Here's a guy who decided to stand up on the soap box as we were getting ready to leave on Saturday night.
There were 61,000 people in Tempe this past weekend for the ASU game (where they beat USC 43-22). This generated a lot of traffic on Mill Ave, many of whom had been drinking a lot. All of this and Tracy came out for the first time. What a night for a first time out!
A disturbed guy who claimed he was some sort of Satanist stopped to babble at me, making no sense whatsover. As a couple of girls were walking by in front of him, he said something to the effect of them getting out of the way and called them names. One of them yelled at him that she was a Christian, probably thinking he was with us. She said she went to Central Christian Church and proceded to curse at him as she walked away.
Her friend stopped and talked with Tom for a little while.
Apparently she was some Unitarian minister who thought that love was all that
mattered. Tom explaining that God is also holy, righteous and just did not go over well with her heretical
beliefs, so she was yelling and dropping a few F bombs at us as she walked away.
Then she went down the street to another corner and argued with Sean and Edwin
who were preaching over there.
A woman named Ellie got all of my trivia questions right, and then agreed to take the Good Person Test (GPT). In the end, she said that she was not concerned about going to hell because she was a Christian and had repented. I told her there were two things that you need to do in order to be saved, and repentance was one of them. The other thing is that you must trust in Jesus Christ alone for the payment of your sins. Even if we repent, those crimes in the past are still there and must be paid for. There is no statute of limitations on sins against God.
We cannnot pay our own fine, because it is our own sin that condemns us to death. No one else can pay our fine for us because they've all got their own sins to deal with. Only God Himself could come down and live a perfect life, then lay down that life as a sacrifice, paying the penalty that we deserve, and He did exactly that, two thousand years ago. If Jesus Christ is not God, then we are all still in our sins and condemned, because salvation is of the Lord.
A couple stopped by to interrupt who were both pretty drunk. The guy wanted to unplug the mic and had threatened to smash the speaker, so I was keeping an eye on him. The girl just wanted to argue.
She asked what if she believed in purgatory, and I told her there is nothing in the Bible even mentioning the concept, and that what we believe doesn't make something true. People like the idea because it gives them a second chance, but the Bible says it is appointed man once to die, and then the judgment. There are no second chances after we die.
Then she asked if I thought God would overlook some agnostic thinking because of some difficult situation that had happened in her life. I told her no, I didn't think He would. She didn't like that and tried to bring up some other arguments for a while before they both decided to leave.
God will not be mocked, and whatever bad things have happened in our lives do not give us some kind of excuse to deny His existence in a lame attempt to feel justified in our sins.
A few Catholics who were drunk were arguing with Brandt. One of them was as tall as Brandt was on the stool. One of his friends grabbed the mic to tell them he wanted to leave, and a couple of us grabbed the mic as well, since we cannot just let any angry drunk get hold of that. That made him kind of mad, but he let go of the mic and threatened to beat us up then left.
Haleh was talking to a guy for a while, who said his name was June. He said he liked having discussion about religion but didn't believe Christianity. Haleh had quoted a couple of verses in the Book of John to prove the deity of Christ, but he still didn't believe it, so I gave him a pocket testament Book of John and he said he'd read it. Maybe we'll see him out there again.
Marcus was talking with a guy for a long time. He seemed to be just wanting to argue and waste our time, so Marcus eventually broke away to talk to others. Then he came over to me. I had seen how much time he had been wasting, so I didn't really want to talk with him, and I told him that. He said that he sincerely wanted to understand and was not just being argumentative, so I talked with him for a little while.
He said his name was Fares and he is a Muslim. We discussed some of the differences in the way Christians view the Bible as the inspired Words of God, as in the meaning of what He said, which makes different translations a matter of little importance. But to a Muslim, the Qu'ran is the actual, specific word of Allah in the original language, and any translations changing those words into different languages makes a huge difference to them, no longer being the actual words that Allah spoke.
So, we view our holy books differently. This helps explain why Muslims are so upset with treating their Qu'ran irreverantly, while to Christians, our Bible is simply a means of God communicating with us.
A woman named Ellie got all of my trivia questions right, and then agreed to take the Good Person Test (GPT). In the end, she said that she was not concerned about going to hell because she was a Christian and had repented. I told her there were two things that you need to do in order to be saved, and repentance was one of them. The other thing is that you must trust in Jesus Christ alone for the payment of your sins. Even if we repent, those crimes in the past are still there and must be paid for. There is no statute of limitations on sins against God.
We cannnot pay our own fine, because it is our own sin that condemns us to death. No one else can pay our fine for us because they've all got their own sins to deal with. Only God Himself could come down and live a perfect life, then lay down that life as a sacrifice, paying the penalty that we deserve, and He did exactly that, two thousand years ago. If Jesus Christ is not God, then we are all still in our sins and condemned, because salvation is of the Lord.
A couple stopped by to interrupt who were both pretty drunk. The guy wanted to unplug the mic and had threatened to smash the speaker, so I was keeping an eye on him. The girl just wanted to argue.
She asked what if she believed in purgatory, and I told her there is nothing in the Bible even mentioning the concept, and that what we believe doesn't make something true. People like the idea because it gives them a second chance, but the Bible says it is appointed man once to die, and then the judgment. There are no second chances after we die.
Then she asked if I thought God would overlook some agnostic thinking because of some difficult situation that had happened in her life. I told her no, I didn't think He would. She didn't like that and tried to bring up some other arguments for a while before they both decided to leave.
God will not be mocked, and whatever bad things have happened in our lives do not give us some kind of excuse to deny His existence in a lame attempt to feel justified in our sins.
A few Catholics who were drunk were arguing with Brandt. One of them was as tall as Brandt was on the stool. One of his friends grabbed the mic to tell them he wanted to leave, and a couple of us grabbed the mic as well, since we cannot just let any angry drunk get hold of that. That made him kind of mad, but he let go of the mic and threatened to beat us up then left.
Haleh was talking to a guy for a while, who said his name was June. He said he liked having discussion about religion but didn't believe Christianity. Haleh had quoted a couple of verses in the Book of John to prove the deity of Christ, but he still didn't believe it, so I gave him a pocket testament Book of John and he said he'd read it. Maybe we'll see him out there again.
Marcus was talking with a guy for a long time. He seemed to be just wanting to argue and waste our time, so Marcus eventually broke away to talk to others. Then he came over to me. I had seen how much time he had been wasting, so I didn't really want to talk with him, and I told him that. He said that he sincerely wanted to understand and was not just being argumentative, so I talked with him for a little while.
He said his name was Fares and he is a Muslim. We discussed some of the differences in the way Christians view the Bible as the inspired Words of God, as in the meaning of what He said, which makes different translations a matter of little importance. But to a Muslim, the Qu'ran is the actual, specific word of Allah in the original language, and any translations changing those words into different languages makes a huge difference to them, no longer being the actual words that Allah spoke.
So, we view our holy books differently. This helps explain why Muslims are so upset with treating their Qu'ran irreverantly, while to Christians, our Bible is simply a means of God communicating with us.
It was an interesting night, hopefully seeds were planted and tracts were read.
Soli Deo Gloria
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