1can.of.soup — Today at 1:41 AM

Ohh okay ty!! I was most confused about what my friend was saying about the new and Old Testaments and I think they were equally confused XD they’ve been very supportive of me! They’re the second person I’ve told I was Christian (you being the first). They’re really lovely about religion! They expressed to me they don’t believe in anything (including being an atheist) simply because they just do not know and it would be too confusing to label themselves as any religion, which I support and I understand them! I know they will be saved, whether that be before or after death and I can’t wait to greet them in heaven when they do!

Bird watching and tennis playing truly sounds wonderful! I feel I’ve been getting through the days in such a better mood now, although I’ve noticed the forces of evil at play.

Ohhh ok, I see. Yeah, the Bible is written primarily in two languages, Old Testament in Hebrew and New Testament

(if we wanna get technical here, there’s Aramaic and Paleo-Hebrew influences, plus all the other cultures affected like the Egyptians, the Greek, etc.).

Though, I’m very glad to hear that your friend is supportive of you!

I’m also filled with joy to see you telling others about Christianity, evangelism, my friend :D Of course, it’s personally up to you about who to tell, and there’s no need to be forced to like rush into it.

1 Peter 3:15 But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,

Romans 10:14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

In terms of telling other people God’s message we can either create opportunities (preaching so people hear) or act upon opportunities (making a defense). Either option must be done with gentleness and respect. When meeting you, I think it was a combination of both, with the Bible verses I posted in the Discord servers that led to an opportunity being created for you to know what I was talking about and ask your questions.

In some cases, a conversation might not feel like the right timing to mention Christianity, in which case it’s okay to wait. For me, I would mention Bible verses when relevant to life events, and when my sister asked me about “the meaning of life” I explained the UR Gospel to her and she cried tears of joy. Now she believes in Christ, like you do, and is saved. (John 3:18).

I am against Christians who evangelize other people with the threat of Hell. First, because “Hell” doesn’t even appear in the Bible. Second, because that’s not gentleness, that’s not respect! But God can even use those cruel people, like the “Christian” who hated gay people (God tells us to love all people 1 Cor 13:8) to serve as a negative example.

The negative example of the false doctrine of endless torture in Hell is what sorta started my journey. I used to be an atheist, just like your friend, I thought “No loving God would torture people in Hell forever” so I “threw the baby out with the bathwater” so to speak. I rejected all of Christianity, all religion in general. Then I fell into Nihilism, studying the works of Friedrich Nieztesche, and I became depressed, suicidal. For me, the fate of the world without God I find a tragedy, because what, we’re born, we suffer, we die? That’s it? A net negative? All those people who lived horrible lives and were persecuted, people who cared for others and sacrificed themselves, all those intense moments of love just… pointless? No… I thought. There must be a happy ending.

I researched AI, the singularity, transhumanism, Ray Kurzeil, I was on “hopium” for the future, I thought humanity could save itself from death! I thought humanity could become immortal, to never die.

I mean… technically I was right in terms of “humanity becoming immortal”. But we know that that permanent life comes from faith in Christ (John 8:24), not human works. Browsing r/collapse, seeing climate change, mega corps destroying the planet I…. I lost hope in humanity. We were doomed!

Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

But then I found hope for humanity through Christ. Christianity admits that all humans have sin, all people are evil. Because either someone is perfectly free of sin (only God is good, Mark 10:18) or is imperfect even with one sin, even the smallest violation of God’s law. And we’re all born with sin from Adam, who was originally created to live forever, it’s in our nature to sin unfortunately due to the decay of our genetics. But God sees us as a patient on life support, He created us, He wants to save us.

[And this is true, we are not sin, we have sin, God loves the sinner and hates the sin. Therefore, believe in Jesus Christ with faith alone and be saved my friends, therefore all people will become believers in Jesus and all will go to Heaven <3]

[MALACHI 3:6-7, 10 "I the Lord do not change. So you, 0 descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed ... Return to me, and I will return to you," says the Lord Almighty..."Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it."

[1 Tim. 2:3-6, "This is good and acceptable in the sight of our God our saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus: Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time."]