My friend's plan.

[Innocent Bystander]

Can anyone help me out with some answers to give a non-Christian friend of mine?
He says I am wasting my Sundays going to church. He says that as God will accept him at any time, he will wait till he has "nothing better to do with his weekends" before he starts attending church. Is this cheating the Lord's forgiving nature?

He has also told me that he can be a Christian "to cover his bases" as if there is a heaven he goes there, and if not he wion't have lost anything except a couple of hours being converted.

This makes me mad, but I don't have a counter argument for him and he's laughing at me.

 

[h2whoa]

Can anyone help me out with some answers to give a non-Christian friend of mine?
He says I am wasting my Sundays going to church. He says that as God will accept him at any time, he will wait till he has "nothing better to do with his weekends" before he starts attending church. Is this cheating the Lord's forgiving nature?

He has also told me that he can be a Christian "to cover his bases" as if there is a heaven he goes there, and if not he wion't have lost anything except a couple of hours being converted.

This makes me mad, but I don't have a counter argument for him and he's laughing at me.

I've pondered this sort of thing before. Like "well why not indulge in all the sin I like but repent at the last minute".

There are a couple of things that I would say about that. If you actively indulge in sin, you are deliberately widening the gap between you and God. This makes it much easier for the Enemy to hold sway over your actions. It will allow you to totally divorce yourself from God until ultimately you don't even want to repent because a close relationship with God is too alien for you to even want.

The other thing is that my personal belief is that God judges your heart. I believe that if you repent just so that you can get into Heaven is not what it's about. That would be an abuse of God's love. I believe that you repent because you are sorry that you have distanced yourself from God.

That is what this forgiveness thing is about. It is acknowledging that you wish to be close to God because God is Love. Heaven is the reward for this relationship. It doesn't work in reverse. You don't repent because you want to go to Heaven, and a relationship with God is a by-product. You repent because you want a relationship with God, and Heaven is the offshoot from that.

h2

 

[Emmy]

Dear Innocent Bystander. The reply h2whoa gave you,is right,may I just repeat one or two statements?God does see our hearts,and He will not be mocked,if your friend insists in doing it his way,he will be the loser for sure.While on earth he will miss God`s Love,Joy and Peace,in church he will miss the opportunity to learn more about God`s Love and Truth,he will also forego the fellowship of other Christians(and there are many nice,and even very nice ones,among them)and when his last day on earth comes(and it will come for us all)it all may happen so quickly,that he simply will not have the time to repent and ask God`s forgiveness.It is a gamble he faces.Sincere greetings from Emmy,a sister in Christ.

 

[Rev. Smith]

Jesus taught the parable of the farmer who had a bumper harvest, and so he built a new barn to store up his riches, and then sat down to a meal and congratulated himself on his wisdom and good fortune, by storeing up treasure he had assured himself ease. That very night the Lord calls him, telling him he is a fool and can't know the hour of his end.

What your friend is really saying is he doesn't beieve; because theere is more to our jouious faith then avoiding hell in the afterlife. Communion with God brings serenity, joy, peace and love. Communion with the people of God brings good cheer and good company.

One of the things I've noticed is that sinful and wholesome pursuits are both rewarding and fun, but the wholesome ones carry less cost and baggage. Stay out drinking all night? Spend the next day achey and sick. Have sex with a stranger, or another man's wife? Feels great, but carrys guilt and often a lot of unpleasant drama.

Hang with your friends, sipping wine and chatting about life, the cosos and God - just asmuch fun and no "cost",have sex with your spouse? No cost, just fulfillment....

The wholsome, Christian life is a life well lived in the here and now. Tell your friend his plan may work as insurance for the afterlife (or it may not) - but he will have missed out on the best part of being a Christian, a life well lived!

 

[Buzz Dixon]

Can anyone help me out with some answers to give a non-Christian friend of mine?
He says I am wasting my Sundays going to church. He says that as God will accept him at any time, he will wait till he has "nothing better to do with his weekends" before he starts attending church. Is this cheating the Lord's forgiving nature?

He has also told me that he can be a Christian "to cover his bases" as if there is a heaven he goes there, and if not he wion't have lost anything except a couple of hours being converted.

This makes me mad, but I don't have a counter argument for him and he's laughing at me.

If his plan works, he ends up naked in heaven. Not literally, just berefit of all the blessings he could have laid up by then.

If his plan doesn't work, he gets hit by a bus tomorrow and an express trip to the infernal regions.

 

[ratcatcher]

I get teased by my friends becaue they can stay in bed on a Sunday nursing thier hangovers whilst I have to take mine to Church and sit on horrible chairs with old people. They are not being nasty, they are just playing. I can't get them to come to Church with me to experience the light and joy of the lord. How should I open thier heart to God?

 

[Rev. Smith]

First,is live happy - we are a testament to the Lord by the lives we live. I sometimes, gently, chide the more dour churches because their sober, joyless outlook isn't much of a testimony is it?

Offer them alternatives; I got several of my friends interested in contemplative prayer (chants etc). They were interested in all sortsof New Age myths and practices, so I simply asked them if they would like to learn a thousand year old chanting method that really works to refresh the mind and enliven the spirit. Once they were into the chanting I began to gently talk about where it came from (they were probably not shocked, they know I'm a priest).Upshot is, several now regulalry attend Church along with the chanting class.

Simple is sometimes best, simply tell them you are a Christian, and that it contibutes a great deal to your peace and well being, offer to talk about it whenever they'd like.

 

[Fuzzy]

Can anyone help me out with some answers to give a non-Christian friend of mine?

Sure. Try "How about we agree to disagree, and talk about something else?"
If your friend continues to press the point, well, what do you do if your friend
presses anything else that makes you uncomfortable?

 

[Beoga]

does your friend know when he is going to die?

 

[DJ_Ghost]

I get teased by my friends becaue they can stay in bed on a Sunday nursing thier hangovers whilst I have to take mine to Church and sit on horrible chairs with old people. They are not being nasty, they are just playing. I can't get them to come to Church with me to experience the light and joy of the lord.

If you feel that you experience the light and joy of the lord by attending Church then how can it be a wasted Sunday? You are using it to do something that makes you feel better, that does not sound like much of a waste to me.

How should I open thier heart to God?

In my opinion you shouldn’t. It id for each of us to find our own way there. By trying to open their hearts to the Lord you risk closing them, no one likes to feel pressured or nagged.

Ghost

 

[CuteAlien]

Sounds to me like he's making fun of you in a friendly way. Just accept that people have different ways looking on life. Actually you won't find any writing in the bible that regular visits to religious ceremonies will bring you any closer to god. That's just a social thing which many people do enjoy because they meet other people who have similar interests. The ceremony itself is rather boring - guess you will have a hard time convincing anyone non-christian that it's worth visiting it.

 

[fashionably_lonely]

I'd agree that going to church isn't always a positive experience for most people. I feel more greatful to God when i do things that are enjoyable or spend time with people I love, not when I sit in church.

 

[wonderboy92577]

Wow, alot of people don't seem to get much from services. I guess I do -- the service always serves to illustrate to me the vast differences between myself and God. It's like placing a piece of paper up against a light-wall...you can see the paper in stark contrast to the light it's exposed to.

At any rate, being a Christian is like being a friend, or best friend. If you're not really a best friend (only pretending), the "other party" will know a 1) get mad 2) get mad and beat you up or 3) get hurt and drop you like a hot potato. Either way, he or she knows you're a liar and a fake.

So with God -- He knows when someone is pretending.

Better safe than sorry? Absolutely. But how many "atheists" or non-believers title themselves so simply because they're too lazy to go to church or to afraid to examine their own consciences to the degree necessary to embrace (or even completely reject) a belief in God?

My two cents.