Why Christian furs must evangelize to other unrepentant furry sinners.
Why Christian furs must evangelize to other unrepentant and unsaved furry sinners. (full title)
Welcome my brothers and sisters. I pray that you are all well and have the Lord Jesus Christ's blessings in your life.
The purpose of this journal entry will be to explain why I feel it is extremely important for other furries who identify as Christian to evangelize to other furries(and non-furries) who are currently blind to these spiritual truths due to their own sinful nature.
As I have mentioned in other entries - pride is the most dangerous sin that leads to all other sins being manifest. When the spiritual truth of Jesus Christ is presented to a sinner who currently does not believe in God or feels that they are being judged unfairly because of what Jesus Christ and the Holy Bible teaches - it is their pride and ego that is causing them to feel this way. Those who are fortunate enough to be born into households where they are taught spiritual truths and morals from a very young age are lucky in that they have not spent a long time being 'in the world' without these truths, so their hearts and minds do not become hardened, prideful, and stubborn against exploring and seeking the desire for spiritual truth and to understand why the world is in such a fallen state. Instead, our inherent sinful nature takes over and it is very possible to live a long, full life seeking after the pleasures of the flesh, the love of money, the desire for fame or generally to chase after fulfillment and satisfaction in just about any way we can - provided that fulfillment does not come from having to humble ourselves before a divine authority.
If you have been a patient and open minded reader - you may have taken the time to read my last journal entry that discussed the dangers of the LGBT culture/movement within furry fandom. In that entry, we saw, using quantifiable research data and methods that there was a severe lack of spiritual/moral authority in most furries' lives - to the tune of 3 out of 4 furries tending to identify as atheist or agnostic. We also saw that there is, strangely enough - a trend that young adults who enter furry fandom as heterosexual will trend towards bisexual or homosexual the longer they remain within the furry fandom. I posited that this may be due to the hypersexualized atmosphere of the furry fandom. I think in part this danger may also be because there is such a severe lack of religious upbringing with those entering the furry fandom and/or remaining in the furry fandom. Approximately 70% give or take did not seem to have any faith-based beliefs. One of the things that you learn when you become a Christ follower is that there are certain behaviors that will **not only** separate you from the LORD, but sentence you to being in a state of perishing. What does this mean? It means two things: 1.) You are currently in a state of perishing - even as you live. This means that because of your pride, arrogance, the general belief that you know better than anyone else with regards to your behavior and how you choose to live life - you have refused the free gift of saving salvation and entry into the LORD's /eternal/ kingdom.
Every day is like driving a car back and forth on a winding road with cliffs all around you with your brakes in the process of failing. The Christian servant in your life is the mechanic that is telling you - with a significant amount of concern, "Your brakes are failing. You really should get them fixed. You're driving up and down this winding road along the canyon every day. Would you please fix your brakes? You are in so much danger, here." When told this - you tell yourself "What are they going on about? I do just fine. Every day I take the same route and I have no problem. The car slows down when I need it to as I take the curves going up and down this beautiful canyon. That mechanic is greedy and just wants money to fix a problem where there isn't one...". Those brakes will eventually give out. It will happen some beautiful day. You will be taking that scenic route, same as you always did. You will see that curve coming up. You will apply the brakes. They will be gone. The mechanic can only do so much. You can only be warned a certain amount of times before your time is up. Your speed will be too fast. You will go over the guard rail and into the waiting hands of the LORD. But whereas a repentant Christian will see this day with joy and a sigh of relief that they are no longer in a world of sin and pain and suffering, you, the unrepentant sinner who always believed you knew better than anyone else will suddenly find yourself face to face with the Lord Jesus Christ. Welcome to your day of judgment and punishment. No amount of pleading for a second chance to accept Christ Jesus will matter at this point.
PRIDE. You were been blinded by it. So heavily, that all those times the Lord Jesus had His servants showing up in your life, or online through blogs and journals (HINT HINT), you just believed deep down that you were not in danger.
Friend, I know it hurts. I know it seems unbelievable. Believe me, I know. I gave up a relationship that I had with my partner of ten years. I did this because I humbled myself and decided that I would try reading the Holy Bible and learning about Jesus Christ and what sin was. After doing this I realized that if I wanted to be a committed servant of Jesus Christ - someone who was fully forgiven by the LORD for their sins - that I would have to do what the Holy Bible and Jesus Christ instructed, no exceptions. I have no where near the same amount of friends in furry that I used to, and I believe part of this is due to the fact that I do not engage in the old sins of lust and pride that I used to engage in, so I am no longer generally with the same crowds of furs, unless I am there evangelizing to them. I am also still good friends with my ex. I have not made him leave my residence. I see him now as a brother, a son of God whom I am tasked with watching over. He has some social anxieties so I do my best to keep him safe as one would a little brother. I do not engage in a relationship with him any longer that the LORD would consider sinful. I will not put the sins and pleasures of the flesh above my love for my Lord. My ex has not accepted Christ Jesus yet but I pray every day that he will at some point desire to know the same spiritual truths that have been revealed to me.
The reason I feel it is so important for Christian furries to preach the gospel to other furries is because we have the greatest potential to reach other non-believing furries and to bring them out of their sins and into the truth and light of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me put it this way: Prior to being a born again believer, being in the furry fandom for 10-15 years - I never really had a desire to explore these spiritual truths. I was always busy with something else. Finding other furry friends on social media, having fun, indulging in sin. But I never really cared to go to church, or learn about who Jesus Christ was, or what He did. There was no way I wanted to read the Holy Bible. As Christians we learn that it is the sin, the darkness within us that pushes us away from Christ and the gospel. It's not that we are not willing to learn about these things under the right circumstances, but rather that when we are in a current state of deep sin, it is that sin that makes the desire to read and learn about these topics seem unpalatable to us. Because somewhere deep down, subconsciously, we realize that these spiritual truths are going to (in a righteous and holy manner) judge us and we may feel some sense of conviction over our behavior and how we have been living our lives. The deep down feeling that this would happen if we explored these topics makes us suddenly feel defensive, like we are about to be judged or criticized for who we are. And we are not necessarily mistaken for feeling this way. The Holy Bible and Jesus Christs' teachings are very straight-forward in that any behavior deemed sinful is to be avoided at all cost:
Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.” -John 8:10-11
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23
I equate sin as sort of like a disease. When you are in the midst of indulging in it, the cure seems too painful, too distasteful of an option to pursue. The disease itself - sin, infects your mind and way of thinking in that you love the behavior in your life that is sin to such a point that you cannot bring yourself to depart from it. Sort of like an addict with a drug. You are so invested in your sin because of the amount of time you have been sinning that to rid your life of it just seems like too much is being asked of you. Rather than read about Jesus Christ and the Holy Bible, it can seem so much easier to just mock or make accusations at the messenger for bringing the topic of sin, judgment, salvation and hell to your attention.
I believe many of us who identify as furries feel that we get a sort of validation, friendship, and love from the community in a way that we have often had a hard time finding in most other places. Whether in the workplace, school, at home in the family, or among non-furry friends - we just have this sense of belonging and community in furry that feels so wonderful and cherished that as servants of Christ Jesus we are given an amazing opportunity to reach out to our fellows in a way that hopefully will not have them feeling so guarded and "under attack". Christian furries are very much like any other furry - we love and appreciate the fantastic and imaginative aspects of melding animal with human traits that we see in modern times in so many various forms of media. The big difference is that we are individuals from the community who have at some point in our lives come to have a strong desire for the truth, along with why this world is the way it is, and the struggle of good and evil. Our search ultimately leads us to finding Jesus Christ, realizing our own very flawed nature, how we can still be forgiven and saved despite that nature, and how important it is for us to share this precious knowledge with others.
I will remind the reader that as a Christian you will be mocked and made fun of at various points. You will have other furries (or non-furs) not take you seriously. You will have people who respond to you with doubt or accusations or even outright hostility. That's okay. It's not your fault. Understand that it is the sin that has control over their thoughts and behavior that is causing these brothers and sisters to behave this way towards you. Don't take it personally! Don't get angry with them. These are children under the tutelage of Satan. They have been won over through the desires of the flesh and other sins. I mention desires of the flesh specifically because as noted earlier - lust and pride are two big sins in the furry fandom, and will be what you will be dealing with most often in trying to bring other furries to Jesus Christ.
Remember as the Lord's servant you must act not just out of righteousness but also with love and mercy. When you receive hostility, return such hostility with patience and kindness. A good verse to remember when non-believers mistreat you while you are trying to save them:
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Finally, in closing - to any unrepentant furries or non-believers, if I have not in these struggles made a convincing case to you to at least investigate Jesus Christ and the Holy Bible for yourself, may I ask if you have heard of Pascal's wager?
Presented by Blaise Pascal, who was a seventeeth-century philosopher, theologian, mathematician, and physicist, the theory is this:
A rational person should live as though God exists and seek to believe in God. If God does not exist, such a person will have only a finite loss (some pleasures, luxury, etc.), whereas if God does exist, he stands to receive infinite gains (as represented by eternity in Heaven) and avoid infinite losses (an eternity in Hell).
Seems pretty straightforward, no? Generally atheists will refute this as there being no proof whatsoever that God exists. If you want to take that gamble, it's up to you. But there are plenty of debates and discussion where people of faith can and often do argue with success that there are certain elements in life that prove God exists. That the Golden Ratio exists in many elements of life being just one of them (hurricanes, snail shells, sea shells, etc..)
The whole point being that you're supposed to believe without seeing(faith). That's the whole point. If you have to see or experience God in this life with one of your five senses - you have missed the point. Holy Bible comments on this (faith) many times. Here is one example:
A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus then left them and went away. - Matthew 16:4
Faith, my friends - will always seem like a concept that is alien and hard to understand until you decide to take the leap and believe despite not experiencing with your senses:
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. - Romans 5:1-5
Just as Indiana Jones (The Last Crusade) had to actually step out onto an invisible bridge before he could see it was there - one must have faith in Jesus Christ and seek Him out before His truth and salvation will become known to you.
Welcome my brothers and sisters. I pray that you are all well and have the Lord Jesus Christ's blessings in your life.
The purpose of this journal entry will be to explain why I feel it is extremely important for other furries who identify as Christian to evangelize to other furries(and non-furries) who are currently blind to these spiritual truths due to their own sinful nature.
As I have mentioned in other entries - pride is the most dangerous sin that leads to all other sins being manifest. When the spiritual truth of Jesus Christ is presented to a sinner who currently does not believe in God or feels that they are being judged unfairly because of what Jesus Christ and the Holy Bible teaches - it is their pride and ego that is causing them to feel this way. Those who are fortunate enough to be born into households where they are taught spiritual truths and morals from a very young age are lucky in that they have not spent a long time being 'in the world' without these truths, so their hearts and minds do not become hardened, prideful, and stubborn against exploring and seeking the desire for spiritual truth and to understand why the world is in such a fallen state. Instead, our inherent sinful nature takes over and it is very possible to live a long, full life seeking after the pleasures of the flesh, the love of money, the desire for fame or generally to chase after fulfillment and satisfaction in just about any way we can - provided that fulfillment does not come from having to humble ourselves before a divine authority.
If you have been a patient and open minded reader - you may have taken the time to read my last journal entry that discussed the dangers of the LGBT culture/movement within furry fandom. In that entry, we saw, using quantifiable research data and methods that there was a severe lack of spiritual/moral authority in most furries' lives - to the tune of 3 out of 4 furries tending to identify as atheist or agnostic. We also saw that there is, strangely enough - a trend that young adults who enter furry fandom as heterosexual will trend towards bisexual or homosexual the longer they remain within the furry fandom. I posited that this may be due to the hypersexualized atmosphere of the furry fandom. I think in part this danger may also be because there is such a severe lack of religious upbringing with those entering the furry fandom and/or remaining in the furry fandom. Approximately 70% give or take did not seem to have any faith-based beliefs. One of the things that you learn when you become a Christ follower is that there are certain behaviors that will **not only** separate you from the LORD, but sentence you to being in a state of perishing. What does this mean? It means two things: 1.) You are currently in a state of perishing - even as you live. This means that because of your pride, arrogance, the general belief that you know better than anyone else with regards to your behavior and how you choose to live life - you have refused the free gift of saving salvation and entry into the LORD's /eternal/ kingdom.
Every day is like driving a car back and forth on a winding road with cliffs all around you with your brakes in the process of failing. The Christian servant in your life is the mechanic that is telling you - with a significant amount of concern, "Your brakes are failing. You really should get them fixed. You're driving up and down this winding road along the canyon every day. Would you please fix your brakes? You are in so much danger, here." When told this - you tell yourself "What are they going on about? I do just fine. Every day I take the same route and I have no problem. The car slows down when I need it to as I take the curves going up and down this beautiful canyon. That mechanic is greedy and just wants money to fix a problem where there isn't one...". Those brakes will eventually give out. It will happen some beautiful day. You will be taking that scenic route, same as you always did. You will see that curve coming up. You will apply the brakes. They will be gone. The mechanic can only do so much. You can only be warned a certain amount of times before your time is up. Your speed will be too fast. You will go over the guard rail and into the waiting hands of the LORD. But whereas a repentant Christian will see this day with joy and a sigh of relief that they are no longer in a world of sin and pain and suffering, you, the unrepentant sinner who always believed you knew better than anyone else will suddenly find yourself face to face with the Lord Jesus Christ. Welcome to your day of judgment and punishment. No amount of pleading for a second chance to accept Christ Jesus will matter at this point.
PRIDE. You were been blinded by it. So heavily, that all those times the Lord Jesus had His servants showing up in your life, or online through blogs and journals (HINT HINT), you just believed deep down that you were not in danger.
Friend, I know it hurts. I know it seems unbelievable. Believe me, I know. I gave up a relationship that I had with my partner of ten years. I did this because I humbled myself and decided that I would try reading the Holy Bible and learning about Jesus Christ and what sin was. After doing this I realized that if I wanted to be a committed servant of Jesus Christ - someone who was fully forgiven by the LORD for their sins - that I would have to do what the Holy Bible and Jesus Christ instructed, no exceptions. I have no where near the same amount of friends in furry that I used to, and I believe part of this is due to the fact that I do not engage in the old sins of lust and pride that I used to engage in, so I am no longer generally with the same crowds of furs, unless I am there evangelizing to them. I am also still good friends with my ex. I have not made him leave my residence. I see him now as a brother, a son of God whom I am tasked with watching over. He has some social anxieties so I do my best to keep him safe as one would a little brother. I do not engage in a relationship with him any longer that the LORD would consider sinful. I will not put the sins and pleasures of the flesh above my love for my Lord. My ex has not accepted Christ Jesus yet but I pray every day that he will at some point desire to know the same spiritual truths that have been revealed to me.
The reason I feel it is so important for Christian furries to preach the gospel to other furries is because we have the greatest potential to reach other non-believing furries and to bring them out of their sins and into the truth and light of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me put it this way: Prior to being a born again believer, being in the furry fandom for 10-15 years - I never really had a desire to explore these spiritual truths. I was always busy with something else. Finding other furry friends on social media, having fun, indulging in sin. But I never really cared to go to church, or learn about who Jesus Christ was, or what He did. There was no way I wanted to read the Holy Bible. As Christians we learn that it is the sin, the darkness within us that pushes us away from Christ and the gospel. It's not that we are not willing to learn about these things under the right circumstances, but rather that when we are in a current state of deep sin, it is that sin that makes the desire to read and learn about these topics seem unpalatable to us. Because somewhere deep down, subconsciously, we realize that these spiritual truths are going to (in a righteous and holy manner) judge us and we may feel some sense of conviction over our behavior and how we have been living our lives. The deep down feeling that this would happen if we explored these topics makes us suddenly feel defensive, like we are about to be judged or criticized for who we are. And we are not necessarily mistaken for feeling this way. The Holy Bible and Jesus Christs' teachings are very straight-forward in that any behavior deemed sinful is to be avoided at all cost:
Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.” -John 8:10-11
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23
I equate sin as sort of like a disease. When you are in the midst of indulging in it, the cure seems too painful, too distasteful of an option to pursue. The disease itself - sin, infects your mind and way of thinking in that you love the behavior in your life that is sin to such a point that you cannot bring yourself to depart from it. Sort of like an addict with a drug. You are so invested in your sin because of the amount of time you have been sinning that to rid your life of it just seems like too much is being asked of you. Rather than read about Jesus Christ and the Holy Bible, it can seem so much easier to just mock or make accusations at the messenger for bringing the topic of sin, judgment, salvation and hell to your attention.
I believe many of us who identify as furries feel that we get a sort of validation, friendship, and love from the community in a way that we have often had a hard time finding in most other places. Whether in the workplace, school, at home in the family, or among non-furry friends - we just have this sense of belonging and community in furry that feels so wonderful and cherished that as servants of Christ Jesus we are given an amazing opportunity to reach out to our fellows in a way that hopefully will not have them feeling so guarded and "under attack". Christian furries are very much like any other furry - we love and appreciate the fantastic and imaginative aspects of melding animal with human traits that we see in modern times in so many various forms of media. The big difference is that we are individuals from the community who have at some point in our lives come to have a strong desire for the truth, along with why this world is the way it is, and the struggle of good and evil. Our search ultimately leads us to finding Jesus Christ, realizing our own very flawed nature, how we can still be forgiven and saved despite that nature, and how important it is for us to share this precious knowledge with others.
I will remind the reader that as a Christian you will be mocked and made fun of at various points. You will have other furries (or non-furs) not take you seriously. You will have people who respond to you with doubt or accusations or even outright hostility. That's okay. It's not your fault. Understand that it is the sin that has control over their thoughts and behavior that is causing these brothers and sisters to behave this way towards you. Don't take it personally! Don't get angry with them. These are children under the tutelage of Satan. They have been won over through the desires of the flesh and other sins. I mention desires of the flesh specifically because as noted earlier - lust and pride are two big sins in the furry fandom, and will be what you will be dealing with most often in trying to bring other furries to Jesus Christ.
Remember as the Lord's servant you must act not just out of righteousness but also with love and mercy. When you receive hostility, return such hostility with patience and kindness. A good verse to remember when non-believers mistreat you while you are trying to save them:
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Finally, in closing - to any unrepentant furries or non-believers, if I have not in these struggles made a convincing case to you to at least investigate Jesus Christ and the Holy Bible for yourself, may I ask if you have heard of Pascal's wager?
Presented by Blaise Pascal, who was a seventeeth-century philosopher, theologian, mathematician, and physicist, the theory is this:
A rational person should live as though God exists and seek to believe in God. If God does not exist, such a person will have only a finite loss (some pleasures, luxury, etc.), whereas if God does exist, he stands to receive infinite gains (as represented by eternity in Heaven) and avoid infinite losses (an eternity in Hell).
Seems pretty straightforward, no? Generally atheists will refute this as there being no proof whatsoever that God exists. If you want to take that gamble, it's up to you. But there are plenty of debates and discussion where people of faith can and often do argue with success that there are certain elements in life that prove God exists. That the Golden Ratio exists in many elements of life being just one of them (hurricanes, snail shells, sea shells, etc..)
The whole point being that you're supposed to believe without seeing(faith). That's the whole point. If you have to see or experience God in this life with one of your five senses - you have missed the point. Holy Bible comments on this (faith) many times. Here is one example:
A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus then left them and went away. - Matthew 16:4
Faith, my friends - will always seem like a concept that is alien and hard to understand until you decide to take the leap and believe despite not experiencing with your senses:
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. - Romans 5:1-5
Just as Indiana Jones (The Last Crusade) had to actually step out onto an invisible bridge before he could see it was there - one must have faith in Jesus Christ and seek Him out before His truth and salvation will become known to you.