Comments for Spirit Cry

Comment on Wearing the flag by Philip Byrnes

Philip Byrnes — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 01:08:17 +0000

Yes I agree with your comments that we as members of the Salvation Army need to get back to the basics of our faith, The blood of the Lamb shed for us, the fire of the Holy Spirit and the Holiness of our God. Too easily are some of our younger leaders falling into the errors of the far left religious views that are seeping into a lot of churches these days. It is such a shame to see
On that note, our church (Rockdale S.A.) is trying to restart our Sunday night services and as one of the Home Church leaders involved in bringing this about, we have decided that instead of using the morning worship band and all the new music taking any and all fancies (not saying that it is wrong by any means, some of the new songs are absolutely wonderful), we have decided to try to go back to the basics, preaching straight from the Bible not a commentary, and for worship, using a mainly the songs from the songbook. Herein lies our dilemma, do you or any of your readers know where we could download at a reasonable price (sorry, our attendance is down from 150 a week to about 30 so funds are quite tight), a load of songs from the songbook to use in our services. No, we don’t want to rally around the flag, just around our Lord Jesus and to show others the way to Him and the wondrous free gift of Salvation that He offers.
Whilst our worship band does an excellent job in the mornings, I personally would like to remove the distraction of people telling them how wonderfully they did and instead have people listen to the music with nothing to see but the words so that they may focus better just on the song and Jesus.
I may be wrong in the direction that we seek to take, time will tell, but attendance numbers nose diving so quickly seem to tell a tale of that which we are doing is not working so Please, could someone help us to sort this dilemma out and maybe our Lord will bless us and I know He will surely bless you for that is my prayer
Thanks for your patience in reading this,
God bless you mightily
Yours in Christ,
Phil

Comment on Convert an atheist… and win! by Jeremiah Duomai

Jeremiah Duomai — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 18:26:58 +0000

Unless one bribed the atheist before the match begins, all will fail. I am willing to put my money on that… huh!

Comment on Conversion by Spirit crys | TheBeverages

Spirit crys | TheBeverages — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 13:33:31 +0000

[...] Conversion « Spirit CryAlthough we may, by the Spirit, mortify the deeds of the body, resist and … [...]

Comment on Should Christians send their kids to non-Christian schools? by John Duthie

John Duthie — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 09:19:08 +0000

Its interesting that I found this page after a few years of making the original statement, and reading a few of the responses I feel that one person is angry at schools which charge fees, however the anger is now being re-directed at myself !

There was also an assumption made about my country, which was incorrect… but I guess the facts do not matter when in a rush to attack other people. I live in Australia !

One comment left was “Is it ‘Christian like in action’ to request parents pay the amounts of money requested for their children to ‘be allowed’ to go to a Christian School Mr Duthie?”

So your test of whether something is ‘Christian like in action’ is whether the something charges money ? Thats a rather interesting viewpoint. I pity the Christians who roll up to the gates of Heaven and get rejected if they’ve earned any money in their life time, they should have done it for free to be ‘Christian like in action’, and you agree that non-Christians go to Hell.

The same person mentioned “I’m sorry sir, but my Lords Book tells me that ‘be in debt to no-body except to love them’….so, Mr Duthie, I wonder, by Christian High schools charging the amounts of money they do, to send your children where they have a ‘right’ to be taught anyway, is this a Christian example?” You do have a hang up about money ! I hope you don’t have a home loan, because a loan is a debt. I hope you’ve never asked for a service, or some goods and have paid later, because that is also a debt. Practice what you preach.

Same person mentions “I find it totally unfair of Christian High schools to ask for such large amount of funds from Parents when they already have plenty of funds being given to them via the Government!”… and you are entitled to your opinion, why couldn’t you allow myself to give my opinion without the attack on my character ?

All tax payers have the right for funds to be given to the school for education purposes in which their children attend. If parents wish to pay more for the education then this is also a right, if other parents do not wish to pay more money then that is their choice. I’d estimate that the average income of parents who send their children to private schools is higher than those parents that send their children to public schools, and to be totally fair, more tax money should be going back into the private schools !

And finally I would like to own a new porsche, however I cannot afford to do this, and it doesn’t help my situation to complain to other porsche owners about the unfair situation, it would however make me look like a wally.

Comment on Reprise: Should Christians send their kids to non-Christian schools? by C R

C R — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 03:11:22 +0000

My daughter has attended a Christian Parochial school since she was 3 years old. We chose this school because preschool in our town is only available to low income families. If we wanted her to go to preschool we had to pay for it. She is now in second grade and after my husband was layed off for 11 months during the recession I had to take a minimum wage job at the school just for the discount to keep her there. She is now struggling with what is possibly Dyslexia. Because she is not in the public school system I will have to pay $1,200 just for the evaluation to determine if she is Dyslexic. If she does suffer from it, her school has no resources available for her. There is not a special needs program in place. I can hire private tutors if I would like, however I am not sure I am able to pay the expensive tuition plus private tutoring. I believe Parochial schools possibly offer a better education because they are able to”weed” out the special needs, handicapped and troubled children from there system. I have experienced at our school if you are below average you will recieve no extra effort or help from the administration or staff. I am a Christian and have worked very hard to keep my daughter in a Christian school, however I may have to send her to the public school 4 blocks from our home, and after working at the Christian school for 2 years and seeing the way some “less than average” children have been treated, I believe we are ready for the challenge of moving to a public school.

Comment on Exegesis of Luke 2:1-40 by Shiju

Shiju — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 20:52:02 +0000

Dear SIr,
I would like to know more about Siemon in the bible (Luke 2-),hope you can suggest some book -or-letter will highly appreciated.

Kind Regards,

Joseph/MR

Comment on Should Christians send their kids to non-Christian schools? by Keziah

Keziah — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 14:51:35 +0000

PS I need to apologise for the mistakes with my grammar and typos in the previous reply…I was in a rush! DON”T Judge me!! lol

Comment on Should Christians send their kids to non-Christian schools? by Keziah

Keziah — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 14:49:02 +0000

I would like to also reply to Mr Duthie.
I am a tecaher who recently left a private ‘Christian school’ where most of the children did not actually even attend church. It seemed to me that they were actually there because there parents were more interested in letting others know that they could afford to send their children to a private school rather than actually realising that the whole idea is to learn more about their walk with Christ. The school itself had lost that whole essence and instead was ruled by parents who threatened to take their children out if the teacher had given their child the F they deserved for not handing an assignment in.
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil (1Titus 6:10). Unfortunately educating a child based on the amount of money their parents are able to pay goes against the very nature of what Christianity is about. Jesus went out to help the poor and the lost. How are we supposed to help the poor and the lost when we say they are not welcome to be educated unless they cough up the dough!
I was not very strong in my faith until this year. Being at that school would have turned me off my faith completely if it had not have been for a co-worker who had started that year also and who helped me see the difference between a person who wants to portray a Christian character and attend church in their finest clothes and look down on others who do not have a car as fine as theirs and a true Christian who feels compassion with other people’s suffering.
I am nto saying that people with wealth are bad people…not at all…I am saying that we need to be really careful about where we place our focus when things of this world distract us, such as money.
There are children in all schools who need guidance, whether private or public, but money is no substitute for christian character.
It is good to remember that Mary probably wouldn’t have been able to affird to send Jesus to a private school. The discipples that Jesus chose were ordinary working class men, like Peter, who would not have afforded a private school education either. In fact the usual young men who were sent off to be educated in tose days with the intentions that they would become a student to a Rabi were not the types of scholars that Jesus chose. Please remember that raw life experience and often people who would be judged harshly in our society today such as prositutes and murderers even, were the people who were some of the most passionate followers of Christ while he was alive and after his death. For example, Mary Magdelene and Paul
It is important for us to remember that as Christians we are to bring the lost to Christ and the lost are not necessarily people withOUT money as Jesus told us it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Not that all rich people are bad in character and do not love the Lord (as there is nothing wrong with having wealth), but that the love of money can with some people overtake their love for Christ.

Comment on Reprise: Should Christians send their kids to non-Christian schools? by PSenior

PSenior — Tue, 11 May 2010 02:06:44 +0000

One might like to consider the educational experiences of Moses and of Daniel, Shadrach et al. Their secular education seems in fact to have been part of God’s purpose – albeit at the level of higher education in the case of the exiles. Paul describes his educational credentials which might be viewed as either the equivalent of state school or private religious school. It was his encounter with the risen Christ that led to his salvation. He is rather dismissive of his educational credentials – although undoubtedly his education prepared him for the ministry to which he was subsequently called.
I am somewhat concerned that the debate in the US has more to do with a political lens shaping views of the Bible. I don’t claim unbiased insights and indeed would seek to avoid dogmatism where really this is a secondary issue in terms of orthodox Christian belief – particularly as public schools as we currently understand them didn’t exist in the Bible.

Comment on Should Christians send their kids to non-Christian schools? by Paula

Paula — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 21:21:55 +0000

I attended public school…good schools that prepared me well for college. If it hadn’t been for a girl I met in the 5th grade, I would not know Jesus. My family did not go to church. I knew nothing of the Bible. I made freinds with a new girl in my class. Her famiy pointed me to Jesus. She was the salt and the light to me. What is left if we take away the salt and the light? 5th grade…yes, we are witnesses for the Lord the moment we receive Christ. In John 17 Jesus prayed for the disciples protection in this world from the enemy…because God did not want to take them home yet. They had work to do. God will protect those who faithfully serve him. Education is the responisiblity of the parent. Education should be occuring at home even for public school kids. Parents need to disciple their children and teach them to abide in Christ through the adversity they face. That is what they will need once they are grown and on their own- knowledge of how to serve and trust God in this depraved world.