different, and argument wont bring people to Christ and offending their only belief wont bring others to Christ, but a strong testimony of your life's change can entice others. A friend of mine that I hadn't seen in years called me a few months before I got married and I asked her to be a part of my wedding. As a bridemaid I asked that none of the wedding party wear jewelry. This sparked a two day discussion on how I used to do this and that and how she could remember when I wore this or went to that place. Grant it, it was very agitating. I wanted to smack her for bringing up my past! But on the flip side I had been praying for her and wondering how to share what I believed with her - I brought her up on the five years she missed and her response was WOW. I haven't been able to get her to church and truth be told that's not my goal .. When God walked the earth he touched people with his compassion, healing power and stories for those who believed that he was the Son of God imagine how in awe they were that Jesus would take the time simply to talk to them! Should we be any different? For those who tried to create arguments with the Master, did He entertain them? Although I believe that our message is important I don't beleive it should ever be offensive. Many know the truth and for whatever reason don't choose to follow it, it is our job to portray Christ like behaviors to encourage, not open our mouths!
Chips on the Shoulder...
I would be remissed if I didn't say this. BL has changed over the last year and it's been wonderful ( in my opinion ) I've seen our church turn into a family once again. We can't control those that come into to the church family or visitors that come in spoiling for a fight. Only as individuals can we commit to allow God to be seen in us by others.
JDS
JDS = Joni Dreher Smith
I'm to lazy to type my email address :-)
Well I think this was a very good article 1st off. My concerns with our church stem a little bit higher than the local church, since I'm a witness to the higher ups fundamental decree making and so on. But, the local church really in my eyes play the biggest role in understanding Adventism and what is considered to be Gods law. I say, "considered to be Gods law," because some of Adventist belivers don't take in consideration that even before Adventism was created, The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit were working in peoples lives. So when we decide to deal with God's people, His law is first, but our message is a reflection of Gods law. Sometimes I think we don't read enough to understand why we are Adventist. Unless you became an Adventist for personal reasons other than to do God's work. See, that's were it all starts. Not in Sabbath School, not in the Divine Worship hour(emphasis on DIVINE), but it really does start with, What do you really believe? I mean before I said I'm ready to get In the water(and thats how some meagerly approach baptism), The Holy Spirit and I examined our relationship with one another to see if we excepted the responsibillty to be apart of this controversy together. More if I was willing to sacrifice my opinion on things and replace it with God's word. I don't think a problem such as this can be fix at the point of impact(Sabbath morning worship), it needs to start in our personal understanding of this whole thing, not a feeling we get from our worship service, but our conviction from God. Worship is for God and to gain more information to better equip ourselves for this battle we have excepted. Praise Him when you feel the need, not when your ask by others. Ask yourself, How many Adventist books do I own in my home? What do I think about the Sprirt of Prophecy? What role does God play in my religous beliefs? Then only then, you will understand why you are not doing what you should do.
For me we need to remember a couple of things, the early disciples didn't call themselves Seventh Day Adventist, they called themselves Christians. I think that sometimes we need to remember that we are Christians first who believe in the second coming of Jesus and that the Sabbath is still the Seventh day. I think if we focused on that, when visitors come through the doors we will see them as souls that need Christ. I think we should examine every thing we do and ask does this reflect Christ and his love.
Maybe the overused slogan WWJD is more important than we think.
Great thought Elder Coleman.
JDS
THIS IS SUCH A FEEL GOOD THING. "FAMILY" IS A TERM USED VERY LOOSELY AT YOUR CHURCH. WHAT EXACTLY IS "FAMILY" AGAIN? JUST THOSE WITH YOUR BLOOD? PLEASE EXPLAIN. OUTSIDE OF THAT, I THINK YOUR CHURCH IS COLD HEARTED AND FULL OF HATRED
Family is people you love, people you hate, people you fight with, people you trust, people you don't trust, people you sometimes speak to, people you can smile at and they "know" the deal. People you cry with, people you laugh with.
We are fallible humble beings, you aren't going to walk into a place and it be 'all love' 24/7. At times we can't handle the needs of some, and we fail to come across as loving. But at the end of the day "IF" you are looking at Beacon Light through "Heavens" eyes, you'll see Jesus, in one of the kids who helped and elderly person or Monique as she sings or the Elders are they touch and anoint - you see Jesus. If there is anything other than Jesus seen than the focus my have been wrong. The church is a hospital for all, some that know how to love and those that are learning.
It would be nice to hear what the Pastor and Elders have to say about that comment from 'Anonymous'.
Also the sabbath shouldn't define who you are but it is a BIG part of who you are. Ask around, some people have been converted when presented with the undeniable truth of God's sabbath and your health message. The problem is that some just know the sabbath and food and don't know how to make Jesus be the point of it all. Why don't churches preach about the sabbath and prophecy anymore? These are the last days right? The sabbath is what will be a challenge for all of us in the end right? People won't know it if we don't teach them. Your church used to equip people with a knowledge of prophecy. I liked the fact that at your church wasn't just entertaining, it was a place where you could go and learn and be challenged by God's word.Your church isn't like everyone else, your church seems to be made up of people who I can walk right up to after not being there for a while and fit right in.It doesn't matter how nice my car is, how expensive my suit is, how big my house is, when I'm there. I would like to encourage you because as always Satan is willing to seek and destroy God's work. That being sad your church will always be under attack or criticized. Didn't Jesus get treated the same way? So will His children. These are the last days and people need to know it, Christ is soon to come and people need to know it, prophecy and scripture reveal it to us and people need to know it, the sabbath and God's commandments need to be obeyed and people need to know it. How about fasting for those things, how about fasting for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. BL is a place where I can come to worship and to learn, where religion isn't a means for me to get the things that I want from the world, and where religion isn't watered down and marketed and that means a lot to me.
Good Day Beacon Light. I truly enjoyed reading your web page. I work with one of your church members and she was so excited about it that I decided to take a read. I am a web host so I see alot of web pages for all denominations and to date yours is my favorite. Two things I liked is you are real. You talk about things that happen in YOUR church ( lateness, i.e.,dirt :-) Most churches are covering up their mess, so when you finally get settled in you find out how much of a fake the "image" really was. In these days, who needs that. The second thing I noticed and I really gave it some time is that no one responded to the anonymous person in a negative way. That impressed me. It says more about you as a church that no one responded. The fact that that person put that comment on the page says something about them, not you as a church body.
I've never had the opportunity to visit, to far to travel. If I am ever in the area - I wouldn't miss the service for the world. Be blessed and continue on in your endeavors.
Maybe if our church had a blog, we'd still be together :-)
Ariel Mickelson, PA
Did anyone ever reply back to the site-visitor from PA (see blog log)? I was very glad and uplifted to read her comments re: BL. - Robin Clark
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