Flamethrower

I have this very strange ability to freak people out.

It's not something that I understand all the way, but it's something that happens often enough, that I know that it's something I need to be aware of .

My abilities to do this to people stems back from High School. My Christian friend and her boyfriend were "going too far" and I spoke up about it. I asked her what she thought she was doing with her life, it made her really angry. Flamethrower.

Then, later, a person was starting a questionable relationship with a person of the opposite sex (while he was married). I was very close to this person and I just mentioned that maybe having a relationship while he was married wasn't in his or his family's best interest. Flames ignited. Flamethrower.

Later on, when a friend would leave their small children at home to go visit someone when their spouse wasn't home, I would lovingly ask them if they thought this was right to do. Again, flames ignited. Flamethrower.

Through the years, when I speak up, it is like I am the fire and they are the gas. Everyone seems to flash up in flames, screaming at me in anger, even if I am just speaking in a normal, gentle and loving way and not saying anything too flammable. The little things really freak people out.

I don't really know what to do when it does happen. I say something, and the person freaks out and then I sit there not knowing what to do. Example:

"Hey, remember to be careful on prom night. I've been where you are. If you walk with the ducks, you know, you might start to wobble. Don't forget about your beliefs and all that."

Then that parent calls me and says that I am out of line for telling their child that. What? Since when is it wrong to tell someone that living carefully on prom night is wrong. Should I have winked at her child and said: "Hey, make sure you really live it up tonight, there's nothing wrong with a little drunkeness and se*x.... Oh, and here's a con*dom."

When did the tide change? When did it become wrong to tell someone that when they are Christians that they have to live their lives set apart from what the world wants?

When did it become "hateful" to tell Christians that a disrespectful book (or words or a poster, etc) against the Bible isn't really in their best interest? This only applies to Christians. I am not talking about unbelievers. Unbelievers don't have the same standard to follow, I cannot and will not tell those people about what God expects of them, because they wouldn't understand until they would decided to follow Him.

I cannot and will not pick the Bible apart; throwing away what I don't agree with and keeping what I like. I cannot do that.

"Brother will betray brother to death, fathers will betray their own children, and children will rise against their parents and cause them to be killed. And everyone will hate you because of your allegiance to me. But those who endure to the end will be saved." Matthew 10: 21-22

If what everything is about it all lovey-dovey in the Bible, then why did Jesus mention the above scripture. What does it mean to you?

"Don't be afraid of those who want to kill you. They can only kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Not even a sparrow, worth only half a penny, can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So, don't be afraid; you are more valuable to him than a whole flock of sparrows."
Matthew 10:28-31

"Don't imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! No, I came to bring a sword. I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Your enemies will be in your own household!" Matthew 10:34-36

What are your thoughts on why these passages are in the Bible? Did Christ come to make everyone get along, or for the Christians to HUMBLY remind other Christians how to live and how to show others that Christ is: The Way, The Truth, The Life.

People don't like to hear about that part of Christendom.

Even if it's put in a really friendly way. :)

How do Christians set themselves apart from the rest if we live just like they live?

~B