What does it take to be an online Christian?

Ruth Amy · May 22, 2015

Hello everyone

Greetings and blessings from me! I started this thread on an impulse, but I think it is a serious question. Our Lord Jesus Christ gave us the Great Commission:
(Mark16:15) And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

I would be interested to hear how you go about doing that online. I presume that here we are largely preaching to the converted, so on this forum it is more a question of discussion about our faith plus encouragement, discernment issues, etc. But what do you do on the rest of the Web?

I should tell you a bit about myself as I haven't posted here before. I grew up in the Church of England, was baptised and confirmed there. But in the very year of my confirmation I turned against God. My beloved grandmother, a very loving and devout lady, had died, and since I had prayed every night that God would spare her until I was at least 21, I was furious. I said to myself "Either there isn't a God at all, or He is a cruel and callous God". I became a rebel, not only against God, but against the whole world. Unsurprisingly, I led a troubled life, with drug problems and a broken marriage.

It wasn't until I was nearly 50 that I came back to Christ. I had met some extraordinary people, and had seen some remarkable things on the Web, but it took our Lord Himself to turn me gently towards the truth. I experienced Him as the Word of God, a living presence in the pages of my Bible.

I have a chronic illness which prevents me from getting to church, but if I could, I would go to the independent Baptist church in our little city. It seems to be the only church in our area that faithfully carries out the Great Commission, preaching the Word (KJV version) in the church, but also in the streets of the city.

So that's me! Now, back to the Great Commission...

christopher morgan · May 22, 2015

Hello Ruth welcome to this Christian forum. I am sorry to hear about your chronic illness I hope Our Lord is always with you in your physical battle. I also have a chronic illness, neck injury with head pain but get great uplifting support on a Christian site for chronic pain sufferers called rest ministries. The people there post such lovely encouraging devotionals it is worth a visit. The path we tread in life can easily get us lost when we are not always in touch with God's heart beat within us and we sometimes make mistakes, I have made mine too, and lose touch with our soul. But thanks to Our Lord, his teachings and love, we can find our way back to that spiritual path that leads to heaven any day we want to. His teachings are so beautiful it is no wonder they belong to another world which we must try to connect to within ourselves and bring alive here, as our witness or commission to help others.

I do nothing on the web but there are many sites as you would know. All I do is try to practice the teachings each day in my life. My small and simple personal witness to Our Lord for others, is that I gave up work 15 years ago to care for my 99 year old mother Lorraine at home. She is a great saintly soul. Two years ago it was too much for just myself to care for her alone at home so for the last 2 years she has been in a lovely nursing home I found close to our home. She is bed bound now and mentally deteriorating but we still have wonderful talks about our faith and our lord and God when she is well enough. But I am here with her every single day from 10.30am until 10.30pm feeding her and helping change her and keeping her company. The staff say they have never seen anyone as devoted as me and I always give the credit to Our Lord saying we are Christians and the way I care for her is just a normal part of following Our Lord's teachings.

A few of the young girls have said they have been so inspired by my dedication that they are going to do the same for their parents when the time comes. So we spread the word where our body is as a living powerful witness to Our Lord. Then of course the various media outlets are used by many. But I always try to just think as long as I do my small piece that God has given me to do, then that will have an intended effect that only God really understands on others i meet. The domino effect. But you sound solid in your faith and I am sure Our Lord will enable ways for you to use your talents in the best way to help others find the path to heaven. Anyway God bless, christopher

Ruth Amy · May 22, 2015

Hello Christopher

Thank you for your very warm welcome and your touching testimony about your care for your mother. My mother is just 84 and has twice as much energy as me! But I hope that when the time comes I will be able to care for her as devotedly as you have done your mother.

We all have the opportunity to spread the message of God's love, I agree, and in many more places than online. For myself, online witnessing is a gift, as I don't get much chance to witness in 'real life'. I am too tired and if I'm honest, too shy! I do most of my witnessing on You Tube, and I also find it a great place to speak to Christian brothers and sisters, some of whom are making wonderful videos to God's glory.

I belong to another forum, the British Democracy Forum, and it is a very different place from this one. It can be a very rough and tough place for sensitive souls, and there are quite a few members who seem to hate Christianity - it has been quite an education to me. But I have made some good friends there, most Christian, but also one confirmed atheist...and I have been able to open threads on subjects close to my heart, Creation v. Evolution amongst others - there are some wonderful Creation websites these days and I use my thread to post some of the wonderful programmes from them.

God bless you and I shall hope to follow you on this Forum.

christopher morgan said:
Hello Ruth welcome to this Christian forum. I am sorry to hear about your chronic illness I hope Our Lord is always with you in your physical battle. I also have a chronic illness, neck injury with head pain but get great uplifting support on a Christian site for chronic pain sufferers called rest ministries. The people there post such lovely encouraging devotionals it is worth a visit. The path we tread in life can easily get us lost when we are not always in touch with God's heart beat within us and we sometimes make mistakes, I have made mine too, and lose touch with our soul. But thanks to Our Lord, his teachings and love, we can find our way back to that spiritual path that leads to heaven any day we want to. His teachings are so beautiful it is no wonder they belong to another world which we must try to connect to within ourselves and bring alive here, as our witness or commission to help others.

I do nothing on the web but there are many sites as you would know. All I do is try to practice the teachings each day in my life. My small and simple personal witness to Our Lord for others, is that I gave up work 15 years ago to care for my 99 year old mother Lorraine at home. She is a great saintly soul. Two years ago it was too much for just myself to care for her alone at home so for the last 2 years she has been in a lovely nursing home I found close to our home. She is bed bound now and mentally deteriorating but we still have wonderful talks about our faith and our lord and God when she is well enough. But I am here with her every single day from 10.30am until 10.30pm feeding her and helping change her and keeping her company. The staff say they have never seen anyone as devoted as me and I always give the credit to Our Lord saying we are Christians and the way I care for her is just a normal part of following Our Lord's teachings.

A few of the young girls have said they have been so inspired by my dedication that they are going to do the same for their parents when the time comes. So we spread the word where our body is as a living powerful witness to Our Lord. Then of course the various media outlets are used by many. But I always try to just think as long as I do my small piece that God has given me to do, then that will have an intended effect that only God really understands on others i meet. The domino effect. But you sound solid in your faith and I am sure Our Lord will enable ways for you to use your talents in the best way to help others find the path to heaven. Anyway God bless, christopher

Rex · May 22, 2015

Hey Ruth glad you stopped by!

Ruth Amy · May 22, 2015

Rex said:
Hey Ruth glad you stopped by!

Thank you Rex - I'm so glad I found you all!

Catherineanne · May 22, 2015

Ruth Amy said:
Hello everyone

Greetings and blessings from me! I started this thread on an impulse, but I think it is a serious question. Our Lord Jesus Christ gave us the Great Commission:
(Mark16:15) And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

I would be interested to hear how you go about doing that online. I presume that here we are largely preaching to the converted, so on this forum it is more a question of discussion about our faith plus encouragement, discernment issues, etc. But what do you do on the rest of the Web?
.

Hi Ruth, nice to meet you.

You may not like this, but I tend not to preach to anyone, if I can help it. I think if the way I live is not enough then nothing I say will help, and if the way I live is enough then I don't need to add anything else. I do not think we are all called to the same behaviour, and those who are not good at evangelisation certainly have the potential to do more harm than good. So I don't do any.

But I paint pictures, and sometimes find good homes for them.

Pink Spider · May 22, 2015

.
.
.

Welcome to CF, Ruth!
.
.
Welcome and Thank you so much for your introduction!
If you have any questions -
please don't hesitate to send me a PM!
.
.

Ruth Amy · May 22, 2015

Catherineanne said:
Hi Ruth, nice to meet you.

You may not like this, but I tend not to preach to anyone, if I can help it. I think if the way I live is not enough then nothing I say will help, and if the way I live is enough then I don't need to add anything else. I do not think we are all called to the same behaviour, and those who are not good at evangelisation certainly have the potential to do more harm than good. So I don't do any.

But I paint pictures, and sometimes find good homes for them.

Good to hear you, Catherineanne. I take your point about the preaching. You could argue also that the Gospel has been preached in this country. Certainly the way we live our lives is important. My father always believed, like you, that the way we live our lives should be an attraction to others and his mother was the same. And they were dear good loving people.

I hope that I don't 'preach', as such, but I do try to let people know that I am a Christian, so that if they are interested, I can explain why...

Catherineanne · May 23, 2015

Ruth Amy said:
Good to hear you, Catherineanne. I take your point about the preaching. You could argue also that the Gospel has been preached in this country. Certainly the way we live our lives is important. My father always believed, like you, that the way we live our lives should be an attraction to others and his mother was the same. And they were dear good loving people.

I hope that I don't 'preach', as such, but I do try to let people know that I am a Christian, so that if they are interested, I can explain why...

It sounds as if we are similar. I don't bother letting people know I am a Christian as such; I go to church twice a week (normally), I talk about my friends at the church and the Vicar visits sometimes. After that it is up to them to ask, really.

Bumble Bee · May 23, 2015

Welcome to the forums!

For me, being a Christian online allows me to fellowship with believers worldwide. There are subforums for prayer requests and praise reports, as well as edification and theology. This website is an excellent site for encouragement and the people on here are friendly and welcoming. I have often found that if I have a theological question, I can get a lot of Bible-based answers on here. It's a place to relax, have fun, and learn.

Ruth Amy · May 23, 2015

Catherineanne said:
It sounds as if we are similar. I don't bother letting people know I am a Christian as such; I go to church twice a week (normally), I talk about my friends at the church and the Vicar visits sometimes. After that it is up to them to ask, really.

Ruth Amy · May 23, 2015

I suspect we are pretty similar...you class yourself as an Anglican and I grew up in the Anglican church. When I came back to faith I did go to our local Anglican parish church. I adore the old service, with Cranmer's words, and they did have the old service there, once a month. But there were some pretty appalling features there which I won't go into, but for one thing, after the vicar's sermon, I couldn't be sure whether he even believed in God or not! I do think that is a bit of a basic requirement...I then tried a dear little independent Baptist church where they definitely believed in God. And they were lovely people too. But my illness doesn't allow me to get there very often. And I miss the gorgeous Anglican hymns..

Catherineanne · May 23, 2015

Ruth Amy said:
I suspect we are pretty similar...you class yourself as an Anglican and I grew up in the Anglican church. When I came back to faith I did go to our local Anglican parish church. I adore the old service, with Cranmer's words, and they did have the old service there, once a month. But there were some pretty appalling features there which I won't go into, but for one thing, after the vicar's sermon, I couldn't be sure whether he even believed in God or not! I do think that is a bit of a basic requirement...I then tried a dear little independent Baptist church where they definitely believed in God. And they were lovely people too. But my illness doesn't allow me to get there very often. And I miss the gorgeous Anglican hymns..

One would certainly hope that a Vicar would believe in God, but really it doesn't matter if on any given week he happens to have a crisis of some kind and has lost touch with that belief. What matters is whether he allows his sheep to wander away as a result, or whether he continues to love and care for them. Vicars are only human. However, appalling certainly does happen, rather more often than I would like.

I also am unwell, and this sometimes prevents me going to church.

Ruth Amy · May 23, 2015

Catherineanne said:
One would certainly hope that a Vicar would believe in God, but really it doesn't matter if on any given week he happens to have a crisis of some kind and has lost touch with that belief. What matters is whether he allows his sheep to wander away as a result, or whether he continues to love and care for them. Vicars are only human. However, appalling certainly does happen, rather more often than I would like.

I also am unwell, and this sometimes prevents me going to church.

I'm sorry to hear that you are sometimes unwell - does rest help? I have ME/CFS and the only thing that will sort it is rest, and not going over my limit of energy for the day. Isn't it great though, to be able to go on line and find like-minded people to talk to?

Vicars are indeed only human, and I would certainly cut him some slack if he seemed troubled in his unbelief. But he seemed perfectly happy with it, as far as I could tell! The other thing that bothered me more were two women deaconesses, who seemed to be an item, and were to my mind, less than reverent. They were talking about abseiling down the church tower for charity, "Because we're mad!" Funnily enough, there is a history to that church tower of a more serious kind. During the 1549 rebellion in the South West, a brave Catholic priest played a heroic part in the uprising, restraining both sides from committing bloodshed. But the brutal Protestant Lord Russell was not impressed, and hung him up from the church tower to die in all his priestly vestments and props. Apparently he died bravely and patiently. So perhaps, being a historian by training, I was struck by the contrast....

Ruth Amy · May 23, 2015

Pink Spider said:
.
.
.

Welcome to CF, Ruth!
.
.
Welcome and Thank you so much for your introduction!
If you have any questions -
please don't hesitate to send me a PM!
.
.

Ruth Amy · May 23, 2015

Thank you Pink Spider!

Pink Spider · May 23, 2015

No need to thank me.

I'm just the least of the least
of the Lord's servants.

/Pink Spider

graciesings · May 23, 2015

I recommend starting a blog and talking about what Jesus has done for you and how He has helped your life. Other people might find that blog and learn from it.

Edial · May 23, 2015

Dear Ruth, welcome to CF.

Would you like some of our Ambassadors help you to help and find an area you might find comfortable asking more in-depth questions?

Thank you.
In Christ,
Ed

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