Posted by shyla at 1:03pm Jan 12 '09I don't know what this "witnessing" before a sermon means - I don't think this is a familiar concept to me. People will naturally gravitate to the leader - yes... is that right? probably not... they assume he knows the most about God... which is probably a false assumption too.
Witnessing is like..um, praying with someone? The brothers/sisters/pastor of the church stand in the front and the members come down and pray with them for whatever area of life they feel they needs prayer. Everyone kind of "witnesses" it. The line for Osteen is always really long even if there are other brother/sisters waiting for a member. So..I dunno.
Does that woman saying "amen" loudly so everyone can hear her... continue to be a Christian when she walks out the door? Who is it for us to judge her actions based on her church demeanor? What right do any of us have?
I don't think it's right for anyone to do but I can't help doing it. Again, just being honest.
Maybe their church store benefits homeless people in Houston... did you ask? It probably benefits the church general fund which in-turn benefits all the church's ministries which probably includes a homeless program for a church of that size and notoriety. Have you ever studied the wastefulness of the American Red Cross?
Yep, that's why I said I should research where their monies are spent.
It's scary messing with ideas of life and universe and powers greater than we can imagine... very scary. It's so much easier just to pretend they're not there and it's all make-believe.
Wellllll, I wouldn't say that I'm pretending that there is no greater power or that I think the bible is all make believe. More like, I don't know what it is...the greater power..and don't feel that there is enough attainable knowledgeable out there about it in order to make an assumption.
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If you stand on a train track and announce that you don't believe in trains. Will it still arrive eventually and kill you?
added on 12:49pm Jan 12 '09:
maybe you've never seen a train in your life before... will it still kill you?
If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around, will it still make sound? I don't know. There's no one around to prove it.
But your statement is based on something that is of proven existence, so it doesn't really work for an analogy. You know?
Witnessing is like..um, praying with someone? The brothers/sisters/pastor of the church stand in the front and the members come down and pray with them for whatever area of life they feel they needs prayer. Everyone kind of "witnesses" it. The line for Osteen is always really long even if there are other brother/sisters waiting for a member. So..I dunno.
Does that woman saying "amen" loudly so everyone can hear her... continue to be a Christian when she walks out the door? Who is it for us to judge her actions based on her church demeanor? What right do any of us have?
I don't think it's right for anyone to do but I can't help doing it. Again, just being honest.
Maybe their church store benefits homeless people in Houston... did you ask? It probably benefits the church general fund which in-turn benefits all the church's ministries which probably includes a homeless program for a church of that size and notoriety. Have you ever studied the wastefulness of the American Red Cross?
Yep, that's why I said I should research where their monies are spent.
It's scary messing with ideas of life and universe and powers greater than we can imagine... very scary. It's so much easier just to pretend they're not there and it's all make-believe.
Wellllll, I wouldn't say that I'm pretending that there is no greater power or that I think the bible is all make believe. More like, I don't know what it is...the greater power..and don't feel that there is enough attainable knowledgeable out there about it in order to make an assumption.
----
If you stand on a train track and announce that you don't believe in trains. Will it still arrive eventually and kill you?
added on 12:49pm Jan 12 '09:
maybe you've never seen a train in your life before... will it still kill you?
If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around, will it still make sound? I don't know. There's no one around to prove it.
But your statement is based on something that is of proven existence, so it doesn't really work for an analogy. You know?
Re: you're just very suspicious... - shyla