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What about when Paul, Silas and Timothy wrote in the book of 1 Thessalonians 4 :11 "This should be your ambition; to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we commanded you before. As a result, people who are not Christians will respect the way you live, and you will not need to depend on others to meet you financial needs."
How can what you are doing be right if it is causing other people to jeer at your lifestyle? Is that respect? How is that helping to promote Christianity?
How can what you are doing be right if it is causing other people to jeer at your lifestyle? Is that respect? How is that helping to promote Christianity?
posted by Mobea at 11:38 AM
7 Comments:
I am trying to hold my tongue on this topic; it's obvious you and I have very different beliefs on this matter and it's difficult for me not to take this discussion personally.
I am hopeful that other readers will respond to you and address your very valid questions, but I think it's best that I don't given my nearness to the situation.
I pray that God will give you understanding on all of these questions.
"My son, give attention to my wisdom,Incline your ear to my understanding; That you may observe discretion And your lips may reserve knowledge. "
-Proverbs 5
You're right Robert..I'm am too close to either one of you to discuss this. I believe that you both are in some kind of cult as do many other members of our family. So that is why I'm asking for other people's ideas on this topic. I really am trying to understand and my hope is that people that know Angie will get explain to me why Angie is doing this. This is really important that I understand this, because you are my family. And I don't like having to explain why you all believe that what you are doing is normal. I love you both, and I really am trying to be supportive, but I, along with the rest of Angie's family need to understand.
Members of Angie's family should be talking to Angie, not to you.
Alex gives to people who are a part of Campus Crusade for Christ and Navigators. Do you know what those people do? The same thing we do, either here in the US or in other countries. I don't hear our family yelling at Alex for supporting cults?
The idea of Christian missionaries have been around since oh..."the dawn of Christ" and strange, but I've never heard anyone in our family say anything about it (except you) up until this point. I've never heard Uncle Bill or Ann mention anything about it - devout Catholics that they are - and the Catholic church was BUILT on Missionaries, sent out the SAME exact was we're being sent (sent out to SERVE a community while also sharing the message of Jesus Christ. Entire parts of the world are believers in Jesus today because of those Catholic Missionaries). Let Uncle Bill and Ann or their kids tell me that they truly have a problem with Mother Teresa or the actions of one of the Saints as they served and evangelized and we'll talk, because they were sent out by the Catholic church the same way we're being sent by the Protestant church).
Aunt Kathy - just silent on the issue. I'd like to hear her problems with it.
But until "the family" takes things up with me directly, you do not need to "explain" why what we're doing is normal when you yourself don't believe or understand it. Leave that to us, please. They know where to contact us.
And, just to reply to the original question, since you're not going to repost my reply to you:
I’ve shown you the verses that make it clear that Christian workers have a biblical basis for being supported by believers and the church, right? (in my previous email).
These two verses in Thessalonians were written to the church in the city of Thessonalica, and is addresses to “dear Brothers and Sisters…” which would mean that it’s addressed to ALL believers, not just to Christian workers. So then these verses would mean “All believers in general, live quietly, work for your living; non-believers respect that, and you won’t have to sponge off of other people.” But then the instructions for Christian workers give more specific directions for them.
Mo, I am up for discussion on this topic. As you know, I've known Angie for a freakin' long time and stuck with her through a lot of differences in opinion, style, personality, and lifestyle preferences. I support Angie and Robert on this decision. I won't get into a bible debate, because frankly that isn't my style and I don't like them. Consider this...you are a person that appreciates others that march to the sound of their own drum. You are a loving mother and a passionate individual. You seek to make every moment count in your life, including the people you are with and the experiences you are having. If for no other logic than your own, Angie is exactly the person you respond to and encourage others to be. She marches to her own drum, she is following her heart and seeking to live her life based on her passions, despite whatever obstacles may get in her way. That's everything you've claimed to admire and push yourself to be, so what's the issue in supporting Angie in doing exactly that?! People have babies in Iraq all the time. People even have epilepsy there. If not now, then when? People who put off their dreams always find another reason to put them off. Angie isn't like that. She pursues her goals with her entire being, she can give nothing less. Take pride in her and encourage her. As her biggest fan you are responsible for making the jeering stop in your presence because that's your daughter they are talking about and who she is as a person demands respect, not what she does. I know you love her. I do too. I've even checked on the price of flights to Turkey, so I know exactly what route and price I have to pay to get to her if I have to. She's ok. She's thought hard, logically, and even severely about this decision. She's one of the wisest people I know. Trust your daughter. She's ok.
Why was a family members comment deleted from Angie's post?
I responded under your "Understanding?" post. It's long and I didn't want to copy and paste it here.
But for this specific post, I would say that you'd have to look at this verse in context. Paul, Silas and Timothy are telling new, baby Christians how to live. In otherwords, don't be like everyone else around you.
This is the problem with nearly all Christians not knowing how to read, write and understand Hebrew and Greek, in my opinion. Not only that, but we do not know enough about the times in which these texts were written. For example, many people use the verse that says women shouldn't talk in church to mean that women shouldn't be preachers/teachers/ministers. If people knew their history better, they would know that in that time, women were not taught to read and were uneducated. Also, women and men did not sit together during service. Because of those things, women would often ask their husbands--in the middle of the service--what the minister meant. Paul was telling the people in that church about the need to be orderly, NOT that women couldn't preach.
Anyway, one last thought. If Angie and Robert are part of a cult, so are you. Meaning, in Jesus' time, the Orthodox Jews thought, basically, that his disciples were in a cult. Not only that, but the followers of Martin Luther and John Wesley, the "fathers" of the protestant movement were looked at in the same way. So, if you're a protestant christian, many would say that you are, in fact, in a cult.
Something to think about...
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