Pretend Christians.

[LetHeavenFillyourThoughts]

Well, the tares will eventually get burned up by God's testing...but if you look how Jesus did it, he called certain people, like the fishermen, and had them walk with him, and obey him, and he led then into increasing and increasing need for reliance on faith, not even in his physical presence, but who he was, the Word incarnate. So we can do the same, as we follow Christ more and more in faith, into total submission and obedience, we will be surrounded by fewer and fewer tares, because God's an assignments will have sorted us out and revealed the tares and burned them away because of their inability to follow righteousness.

 

[catlover]

To me this discussion seems like a way to feel better about oneself. I am a sinner. If that makes me a fake Christian, a lukewarm one, whatever, so be it. I don't think God thinks so.
I was talking with a friend tonight about my unhappiness with our current church. I have undergone some fairly serious spiritual abuse there at the hands of some leaders. She described me as tenacious. Some other Christians would describe me as back slidden for my sins today. I am not afraid so I will list a few:
I yelled at my toddler, he did not deserve it.
I was afraid. The conditions called for it but my relationship with Christ did not.
I kept something from my husband that he, as the leader of my home needed to hear.
I lied a couple times.
I have an on going sin of not resolving a conflict.

To many, because I did these things, I am not a Christian. Them thinking that does not make it so. They will have their sins to face on the day of judgment and I will have mine. Personally I think some of their sins are a little uglier than mine. It seems to me that all sin is ugly though.

...

 

[Redheadedstepchild]

Well, the tares will eventually get burned up by God's testing...but if you look how Jesus did it, he called certain people, like the fishermen, and had them walk with him, and obey him, and he led then into increasing and increasing need for reliance on faith, not even in his physical presence, but who he was, the Word incarnate. So we can do the same, as we follow Christ more and more in faith, into total submission and obedience, we will be surrounded by fewer and fewer tares, because God's an assignments will have sorted us out and revealed the tares and burned them away because of their inability to follow righteousness.

Now that is a sobering thought...

 

[AllSeeingEye]

Oh No!

 

[AllSeeingEye]

All i see is murder murder, my mind state

 

[Johnnz]

Sobering because that separation happens at the end of time. Jesus came to a world of tares that He loved. Walk with Jesus and you will involve yourself with tares too.

John
NZ

 

[daydreamergurl15]

To me this discussion seems like a way to feel better about oneself. I am a sinner. If that makes me a fake Christian, a lukewarm one, whatever, so be it. I don't think God thinks so.
I was talking with a friend tonight about my unhappiness with our current church. I have undergone some fairly serious spiritual abuse there at the hands of some leaders. She described me as tenacious. Some other Christians would describe me as back slidden for my sins today. I am not afraid so I will list a few:
I yelled at my toddler, he did not deserve it.
I was afraid. The conditions called for it but my relationship with Christ did not.
I kept something from my husband that he, as the leader of my home needed to hear.
I lied a couple times.
I have an on going sin of not resolving a conflict.

To many, because I did these things, I am not a Christian. Them thinking that does not make it so. They will have their sins to face on the day of judgment and I will have mine. Personally I think some of their sins are a little uglier than mine. It seems to me that all sin is ugly though.

You do know that we have a Christ who forgives us of our sins. That if we are baptized in Him, we have received the forgiveness of sin and received the Holy Spirit. And as we continue on our journey, when we stumble and struggle with sin and sin, we ask for forgiveness, repent and change our ways. There is no need to wallow in it. If you sin, repent (let it be with Godly sorrow) and change your ways. For the grace of God is sufficient and life saving.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

Well, the tares will eventually get burned up by God's testing...but if you look how Jesus did it, he called certain people, like the fishermen, and had them walk with him, and obey him, and he led then into increasing and increasing need for reliance on faith, not even in his physical presence, but who he was, the Word incarnate. So we can do the same, as we follow Christ more and more in faith, into total submission and obedience, we will be surrounded by fewer and fewer tares, because God's an assignments will have sorted us out and revealed the tares and burned them away because of their inability to follow righteousness.

... yes, sobering - very serious...
... no, not surrounded by few and fewer tare... (you won't know the tare from the wheat until Yahshua has the tares removed finally)
...
yes, follow the Master Yahshua, the Messiah, more and more (discarding man's way, receiving and obeying Yhvh's Way.)
...
...'revealed the tares' .... tangent example: tv commercials (not tares , because they don't 'claim' faith nor think it is good nor obey Yhvh; but tares in a worldly sense because the tv commercials 'look' 'good' but are totally deceiving and pernicious, especially all of the official ones about drugs(medicine) - yes, totally deceptive, and the tares readily accept it all,
but the real believers all USED to accept the tv commercials as if real or possibly true....
it takes sheer and miraculous and abundant grace to excape the lie.

 

[catlover]

... yes, sobering - very serious...
... no, not surrounded by few and fewer tare... (you won't know the tare from the wheat until Yahshua has the tares removed finally)
...
yes, follow the Master Yahshua, the Messiah, more and more (discarding man's way, receiving and obeying Yhvh's Way.)
...
...'revealed the tares' .... tangent example: tv commercials (not tares , because they don't 'claim' faith nor think it is good nor obey Yhvh; but tares in a worldly sense because the tv commercials 'look' 'good' but are totally deceiving and pernicious, especially all of the official ones about drugs(medicine) - yes, totally deceptive, and the tares readily accept it all,
but the real believers all USED to accept the tv commercials as if real or possibly true....
it takes sheer and miraculous and abundant grace to excape the lie.

Perhaps the people who believe they aren't the tares will be the tares?

Jesus was an example of humility...

 

[SinclairJ]

There are some reports that say that 90% of the people who "accepted" Christ are backslidden and have never truly been saved. We take people down the Roman road and expect that they will turn their lives around. The reason we have fake Christians is our own fault. Yours and mine. The dead walk by us every Sunday because no one has ever stopped to disciple them in the ways of a Christian. they have never truly repented of their sins. They don't hate sin because we have never shown them how much God hates sin. We have a lot of work to do brothers and sisters.

 

[Limozine]

Ignore them unless you can help them.

 

[catlover]

Ignore them unless you can help them.

Is anyone beyond helping?

 

[Moriah_Conquering_Wind]

Is anyone beyond helping?

Please allow Me to introduce Myself ...

Most would not be, no. But that does not mean one should automatically imagine oneself qualified to do so just because one comes armed with faith and a handful of scriptures. You can get yourself in a world of trouble that way not to mention make things even worse than before for them.

 

[Moriah_Conquering_Wind]

p.s. nowhere in the parable does Christ say to separate the tares from the wheat. Pretending to be able to point fingers and say who bes the tares and who not constitutes the act of attempting to separate. This disobeys the express command of the word which says "Let them both grow together until the harvest." When He explains the parable, He calls the harvest the END OF THE WORLD -- so there bes no support for the notion that some separate event called the "harvest of the tares" exists AT ALL. Anyone telling you otherwise either bes lying outright or simply does not know scripture as well as they think they do. Don't listen to self-serving, self-exonerating, self-exalting human teachers -- go read the parable.

 

[catlover]

Please allow Me to introduce Myself ...

Most would not be, no. But that does not mean one should automatically imagine oneself qualified to do so just because one comes armed with faith and a handful of scriptures. You can get yourself in a world of trouble that way not to mention make things even worse than before for them.

I don't think anyone is beyond helping and I doubt that's you either Moriah-the only people I can think who maybe beyond helping are people like Pol Pot etc. .

Also, it's not so much "helping" people it's how people are treated-

 

[catlover]

p.s. nowhere in the parable does Christ say to separate the tares from the wheat. Pretending to be able to point fingers and say who bes the tares and who not constitutes the act of attempting to separate. This disobeys the express command of the word which says "Let them both grow together until the harvest." When He explains the parable, He calls the harvest the END OF THE WORLD -- so there bes no support for the notion that some separate event called the "harvest of the tares" exists AT ALL. Anyone telling you otherwise either bes lying outright or simply does not know scripture as well as they think they do. Don't listen to self-serving, self-exonerating, self-exalting human teachers -- go read the parable.

True I think it's pretty dumb there is a thread on who is, allegedly, a "real" Christian as opposed to a "fake" one...

 

[Moriah_Conquering_Wind]

Also, it's not so much "helping" people it's how people are treated-

Ahhhh signs of intelligent life. Very refreshing indeed.
What bes it Christ said in response to such indications ... "thou art not far from the kingdom of God."

 

[Moriah_Conquering_Wind]

True I think it's pretty dumb there is a thread on who is, allegedly, a "real" Christian as opposed to a "fake" one...

All such blather constitutes "foolish debates engendering strifes" concerning which scripture admonishes, "have nothing to do." Other than, of course, to expose it for the fruitless work of darkness (blindness) that it constitutes.

 

[Moriah_Conquering_Wind]

If all things work together for good, would it be so inconceivable to think that God, who controls everything and could have prevented the enemy from sowing tares, might have had a purpose in allowing that to happen? Perhaps He intended the wheat to cross-pollinate and alter the DNA of the tares to turn them into wheat too. Ya just nebber know.

 

[pixiponk]

I don't think there is such a thing as a fake Christian. Everyone has their relationship with God and thats between them. When you look at someone, even if you think you know them well, you don't have all the information as to why they are there being looked at by you. Hope that makes sense. You only get a glimpse of who, what, why that person is the way they are. Thank the Lord its not down to us to make decisions like that. My best policy so far is to love as hard as I can and be as truthful as I can. I don't always get it right but that won't stop me getting in when it matters. And worrying about it won't stop you either.
God Bless