I DO expect you to show some respect for differing beliefs.
Excuse me, sir! Where I have shown an ounce of disrespect in this thread? Where?
Not saying "introduce someone who will encourage her". Introducing her to another pagan (and NOT someone who is another teenager full of angst, who's found a great way to rebel) might wake her up as to her actual beliefs...
OK, maybe "encourage" is the wrong word. This type of person would certainly tell her that Paganism is acceptable, when I would like her to understand that it is not. I never said I didn't care whether she becomes a Christian; I most certainly do. It is the only truly vital decision she will ever make.
You might think we're trying to get people to believe the way we do: that's a Christian thing (I think it's called "witnessing"). We don't do that.
You're doing it right now. You may not be telling me to believe in your specific religious practices, but you are contending for your point of view. You do not believe it is "right for me" to believe in religious exclusivism. I am only contending for my point of view, both in this thread and in the youth group this girl attends. Do you imagine you are any less of an exclusivist than I am? Don't.
Instead of ranting that we're offering to help,
Post #14 was not a rant; it was an explanation of why I could not do what you suggested. Apparently, it was a poor one. Perhaps you all just don't understand how ridiculous that idea seemed to me. I would no more take her to a pagan for spiritual guidance than I would point her to the Brady Bunch website to learn about handguns. She can do such things if she so chooses, but why would I have anything to do with it?
Or was this thread meant to get help from others in "showing her the right way, through Christ"... despite your assertions to the contrary?
I certainly didn't expect such help from pagans. As I said in the first paragraph of my first post, I just thought I would ask for their perspective on it. I am sorry if you just can't deal with my religious beliefs. Of course I want the girl to be a Christian.
I'm not necessarily asking how I can 'save her soul,'
Let me break this down as simply as I can. I do want to "save her soul" but that is not a question that thread participants must answer in order to make relevant posts. Is that helpful?
Time for another game of "Watch moral relativism swallow itself in its own nihilism"!This episode is dedicated to c_yeager
but like it or not, your belief is not the only one, and there is nothing that you can say or do to convince the world otherwise.
My reply: like it or not, your belief is not the only one, and there is nothing that you can say or do to convince me otherwise.
There are people here and all over the world that would believe that she has finally found a true path to spiritual completeness. You arent any more right than they are.
There are people here and all over the world that would believe that she has just lost all hope of spiritual completeness, because she has rejected the Lover of her soul. You, Mr./Ms. Yeager, arent any more right than they are.
See how that works?
You are also making some wildly innacurate assumptions about the religious beliefs if your fellow members here, a lot of people will be quite pleased with her in her abandoment of Christianity.
I guess you thought I believed we are all good Christians here? I must again refer to my first paragraph, first post.
I would like to talk about this with some of the pagans here present
So you place Paganism on the same plane as pornography and criminal behavior?
Sir, to help people like yourself understand my way of thinking, it was necessary to use examples that some would find morally repugnant.
The capacity for or the practice of recognizing and respecting the beliefs or practices of others.
And I have respected those beliefs and practices as much as possible considering I abhor them. Where are my gratuitous anti-pagan remarks? How have I gone out of my way to insult anyone of another religion? If I recall correctly, c-yeager was the one accusing my whole church of hypocrisy when he/she doesn't even know which church I am speaking of.
Any pagan reading my first post, and then expecting I would give paganism a big thumbs-up can only blame himself. I made clear that I was an old-time religionist. As such, I don't believe that two contradictory religions can both be correct. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but I will tell the truth.