Defending Christianity...

Amicus Dei of [FoG]

Amicus Dei of [FoG]

New Member
I feel somewhere between "Wow I've just proven myself for God" and "I think I just died a little inside."

Just a few minutes ago, I was recruiting in public chat on Guild Wars for my guild, advertising that I was looking for Christians... Someone started a Whisper chat conversation with me: "can i join?"
My response was, "So long as you're a Christian I would be glad to invite you."
He then quickly responded, "um... is scientology okay?" at which point I paused and asked, "...Is this a joke?"
He then said he was serious, and began trying to convince me that all scientology and Christianity were exactly the same, and his view quickly broadened to the entirity of religions... "all religions are the same."
After an extremely short time, he was asking me 'why' questions involving anything from why Satan is "the bad guy" when he didn't force anybody to sin, only convincing them instead...
Eventually, after debating for a good 5 minutes and attempting to pave an enlightening path for him to see down, we closed the debating part when he abruptly revealed to me, "i was testing you to see if you were knowledgable about religion." Then he said "i question everyone who i see recruiting for a religioun based guild," and proceeded to thank me for defending Christianity and not backing down, and he congratulated me on my knowledge of my religion.
Finally he dropped the bomb: "btw i'm actually catholic. peace!"
It was then that I was hit by the "I think I just died a little inside" feeling previously mentioned.

So a 5 minute defend my beliefs ends with "btw i'm actually catholic," and mentioning that he questions his beliefs constantly... Perhaps I helped him find his way through his confusion? Whatever the case, I'm not sure what to think about this... I've never had to defend Christianity so heavily, and when I did, it was simply a test of my knowledge by another believer...

Please comment...
 
If anything it probably strengthened you just as sparring with a friend in sports can. On another hand it can be damaging if you use it to bully others.
 
vibrokatana said:
If anything it probably strengthened you just as sparring with a friend in sports can. On another hand it can be damaging if you use it to bully others.
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I believe that, as it has happen long ago, unfortunately. :(

I used to do that too those days. I'd try to question any Christian I came across to, especially Christian gamers that were involved in violent/evil games.

Of course, that time, I wasn't a Christian and were persistent on why I was not. -_-

To make my point, I am still not a Christian. I happen to believe on your belief, religion, etc.

Except for you, Vibrokatana.

You are a suspicious individual.

This is silly:

Tek7 = Tassadar
Atown = Artanis
Hescominsoon = Zeratul
Corpfox = Raynor
Vibrokatana = Aldaris or Infested Duran
 
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All things happen for a reason. Take it as a sparring lesson and learn from it.
 
I think you did both! You stood on solid ground and witnessed and died a little when scoffed. I to had a similar story prompting me to write How so. Yeah it happened and I so hoped to sway but I failed leaving a hollow failure inside to which only God could refill. Now all we can say after recharge is NEXT!
 
It was then that I was hit by the "I think I just died a little inside" feeling previously mentioned.
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My brother in law was a devout christian and well into the theology (studying it in fact).. he got into a debate with an atheist... While he won the debate.. i think he forfeited confidence in what he believed. He now is an agnostic.. Just goes to show that you can know everything there is but you have to be grounded in Christ, confident in your faith and soaked in prayer before commencing a battle.
 
And remember that your conversation took place online. The person could have been lying when they said they were a Catholic. Perhaps they're an agnostic or atheist and they don't take faith seriously, which would allow them to casually lie about their faith or lack thereof?

Any assumptions made during an online conversation are tenuous at best.
 
Tek7 said:
And remember that your conversation took place online. The person could have been lying when they said they were a Catholic. Perhaps they're an agnostic or atheist and they don't take faith seriously, which would allow them to casually lie about their faith or lack thereof?

Any assumptions made during an online conversation are tenuous at best.
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Aren't we online, Tek7?

So, you shouldn't judge Christians when you "feel" they are but you should judge people that ask you if your a Christian?
 
Corpfox said:
Aren't we online, Tek7?

So, you shouldn't judge Christians when you "feel" they are but you should judge people that ask you if your a Christian?
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It's one thing to assume that a person who has repeatedly made posts that align with Christians values is a Christian.

It's another thing entirely to assume that a person who you've never spoke with before, who just finished interrogating you on your faith, and who suddenly sprang a "Oh, by the way, I'm a Catholic" on you is telling the truth.

Only God knows for certain whether another person is a Christian or not, but we can make educated guesses by getting to know a person, whether online or face-to-face--but acquiring evidence on which to base your educated guess takes time.
 
Tek7 said:
It's one thing to assume that a person who has repeatedly made posts that align with Christians values is a Christian.

It's another thing entirely to assume that a person who you've never spoke with before, who just finished interrogating you on your faith, and who suddenly sprang a "Oh, by the way, I'm a Catholic" on you is telling the truth.

Only God knows for certain whether another person is a Christian or not, but we can make educated guesses by getting to know a person, whether online or face-to-face--but acquiring evidence on which to base your educated guess takes time.
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In that case, Amicus Dei of [FoG], did you let that person join your guild, or did he just dropped out on that moment?

After all, it was just that 1 time.

If he didn't came out for more face-to-face, then you were right, Tek7.
 
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Corpfox said:
In that case, Amicus Dei of [FoG], did you let that person join your guild, or did he just dropped out on that moment?
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Actually I was recruiting for my guild in The Great Temple of Balthazar... He just struck up random conversation with me (and I was expecting to be attacked for being prejudiced against other religions).

Time to stay offline again (after a sudden internet connection death), and go play hide and go seek with my nieces/nephew!
 
I always wanted to created an openly atheistic guild in a game.

Maybe I'll try that in LOTRO.

"No Gods, No Masters...NOW RECRUITING!"

:)
 
Living life on the possibility of, at the barest minimum , Science offering You a page in history where as God offers You a page for eternity! Serious stuff to me, but hey, when you begin to close your eyes for the last time will there be a chance they will reopen?

Just one my brother Amicus, imagine, as one standing in witness fails another brings songs to angels rejoicing in heaven! We endure for his glory!
 
Dark Virtue said:
I always wanted to created an openly atheistic guild in a game.

Maybe I'll try that in LOTRO.

"No Gods, No Masters...NOW RECRUITING!"

:)
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Me thinks you have tounge firmly planted in cheek (me hopes no one will bite). Me also wonders if there are no masters who will run guild.:confused:
 
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You probably don't know how many times I get this in Lion's Arch:

I say "Friends of God [FoG] recruiting Christians! Part of a 9 guild Christian alliance [Kurzick]! Whisper me for more info!"
Others start following up my advertising with "Friends of Satan [FoS] recruiting Satanists! Part of a 9 guild Satanist alliance [Luxon]! Whisper me for more info!"

lol
 
Amicus Dei of [FoG];301088 said:
You probably don't know how many times I get this in Lion's Arch:

I say "Friends of God [FoG] recruiting Christians! Part of a 9 guild Christian alliance [Kurzick]! Whisper me for more info!"
Others start following up my advertising with "Friends of Satan [FoS] recruiting Satanists! Part of a 9 guild Satanist alliance [Luxon]! Whisper me for more info!"

lol
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/shrug

I've been dealing with vehemently anti-Christian replies to recruiting calls since I was recruiting for Tribe of Judah back when it started as a Starcraft clan in 1999. I've heard the full range of ill-informed complaints.

Truth be told, most gamers who aren't Christians don't seem to care one way or another when I recruit for Tribe of Judah. We remember the most vitriolic posts, but remember those only represent a very small percentage of the community.

Also remember that there's likely as many posts from non-Christians telling hecklers to back off and let us do our thing as those heckling. I'm never surprised to see a "ZOMG U BURN TEH WICHES DONCH U!!!!1111111eleven kthxbye" post, but I'm consistently surprised to see atheists, agnostics, and followers of other religions posting in reply to such posts to say, in no uncertain terms, "Relax, people."

There is the rare post by someone opposing our efforts phrased in an intelligent, calm, and measured manner--but such posts are the exception and certainly not the rule.

If you were to build your view of humanity based solely on Internet culture, it would be a bleak picture indeed. But remember that, while modern media and active online forums tend to take an antagonistic stance toward religion in general and Christianity specifically, the majority of Americans believe in God and respect the Christian faith--even if they don't have much faith in the American church.

In short, don't let a very vocal minority get you down. There are only a very few non-Christians who will see recruiting calls for Christian guilds or clans and make a fuss. The vast majority will glance at the post and move on to the next.

The purpose of recruiting calls isn't for Christians to evangelize. It's primarily to invite Christian gamers to a place built specifically for them. All Christian gamers should live out their witness for Christ in every aspect of their lives--including gaming--and be ready at a moment's notice to defend their faith and share the Gospel.

But recruiting calls are exactly that: efforts to recruit Christians for Christians gaming groups.
 
Dark Virtue said:
Just wondering why you are "consistently surprised" by non-Christians defending Christians?
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I just think back to the time that TF was designing its website. We wanted to build a FAQ about Christians + World of Warcraft, and we wanted questions to be accurate. So we posted on the WoW Terenas forums.

We got our fair share of "I'm forming a homosexual guild" and "I guess you hate us all and want us to go to Hell" posts. We made a point not to answer/get in flame wars with these posts. That's just unhealthy.

What did happen is that many, many of our friends from WoW came and said that they supported our guild as a great addition to Terenas. These were athiests, agnostics, some self-styled neo-pagans, and even a friend of mine who I know is into some stuff that, while I'm not going to call it Satanism because he doesn't, gets pretty close.

Why? I know it's because they liked us, but I think it is also our policy of being involved in our server in a positive, and not a negative, Christian attitude; that is, because we strive to build up our server rather than being the judges of our server.

In short, I am never surprised (but always thankful) at the positive responses Christians can get from unbelievers. It reminds me of a quote from one of the Roman emperors about the (at the time current) early Church. He claimed that while they were most obviously an evil cult (in his opinion,) their habit of taking care of the poor and downtrodden regardless of religious affiliation made it very hard not to like having them in his cities.
 
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