True Christians lament this world's lost souls
Francie Portnoy asks why Christians are mean-spirited (Counterpoint, Dec. 22). She alleges narrow-mindedness because we don't accept other ways to heaven except through Christ.
Blaming the messenger rather than the message, her problem is with Jesus, not His followers. She claims Jesus never made exclusionary statements. Really? Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me." That's exclusionary.
My problem with her letter is this statement: "While I see Jesus as a very wise prophet, I do not define him as God." The question isn't how Portnoy defines Jesus but how Jesus defined Himself. Scripture shows Jesus claimed Divinity ("Before Abraham was, I AM"). He cannot be a good man by claiming to be God if He isn't; that would make Him a liar. Either He's a liar, or He's God. Isn't God trustworthy?
True Christians aren't mean-spirited. They have a heartfelt concern for a lost and dying world refusing to accept Him as savior.
Read II Corinthians, chapter 3. My wife, born Jewish, came to Christ in her 20s and relates to these verses.
Don Phillips
Reidsville
Comments (19)
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One would think those who literally believe "No one comes to the Father except through me." would be OK with those that don't hold that believe. After all, there will be fewer in the Jesus Heaven, which makes more room up there - bigger estates, fewer tying up the the golf course, etc.
Posted on January 5, 2008 4:32 AM
It has been my experience there are more faux Christians, which I refer to as Crustians, than there are true Christians. I think the Crustians are the ones Portnoy was referencing.
Posted on January 5, 2008 6:33 AM
Yvonne,
The real faux Christians are the Southern Baptists who twist every little scripture in a way to control. Have to admit though, that I love it when that group meets. We always have some real meaty issue to grapple with--one year they debated whether God is a man or woman, and I'll never forget the year they decided the biggest thing they needed to do was to boycott the Walt Disney Company. Oh, and another pearl is their belief that women should be subservient to men! They cloak their ridiculous ideas in the bible to give them authority and legitimacy. I'm not saying they are the only ones, but they are the largest denomination of comedy!
`
Posted on January 5, 2008 9:19 AM
After this posting and having read your obnoxious and nauseating postings for a couple years or so, now I believe I finally know who you are TLC/DD...I knew I was getting close...Go Whirlies.
Posted on January 5, 2008 10:56 AM
Do tell, Whirly Girl ... !!
Posted on January 5, 2008 11:02 AM
She has no clue! But I love the guessing game!
Posted on January 5, 2008 12:12 PM
its no guessing game anymore...you have posted in the past about Grimsley....you have posted about Caldwell Academy....you have posted about a particular church that people who send their kids to those two schools attend...you are a WF fan...you are an a-hole who does not get along well with those we both know in the GHS community...there are other clues and things i could write to assure you that i do...Don't be alarmed i would never expose your name here as i would hope you would respect the same for me if you ever thought you know who i am...
Posted on January 5, 2008 1:15 PM
dang, we all what to know, Whirl Girl ...
Posted on January 5, 2008 1:45 PM
..."you are an a-hole who does not get along well with those we both know in the GHS community"...
This isn't exactly breaking news, you know...
Posted on January 5, 2008 2:35 PM
wow i was just signing in to make sure you didnt think i was the LTE's wife! and here someone is outing the doofus demon deacon...
and its funny the doofus deacon was here today.... cause if you remember my comment to the Portnoy letter on 12/22 is essentially a duplicate of this LTE so i am thinking y'all must think I am the wife...here was my comment from 12/22 and notice the doofus slamming me a afterwards, and please remember Portnoy claims in her LTE that she is a attender of a very liberal quaker meeting in Greensboro aka New Garden Friends:
jew4jesus said:
1- 'raised jewish' - my sure bet is 'Francie' (her new cult name) was not raised a religious jew but a tribal jew, the most liberal kind of jew- there are no former 'orthodox jews' raised in the synagogue moving over to the new gardens friends meeting, only secular humanist liberal jews who maybe were jews for a day on the 2 holidays which drives them in to show themselves in the temple superstiously in the event that there is a G-d of Abraham who might show them favor when they need him some day.
2- 'portrayed as a man of exclusion' - correct me please if i am wrong on this new garden friends, but i am certain Jesus said no one comes to the Father but through the Son- kinda sorta sounds exclusionary to me, how do you cultists reconcile that?...
3- 'i see Jesus as very wise prophet' - Jesus said He was G-d, so either He was who He said He was or He was a madman as we would say to anyone in these days who would say the same...he cannot be a wise prophet as the liberal tribal jews say to try to appease themselves with their 'well-meaning' Christian friends and neighbors...he was either G-d or a lunatic.
p.s. my understanding was that the new gardens friends meeting fully recognized Jesus as Lord, is that now an option for prospects like Portnoy or is it just Portnoy's Complaint?
Posted on December 22, 2007 10:09 AM
THE LIBERAL CONSERVATIVE said:
Great Letter!
Anytime a letter gets a rant from Jew4Jesus, I know that it is a worthwhile letter, with thoughtful words and intelligent writing.
My the God of Peace somehow find a way to open up that dark heart of J4J.
AMEN!
Posted on December 22, 2007 4:07 PM
jew4jesus said:
man is that the demondoofus raising up a prayer? sheesh i HAVE been away a long time; did the ngfm quakers get to him with the 'god of peace'?...
no way it cant be him, its gotta be salami practicing to be a christian...
Posted on December 22, 2007 6:45 PM
Doofus you are a 'Crustian'....where do you get that women must be 'subservient to men' (that's your quote, way above) as I read your posting today bashing the baptists?? do you mean (obviously) as in a 'subservient' slave to a man??...
in a G-dly Christian household the Father/Husband is the Spiritual authority because he has his eyes on his Heavenly Father at all times and his wife and family are looking up to him for G-dly wisdom and G-dly decisions and they see G-d's eyes thru the Husband's/Father's eyes....that is not subservient to but submitting to G-d's Word, submitting to the Spiritual authority, and submitting to G-d's own family design...it is obviously not easy to do in this world and not many families succeed, which is why you write it off as comedy....its no laughing matter and satan has a field day busting up families, it is so easy for that Demon to do...btw, good move changing your moniker to TLC from the Demon...but you'll always be the Demon to me!
Posted on January 5, 2008 8:32 PM
..."you are an a-hole who does not get along well with those we both know in the GHS community"...
"After this posting and having read your obnoxious and nauseating postings for a couple years or so, now I believe I finally know who you are TLC/DD...I knew I was getting close..."
Not limited to the GHS community Whirlie74, it's the exact same on this blog with Demon Deacon. I'm not surprised to discover it is the same with your experience. Please come back frequently.
Posted on January 5, 2008 9:59 PM
`
Wow! Let's start a Fan Club!
Sorry Whirly Girlie, but you have me confused with someone else--how do I know? Because none of those things you mention hold ANY commonality with me---except for the descriptive terms like "A-Hole" etc. I'm way too old for the most of what you are talking about.
Go Whirlies!
Posted on January 5, 2008 11:17 PM
I did not suggest AT ALL that because you have posted about these schools, for example, that you have kids there currently.
You have commented about certain events at GHS in the past with intimate knowledge as well as posting about Caldwell intimately as well as the church which serves many at both schools. So there is commonality. You are living on a river in Egypt.
Posted on January 6, 2008 10:16 AM
I love a good snipe hunt! :)
Posted on January 6, 2008 10:57 AM
"I love a good snipe hunt! :)".............no words more truly spoken - you are indeed a snipe of the first order - bless your heart !
Posted on January 7, 2008 11:32 AM
"One would think those who literally believe "No one comes to the Father except through me." would be OK with those that don't hold that believe"
I think that goes both ways. If you don't believe in Christ, just say so. Don't misrepresent what Christ said. Just say you don't go for that.
But Francie can't do that. She's got to write a 'counterpoint'. She's got to make claims and dispute and fight.
Her response to being wrong about what's in the Bible would probably be that it's because the Bible was written by man and can't be taken at face value or that it was translated wrong or some other kind of thing.
Just like a good atheist. They spend a considerable amount of energy trying to disprove something they don't believe in. Why?
If you don't believe in Jesus Buddha or Mohammed, I'm cool with that. It's your choice.
Posted on January 7, 2008 5:03 PM
While it's your choice, you still face a real possibility that you might spend eternity in Hell. A lot of 'true' Christians aren't too keen on allowing that to happen to you if they can do anything to help stop that anymore than they'd stand by and let you run into a burning building.
That could be interpreted as love.
There are plenty of hypocrites in the world. I'm one of the worst. Christians make up a good percentage too. Many of them turn to God precisely because they know they AREN'T perfect or capable of doing much without him.
Posted on January 7, 2008 5:07 PM
THE LIBERAL CONSERVATIVE said:
I love a good snipe hunt! :)
Posted on January 6, 2008 10:57 AM
the ONLY thing you love is yourself DD....its ALL about the Demon.
Posted on January 8, 2008 1:30 PM
amen to what nPickeR said @ Posted on January 7, 2008 5:07 PM
Posted on January 8, 2008 7:33 PM