Me, an agnostic, "saved" an atheist?

[AllworthThunder]

I currently share a class with what was an atheist. We often talked after class, and one of the things that we frequently talk (and often mock, admittedly among the two or three of us) Christianity, namely pronouncing "Jesus Christ" as "Jésus Chris-t".

One day he came to me, and after running into an open air preacher that often does it on our campus, he thought about stance, and realized that mine were much more foolish than his, decided to repent, turn from his sins etc... He continues to proclaim that my ways are wrong and to turn to Jesus to the point where it becomes annoying. I no longer consider him my friend and I no longer sit next to him in class.

I'm just curious how should I handle this situation.

 

[HypnoToad]

I don't see how it's you who saved him, as you claim, since, according to your post, it was from hearing that preacher.

Anyways, to answer your question on how to handle it - do what he told you, repent and turn from sin.

 

[MrDave]

Apparently this preacher was preaching the gospel of Jesus Chris-t and this young man on this day was convicted by the Holy Spirit and responded to the Holy Spirit's call to repentance and salvation.

This young man was saved by his faith in Jesus Christ, his repentance of sin and his calling upon Jesus to save him. God then gave the FREE GIFT of salvation by indwelling him with the Holy Sprit.

At that moment, this young man passed from death(spiritually) to life(spiritually).

He is at peace with God, how about you?

Only Jesus saves anyone, but God uses human's to spread the gospel.

Perhaps rather then avoiding this young man you should talk with him and continue to be friends while seeing Jesus from a different perspective.

WE HAVE HEARD THE JOYFUL SOUND, JESUS SAVES, JESUS SAVES!!

 

[aiki]

One day he came to me, and after running into an open air preacher that often does it on our campus, he thought about stance, and realized that mine were much more foolish than his, decided to repent, turn from his sins etc... He continues to proclaim that my ways are wrong and to turn to Jesus to the point where it becomes annoying. I no longer consider him my friend and I no longer sit next to him in class.

I'm just curious how should I handle this situation.

It seems to me that you've already decided how you will handle the situation. Personally, I don't think you're handling it well.

Peace to you.

 

[JoshuaM]

I currently share a class with what was an atheist. We often talked after class, and one of the things that we frequently talk (and often mock, admittedly among the two or three of us) Christianity, namely pronouncing "Jesus Christ" as "Jésus Chris-t".

One day he came to me, and after running into an open air preacher that often does it on our campus, he thought about stance, and realized that mine were much more foolish than his, decided to repent, turn from his sins etc... He continues to proclaim that my ways are wrong and to turn to Jesus to the point where it becomes annoying. I no longer consider him my friend and I no longer sit next to him in class.

I'm just curious how should I handle this situation.

They are correct, you did not save this friend. It is only by the Lord revealing Himself to your friend through His Holy Spirit in these circumstances that your friend found true faith in Christ instead of mockery. It sounds like your friend realized his old way of life was not beneficial to him and changed. Would you want people to hate you for changing your mind? if you had a long time friend, and you made a life-changing decision, wouldn't you want their support? The reason this friend wants you to come to Jesus is because he found error in his own ways and he cares about you. will you continue to condemn him for caring, or will you be his friend? listening to him does not mean you have to agree with him. Are you afraid that you may decide to change if you stay his friend?

 

[AllworthThunder]

They are correct, you did not save this friend. It is only by the Lord revealing Himself to your friend through His Holy Spirit in these circumstances that your friend found true faith in Christ instead of mockery. It sounds like your friend realized his old way of life was not beneficial to him and changed. Would you want people to hate you for changing your mind? if you had a long time friend, and you made a life-changing decision, wouldn't you want their support? The reason this friend wants you to come to Jesus is because he found error in his own ways and he cares about you. will you continue to condemn him for caring, or will you be his friend? listening to him does not mean you have to agree with him. Are you afraid that you may decide to change if you stay his friend?

His preaching to me about God has got far too annoying. It's fine that I disagree with his stance, but when one out of two sentence he says is about God of The Bible, it tends to get very, very annoying. I'm thinking he should be able to respect my stance as I respect his.

 

[AllworthThunder]

Apparently this preacher was preaching the gospel of Jesus Chris-t and this young man on this day was convicted by the Holy Spirit and responded to the Holy Spirit's call to repentance and salvation.

This young man was saved by his faith in Jesus Christ, his repentance of sin and his calling upon Jesus to save him. God then gave the FREE GIFT of salvation by indwelling him with the Holy Sprit.

At that moment, this young man passed from death(spiritually) to life(spiritually).

He is at peace with God, how about you?

Only Jesus saves anyone, but God uses human's to spread the gospel.

Perhaps rather then avoiding this young man you should talk with him and continue to be friends while seeing Jesus from a different perspective.

WE HAVE HEARD THE JOYFUL SOUND, JESUS SAVES, JESUS SAVES!!

Uhh... Yikes. Not exactly the response that I was looking for, but uhh.. yeah, if you want a response from me, you're better off PMing me to prevent the thread from derailing.

 

[JoshuaM]

His preaching to me about God has got far too annoying. It's fine that I disagree with his stance, but when one out of two sentence he says is about God of The Bible, it tends to get very, very annoying. I'm thinking he should be able to respect my stance as I respect his.

I do not think he talks about God out of disrespect for you, but he talks about God because he respects God and enjoys God. Will you hold it against him that he enjoys his life in a new way? Will you only accept the idea that different means disrespect or will you accept that it may be something different? When one becomes a Christian, and when one is most earnestly following the Lord, they will enjoy Him, and talk about Him, and they will obey Him. One way they will obey is by telling people about Christ no matter what the outcome because the Lord commands Christians to make disciples of all nations and to preach to everybody, and tell them He is the Way, and He came for us, etc. It is not disrespecting your stance, it is respecting and obeying the Lord, enjoying the Lord, and caring about you.

 

[AllworthThunder]

I do not think he talks about God out of disrespect for you, but he talks about God because he respects God and enjoys God. Will you hold it against him that he enjoys his life in a new way? Will you only accept the idea that different means disrespect or will you accept that it may be something different? When one becomes a Christian, and when one is most earnestly following the Lord, they will enjoy Him, and talk about Him, and they will obey Him. One way they will obey is by telling people about Christ no matter what the outcome because the Lord commands Christians to make disciples of all nations and to preach to everybody, and tell them He is the Way, and He came for us, etc. It is not disrespecting your stance, it is respecting and obeying the Lord, enjoying the Lord, and caring about you.

Like I said in my earlier post, when almost everything he says is about Christ, after many time me asking him to stop the preaching, he continues, making many phone calls to my cell phone wanting me to be "saved", it gets very, very annoying. I'm not quite sure you see it in my eyes since you're essentially on his side, and would support him preaching "the gospel" to everyone.

I don't disrespect his change in lifestyle, I just don't at this time agree with them. If it makes him happy and go about his day better, by all means as long as it doesn't put anyone in physical or mental danger.

Don't get me wrong, I do have Christian friends who I hang out from time to time, but they have never done the things, or as much as this person has done.

 

[tapero]

I currently share a class with what was an atheist. We often talked after class, and one of the things that we frequently talk (and often mock, admittedly among the two or three of us) Christianity, namely pronouncing "Jesus Christ" as "Jésus Chris-t".

One day he came to me, and after running into an open air preacher that often does it on our campus, he thought about stance, and realized that mine were much more foolish than his, decided to repent, turn from his sins etc... He continues to proclaim that my ways are wrong and to turn to Jesus to the point where it becomes annoying. I no longer consider him my friend and I no longer sit next to him in class.

I'm just curious how should I handle this situation.

Hi, tell him how you feel and ask him to be considerate that you don't believe as he does. Tell him you are glad for him, but that you do not wish to be preached to.

He may hear what you are asking and may not.

It's a shame though that the friendship had to end. Many times when someone comes to Christ we are very excited to share what we've just found out and realized and about Christ, and is very normal to do so. Our whole lives are changed and of course we want to share that with everybody especially those we care for.

Some people continue to be the same thru their walk with Christ, while others learn different ways to reach others.

So, if you desire to save the friendship ask him to respect your wishes not to be preached at. However, with the change that occurs in us, many times a non believing friend begins to assume a lot of things about Christians (well more assumptions then they had before) and sometimes just the presence of that person reminds them of things they don't want to hear or think about many times.

So, if you are able to relate to your friend and your friend able to relate to you you can save the friendship. But if he is going to preach at you all the time and you don't desire such then tell him; you don't desire such.

But do bear in mind this is quite normal when someone comes to Christ and he is only wanting to share what he has just found out which is a life changing experience.

More I found that once I came to Christ I lost a good portion of one girls friendship cause I would no longer do the illegal things we used to do.

As well as another Christian who hurt her, well she just lumped me in that pile. We are still friends (on the phone), but she disallows me to talk of Christ, which I never did to her, as she's already got a picture of what it means (all messed up) but she is very controlling and disallows me to speak on the topic, so I don't.

So, I wouldn't be too hard on your friend for his enthusiam, but he should respect your wishes as well.

When someone asks another not to bring a topic up I don't do it. I find they do though, and so is fairly neat, and get an occasional chance to answer a question asked.

If I dont' listen to that persons wishes and hammer at them, well they are lost to me for good and that is no good at all.

ETA: ah just noticed your last post. yeah, we are all differnt and is most likely that he is a new believer and his way of reaching out may change in time.

 

[WashedClean]

When we first come to know Christ as our Savior we are on fire for the Lord and can't help but share this with others. Unfortunately, it can backfire and turn people off. Just explain to your friend that he needs to respect how you feel about God right now and not push it. He's obviously doing more harm than good at the moment, but have patience with him. I've been there and it's difficult not to share Christ with people you care about.

Remember that he just wants you to have joy and peace with God like he does. His motives are pure, but he's going about this the wrong way.

 

[WarEagle]

Like I said in my earlier post, when almost everything he says is about Christ, after many time me asking him to stop the preaching, he continues, making many phone calls to my cell phone wanting me to be "saved", it gets very, very annoying. I'm not quite sure you see it in my eyes since you're essentially on his side, and would support him preaching "the gospel" to everyone.

I don't disrespect his change in lifestyle, I just don't at this time agree with them. If it makes him happy and go about his day better, by all means as long as it doesn't put anyone in physical or mental danger.

Don't get me wrong, I do have Christian friends who I hang out from time to time, but they have never done the things, or as much as this person has done.

If they're Christians and they haven't explained to you that your sin has made you an enemy of God and that you're in danger of facing His wrath on judgement day unless you repent and put your faith in Christ and His atonement on the cross on your behalf, they're not your friends.

Might your new-Christian friend be a little obnoxious? Maybe. Many new Christians are.

However, what he's telling you is still true.

 

[AllworthThunder]

However, what he's telling you is still true.

True, only according to what you have read and what you have faith in. But I'll just leave it to that much since I don't want to go off topic. If you want to discuss further, shoot me a PM.

 

[WarEagle]

True, only according to what you have read and what you have faith in.

True according to Jesus Christ, who is the Truth.

 

[AllworthThunder]

The summary of our phone call today...

Me: I respect your beliefs and why you believe what you do, but please stop with the preaching. It has gotten beyond annoying
Him: If you would just get saved. it would no longer get annoying.
Me: No, you don't get it. It's all fine and dandy if you want others to get saved, but to pound it down my throat is doing more bad than good.
Him: Just pray with me and everyth..
Me: I am not praying anything.
Him: Please, I don't want you to go to hell!
Me: All I ask of you is to respect my beliefs, as I do to yours.
Him: I can't respect anything that mocks God
Me: Is your mom or dad a Christian?
Him: No, but I know they will be saved
Me: Do you respect them, even if they are not saved?
:slience:
:click of the phone by him:

Uh.... Wow?

 

[tapero]

The summary of our phone call today...

Me: I respect your beliefs and why you believe what you do, but please stop with the preaching. It has gotten beyond annoying
Him: If you would just get saved. it would no longer get annoying.
Me: No, you don't get it. It's all fine and dandy if you want others to get saved, but to pound it down my throat is doing more bad than good.
Him: Just pray with me and everyth..
Me: I am not praying anything.
Him: Please, I don't want you to go to hell!
Me: All I ask of you is to respect my beliefs, as I do to yours.
Him: I can't respect anything that mocks God
Me: Is your mom or dad a Christian?
Him: No, but I know they will be saved
Me: Do you respect them, even if they are not saved?
:slience:
:click of the phone by him:

Uh.... Wow?

He's not respecting what you ask and your wishes. As you know since he's a new believer in Christ, he has very little knowledge of what's in the bible and as he reads he will see different ways of communicating with others.

Coming to Christ and reading the bible is life changing and so there is much we learn and grow in and it takes all our lives.

So, where he is now, is where he will be for a time, and since he has no respect for your wishes and if you have good boundaries, and have already asked him to stop and he won't; you've done the right thing, and there's not much more you can do.

In time, he'll have more insight into when people make requests and respecting what they ask. Right now, he sees he's doing the right thing in his mind, and so not much can be done.

You sound like you are a good friend, having tried to help him see how you feel with how he's being. A good friend respects the other, and at this time he is not doing so.

But of course you realize in his mind he believes he is doing as God would have him do, and so is what he's going through right now.

 

[Adstar]

The summary of our phone call today...

Me: I respect your beliefs and why you believe what you do, but please stop with the preaching. It has gotten beyond annoying
Him: If you would just get saved. it would no longer get annoying.
Me: No, you don't get it. It's all fine and dandy if you want others to get saved, but to pound it down my throat is doing more bad than good.
Him: Just pray with me and everyth..
Me: I am not praying anything.
Him: Please, I don't want you to go to hell!
Me: All I ask of you is to respect my beliefs, as I do to yours.
Him: I can't respect anything that mocks God
Me: Is your mom or dad a Christian?
Him: No, but I know they will be saved
Me: Do you respect them, even if they are not saved?
:slience:
:click of the phone by him:

Uh.... Wow?

[FONT=&quot]He is a babe in Jesus. Full of enthusiasm but only the basic knowledge of salvation.

I admire his enthusiasm but he is like a baby elephant in a china shop.

I dare say with enough resistance he will eventually move on, but his love for you is strong even if your feelings of friendship have died.

One day he will come to know that he cannot save anyone, even his parents. It is the Work of the Holy Spirit and the acceptance of the seeker of the work of the Holy Spirit that saves. No us.


All Praise The Ancient Of Days[/FONT]

 

[Stinker]

It is such an overwhelming experience when you get saved that one does overlook the fact that the unsaved have not opened themselves up to the Holy Spirit yet. Even when I first got saved and wanted others to experience this same thing, I knew the people who I would come the closest to failing at were the members of my immediate family.

 

[Key]

Humm... well.. all I am going to say is I hope this post does not get deleted.

Let me help you out "Allwoththunder" do you remember the first time you had sex?

I remember mine, and it was all I could think about, I mean, it was like, my life was all about the next time, the next babe I could get in bed, and do, and then all I wanted to talk with my friends about, was sex, where to get, how much I had, how much they had, who we did, how we did it, where we did it, it was like a consuming thing in my life, lucky for me, my friends were still in the sexual hyper charged mode as well, so we talked about it, I mean it was a guy thing you know.
But I had friends that had not had sex, when I was having my time, and it was always like "Dude, we so gotta get you laid" every time it came it, (Which was all the time), and after a while, they just felt like the odd man out (That is what is called Peer Pressure, BTW), however, we both know, it's easier to find a piece, then it is to find God.

Now I am married, been married for a long time, and in truth, yah, I still talk about sex, from time to time. But only when the issue arises, only when it's appropriate, and then, it's casual, you know, "guy talk". I don't make people feel like the odd man out, if they have no had it, I can respect them more, because, because I am now mature in my sexual relationships.

But you know, my friends that had not experienced sex, when I was just ballistic on the issue, I am sure found me annoying beyond anything they could endure, because we all know, if you have not had it, you just don't know. It's just the way it is.

Well, your friend is like a person that is just hyper charged with Christ, and it's out of your realm, you don't know what to do, and you can't relate to them. It's simple, painfully simple, we know what just happened, your friend found something, and wants you
to "Have to do it" and you don't want to, your feeling the "Peer Pressure" and it's difficult, but, in the end, once your friend matures in his relationship, then he will be able to calm down and discuss things with you, rationally.

Meh, Yah, I think this post is going to get deleted, but, I tried to draw and analogy, and I am sure it will be messed up and warped, and then people will try to turn it against me, but, what do you do. How can you really relate to people, so they can understand. I guess, in some ways, you just can't.

Hope I have Helped.

God Bless

Key

 

[AllworthThunder]

Humm... well.. all I am going to say is I hope this post does not get deleted.

Let me help you out "Allwoththunder" do you remember the first time you had sex?

I live a straightedge lifestyle, which includes no sex outside marriage, but I understand what you're trying to say. But what I'm aware of no one had ever attempted to get me "laid" nor has anyone sought me out about how good sex was and how much I need it over everything else.