[Cody1611]

Originally Posted by pbiwolski

Cody,
It sounds to me that you are referring to street preachers more than "Baptists" as a denomination. If this is so, why not come out with it?

Brother, I belong to an Independent Baptist Church that has a jail ministry and street ministry. Trust me, I'm not against street preaching. I encourage people to street preach and witness, but I was just saying that we need to preach in love and actually have the motive to get people saved.

God Bless you for street preaching. We need more men like you.

[Jeff]

Originally Posted by fundy

This problem can be compounded when the writer in naturally forthrite and direct in speech, and tends towards sarcasm in humour. Thats me all over, but most Australians are like this and I know that this can make me /us sound much more rude to American ears than is intended.

At least once I was actually accused of having an Australian sense of humor. I was only there a couple of weeks, but I must be a fast learner .

Hi Jeff,

Our Pastor is an American, and we get along extemely well together. He has taught me so much about the Bible...he is a tremendous man of God. In return I have taught him how to insult someone in such a way that the other person just knows that you like him. Probably not a fair exchange, but besides taking him hunting with me, its all I had to offer.

Fundy

I have to keep that in mind. I'm in the Army and I work with people from all kinds of different walks of life, and I heard from another pastor in TX, that one thing to do to win more people is to be friendlier. One thing that characterized the life of Jesus in dealing with sinners is that he was friendly. He had a reputation of being friends with publicans and sinners. He had that reputation because he spent time with them and was friendly to them. Another thing he pointed out is that Paul was gentle with the Thessalonians, and they were dear to him, and he imparted his very soul to them ( 1 Thess.2:7-8) and he loved them more with time ( 2 Cor 12:15). The Bible doesn't have to be used as a weapon, which it is a hammer (Jer 23:29) and a sword (Heb 4:12) It is also honey(Ps 19:10) , bread(Matt 4:4) , apples(Prov 25:11),milk(1 Pet 2:2) and meat(Heb 5: 12-14).

[Paladin54]

You have yet to answer my question:

Are you okay with insulting a man, made in the image of God, and questioning his legitimacy only because a culture accepts it?