Totally off base.
| Posted On: 04/16/08 04:34:40 AM |
Age 19, ND |
Your criticizing of the phrase, "Preach the Gospel at all times. When necessary, use words.", Is completely off-base. It is blatantly obvious in your post that you do not grasp the concept of what is being said, even though you claim to know what is being said and claiming it is "deeply spiritual for the spiritually shallow."
"Preach the Gospel at all times. When necessary, use words." This is something that should be a guide for all of our lives. Tell me this, how likely are you to listen to a person evangelizing, preaching the Gospel, if they themselves are drug-abusers, beat their wife, and commit acts of violent crime (I know this is a harsh analogy, but it gets the point across).
The answer is, you wouldn't. People aren't that likely to take the advice of people they can see to be hypocrites. Because no matter how good the message is, when you can't see that message in action and only see it as empty words, the message will likely go unheeded.
So to "Preach the Gospel at all times, when necessary use words." Should tell me to live my life in accordance with what I am believing in this Gospel message. This is what will give my words I use in preaching, or more specifically that God uses through me, meaning. Words mean precious little. In fact, a word is just a random string of letters. Nothing important. However, the idea we put behind them gives them meaning. This idea is better shown through our actions.
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- The gospel is the message that saves.
| Posted On: 06/02/08 11:42:02 AM | | Age 30, CO |
The gospel is the message that saves (Romans 1:16). It is made up of words, and we don't have to add anything to it. We just have to proclaim it.
The example you give of a drug abusing, wife beater is silly. If someone doesn't behave as a Christian, they remain a child of the devil (1 John 3:10). Christians who are obedient will be obedient to God's command to preach the gospel.
If you are obedient in every area of your life, and disobedient to God's command to preach the gospel, are you really living a Christian life, or are you just as bad as the hypocrite you describe? Why is your sin of disobedience more acceptable than his?
Thanks,
Bill
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Re: Saint Francis . . . A Sissy?
| Posted On: 08/16/07 10:32:01 PM |
Age 31, IN |
I think most people missed the point of this article? Did no one read the end of it? Ray wasn't poking fun at St. Francis. He actually commended him. It is a shame that in commenting to the article people continue to defend a quote that St. Francis never even made! It is historically verifiable that he lived and preached repentance . We should be thankful. But instead everybody's offended because Ray just knocked over another golden cow of modern evangelicalism. St. Francis didn't even say it! The quote can't be reliably attributed to him. One thinks the irony of Ray's title would be obvious.
Furthermore, Jesus didn't just walk by people smiling and bestowing "random acts of kindness." He preached (using words) the GOSPEL. Some were saved, but He also offended a lot of people as a result.
Our lives, yes, should be the fruit that reiterates the Gospel, as we use words from the Bible, to convey it. The Bible does make it clear how people hear the Gospel, though. It is through the witness of those born-again.
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Re: Saint Francis . . . A Sissy?
| Posted On: 08/15/07 10:12:44 PM |
Age 53, FL |
I have always read this saying as an reminder of Jesus' words in Matt., "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:16 (NKJV)
Of course we are use words, I never thought this saying implied that we shouldn't. But I'll admit after reading Ray's take on it, it does cause me to wonder about the intended meaning. But I won't refrain from using it, I seldom do anyway. I do have an old t-shirt with this saying on it, but it doesn't fit anymore!
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Re: Saint Francis . . . A Sissy?
| Posted On: 08/15/07 08:36:44 PM |
Age 48, CO |
Ray you missed the whole point of Preach the Gospel everywhere and if you must use words...Its to LIVE it not just voice it..Talk is cheap and I have heard a lot of cheap preaching because it was just a job to the one voicing the words..Just a Paul said a clanging cymbal just noise..As James said if you see your brother in need and just say GOD bless you and move on what good are you?(big paraphrase by the way)
NO the heart of that message is to live and show GOD's love..I have been approached by many preaching the "Gospel" and let me tell you it wasnt Good News I heard it was Turn or Burn!! So keep that where the sun doesnt shine. Missionaries dont win converts by words or deeds but by Love and Life, Christs LIFE in them..Dont forget it is the Holy Spirit that draws people to Christ..Just be obedient and dont be afraid to speak the TRUTH...JB
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- Re: Re: Saint Francis . . . A Sissy?
| Posted On: 08/19/07 12:59:52 AM | | Age 42, TX |
You wrote, "I have been approached by many preaching the "Gospel" and let me tell you it wasnt Good News I heard it was Turn or Burn!! So keep that where the sun doesnt shine." That doesn't represent somebody "acting" appropriately Christian, at all. PLEASE CONSIDER: 2 Corinthians 13:5--"Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" Look up Reprobate in your dictionary, and truly examine yourself.
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- Re: Re: Saint Francis . . . A Sissy?
| Posted On: 08/19/07 12:54:05 AM | | Age 42, TX |
So...we should mainly just "act" Christian, and people will eventually notice the difference and ask us about our faith. This would bring to mind an analogy of a house being on fire at 3AM, and hoping the occupants sleeping inside it will see us in their dreams, waking up in time to wonder why our house is perfectly safe, and then to ask us about it...NOT. Did the disciples and persecuted Christians, afterwards, just wait around calmly, being nice, and hoping others would ask them about God's Wrath, Christ Crucified, and Salvation through Repentance and Sound Belief? Not at all. This fact, alone, destroys the "friendship evangelism method" of Never Offending the Lost. USE WORDS. When a lost soul is truly saved and Holy Spirit-indwelled, the drive to let others know what Salvation really is is overwhelming and ALWAYS on the mind. If one is pretending to be Christian, not only to others and but even to themselves, then Matthew 7:21-23 will be a terrible reality on that Final Day of Judgment. To near-quote Charles Spurgeon, "If you are not concerned about saving others, then you are not saved, yourself. Be sure of that."
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Re: Saint Francis . . . A Sissy?
| Posted On: 08/15/07 06:09:03 PM |
Age 60, MO |
Perhaps Mr. Comfort needs to choose his words more carefully if he wishes to (PREACH) the Word of God. For one thing, "Great Commission" does not come up in Strong's Concordance. The word "preach" itself has at least three different Greek words some of which indicate "to teach" or "dialogue." My intention is not to defend St. Francis Assisi, or what he might or might not have said: "Preach the Gospel everywhere you go. Use words if necessary." My intention is to rebuke the cheap shot analogy of "feed the children, use food if necessary." It would have been better to have used the Bible verses of James 2: 15-16: "If a brother or sister lay naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit." Picking up one's cross daily involves much more than preaching God's Word. We need to walk the walk before we talk the talk. George Cancilla
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Re: Saint Francis . . . A Sissy?
| Posted On: 08/15/07 02:31:47 PM |
Age 29, NE |
So, are you just going for shock value, is that why you refer to St. Francis as a sissy? I see it's a play on words, but still, to decry a man who has been revered for centuries by the church (and not just the Catholic church) for one quote I think is a little ridiculous.
Plus, you miss the entire point of the quotation. It's not that we should not preach God's word, or spread the Gospel. St. Francis himself preached sermons, but it's that we should live a life that follows the Gospel, so that when we do speak the word people are ready to hear what we have to say because they have seen that it's true to how we live our lives.
Of course if you twist the quote to make an excuse for not sharing the word of God with others that is wrong, but that is not the point of the quote. Your whole article's premise is off base.
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- Re: Re: Saint Francis . . . A Sissy?
| Posted On: 08/17/07 05:28:52 PM | | Age 44, OK |
Did you read the whole article? Look in paragraph 11 I think it says, “From what I understand of Saint Francis, he was no sissy. He was a loving man who was not afraid to use words when he preached. He wasn’t frightened to preach repentance to a sinful world.” Then in paragraph 13 the article shows that there is no written evidence that Saint Francis said what is being quoted. I think you may have missed the point of the article. I have never heard or read of Ray Comfort advocating not helping those in need. Can you tell me what happens to the soul of the lost man you give a sandwich, clothes and a blanket to and then he gets hit by a truck and killed while eating his food?
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Re: Saint Francis . . . A Sissy?
| Posted On: 08/15/07 01:52:00 PM |
Age 53, MN |
From everything I have read about St. Francis of Assisi, I am impressed with his christian walk. He is a great role model for people to learn. It is disappointing to have you suggest he is a "sissy"
You made some very good points in your article, but how would you feel if someone pulled out one statement and characterized your entire ministry by that statement. for instance you are a preacher that slams others. That would be unfair to you and all that you stand for and have preached.
St. Francis statement said in todays terms might sound more like this. Don"t just talk the talk, but walk the walk.
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Re: Saint Francis . . . A Sissy?
| Posted On: 08/15/07 12:40:43 PM |
Age 42, TX |
Besides the interesting fact that Francis may not have actually even said this "famous" phrase, I had always taken it to be rather sarcastic. It seemed obvious to me that nobody was using "words" in their spreading of the Gospel, and Francis was making a cutting statement about it.
As far as calling people saints, we are ALL saints if we are truly, soundly, saved from God's Holy Wrath, and are now His children.
Saint O'ahu, Houston, TX.
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Re: Saint Francis . . . A Sissy?
| Posted On: 08/15/07 07:30:33 AM |
Age 60, KS |
Preach the Gospel at all times-if necessary use words. To me this means that we are to be shining Christian examples in our actions and behavior at all times. Actions often speak louder than words. We preach the Gospel of Jesus at all times by living in a righteous Jesus like way. Sometimes it may also be necessary to use words, the Word of God, to help someone understand about Jesus. Likewise we should feed the spiritually starving children with the Word of God and sometimes also use food to feed the physically starving.
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Re: Saint Francis . . . A Sissy?
| Posted On: 08/15/07 04:49:19 AM |
Age 39, FL |
I think the point to this is not to refrain from preaching, but for there to be a lifesytle that preaches in conjunction with the message. In the time of Fracis, the 1200's were a time filled with hypocracy in the "church." Whether he said this or it came later, there is truth in it. If we preach and live lives apart from the Gospel was contradict the message. If we live the message, our preaching should be more effective.
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