Posted by PS on December 01, 2003 at 15:05:06:
In Reply to: Re: Raul's "prophetic" rebuke to me today posted by Bob - the Alien on November 30, 2003 at 17:43:48:
: Let me address my perception, as a faithful outsider...
: Be forgiving. Be compassionate. Getting angry over this will not help. Try to be understanding and accepting.
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Oh, how excellent. I've got to say, and I'm sure everyone who knows you would agree, we have rarely seen an "outsider" who seems so much like an insider. Your gentle wisdom is very welcome here. I am grateful to have crossed paths with you. (Thanks, Jonvon.) Do pray that I will not harbor any bitterness over this thing; that I will be filled with God's compassion.
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: : casting judgement on a child of god is something you do not want to do.
: True. So Stop doing it
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This is what I'm about. You know, it is not a big deal that we may sometimes get angry at each other; this is life. We learn to reconcile our differences and go on. There is, however, a line that as a Christian one really cannot cross. To prophetically and publicly pronounce someone to be damned because you are mad at them is just not an option. To deny God's presence in another's life or ministry completely is not an option. This really is a form of blasphemy, in the first case assuming the authority of God in pronouncing judgment regarding eternal salvation and in the second, asserting God's unwillingness to be involved in someone's life. (How much more wrong is this regarding believers!) Raul said these things not only about me, but has also publicly stated that RYAN and TIM are not really Christians; "he can just feel it in the Spirit." This is especially disturbing, knowing the tender hearts of these men and their childlike desire to be close to God. How can one despise them? How can one pronounce them rejected by God?
Though Raul is out of line here, I would NEVER deny that he is a child of God nor that God is present in his life. Nobody who knows me has ever heard me declare someone condemned, nor call anyone a reprobate, nor claim that God is not present and working with someone. This to me would deny everything that I believe about GOD, regardless of the perceived situation of the person(s) in question.
It is, in the final analysis, all about who your God is. To reduce God to feeling exactly as you do and sharing your personal grievances against others is sad. To say that God shares your desire that someone be rejected末that is worse. But to take the public posture that you would want someone to be saved, but that God has rejected them and refused to save them末that is making yourself more compassionate and forgiving than God. I am not speaking about Raul here; I am speaking rhetorically about my philosophy regarding how we perceive God's desire toward others who have hurt us, and why we must at all costs avoid the errors above--why we must refuse to proclaim or invoke God's rejection of anyone. I might also add as an addendum末we must never receive or acquiesce to any such statements or judgments.
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: And a note to Steve --
I am grateful that you have had the patience and perseverance to continue in your beliefs despite attacks like this. I commend you. However, I do need to urge you to look deeper into the motivations of Raul. His emails to you are hurtful, I admit. But do you really think that he is an evil person? Probably not...
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Certainly not! You already see this. Raul is wounded and hurting, and has a tendency to blame others for his pain. This is not unusual. Raul masks his real pain by assuming a "holy," "prophetic" stance in declaring others' offenses and God's judgment regarding their offenses, ostensibly as God's spokesman. He learned this from other Christians who have made an art out of it. But the REAL Raul does not wish to be hateful, nor does he wish evil on anyone. He is imprisoned in his bitterness; his pain and indignance are talking here. I pray for the cell to be opened and for the real Raul to come out into the light of day.
My ultimate desire for Raul is only good. I would hope for such an experience of God's presence and love in his life that he is positively overwhelmed, and that he tangibly experiences God's blessing and favor on him. When one is experiencing that kind of love it is impossible to speak or wish evil on anyone. :-)
For that matter, I wish all this for myself, too.