How To Save A Life....

gregorytheSinner

So being in Egypt there are two major divisions amongst Christians: Coptics and Protestants
Last year i met htis kid who is Coptic at a Coptic Society meeting, who seemed pretty devout
i.e. he knows the Bible, teaches Sunday School, goes to a COC etc.
Yesterday i discovered two things about him:
-He is not a big Pope fan, b/c he was dissapointed that HH praised muslims too much, when he recieved his Honorary PhD
-He is semi-obsessed w/ being able to talk to girls
(i kno they seem pointless but they tie in to smoething)

So he was tellin me about how he went to visit his gmom, and went to this Protestant Field day in the city (which i sorta frowned at) and  how he made freinds w/ girls (seems innocent enough).
Then later on he tells me that he's been going to Thursday meetings at this Protestant Church, and the reason he was keeping it on the down low was because recently the CO priest form his church found out that a kid goes there and was dissappointed and tried to win him back but wasnt able, the kid was too stuborn and a conflict arose, were the kid evantually cursed at the priest.  So i basically told him that it wastn a good idea b/c he was basically setting himself up for disaster as a copt.  I continued to tell him that they weren't bad people, its just they had wrong ideas such as instant salvation.  He attempted ot tlel me that he was dogmatically Coptic he just went there cuz it was a bad habit (sorta like drinking pepsi) he enjoeyd the lively powerful songs and their way of giving sermons w/ the yelling and stuff. 
Protestants are very social people who are nice, and tehy most defnitley welcomed him, for i know htis church, i once went to a meeting there because i had to meet w/ someone delivering something to me.

What scares me the most aobut this is the fact that he's becoming too attached, and mixed with the two discoveries i made this can only spell the loss of a good copt.  I know i should pray, but in addition is there anything doable to make him come back without involving anyone else (he's afraid of the priest's reaction)?

smile4ever

there are some points that u can discuss with him such as the emotional worship style which can be very attractive but it doesn't raise saints..emotions don't last..they just give a temporary releif that's why they can be very addictive.

-He is semi-obsessed w/ being able to talk to girls
(i kno they seem pointless but they tie in to smoething)

he made freinds w/ girls

i don't understand this: why isn't he able to talk to girls of his own church?

why don't u try to introduce him to a good youth meeting (not necesseraly in his local church) to attach im to the coptic church? I admit that once i reached the point where i was giong to leave the church for good because of some problems , what saved me was a friend who invited me to the youth meeting at her church, soon i became attached to this church.

u should pray for him as u said.

gregorytheSinner

The thing is he knows like what im gonna say lol
like the whole emotional worhship thing.....i explained that to him.....i told him we should be at peace w/ God when we worship not being all hyper etc. and he acknowledged that he says i kno its not exactly right but it gives u this temporary thing that attracts you........just like drugs like ur attracted to it.

as for the whole youth group thing:
i actually met him at a college youth meeting , that i dont go to any more but he still does,
aside form that he is very active amongst those things, he's in many youth groups..........sadly enought hte saying
the bigger they are the harder they fall applies here..........

O one more piont ......as for the girls thing........i dont know his church cuz i never been tehre but its in a very remote place so their customs  are very different from teh more liberal protestant church in the heart of cairo

p

Tell him that the Pope is trying to prevent more Radical Muslims from killing more Christians.

Severus

Tell him that they call The Holy Vrigin Mary their 'sister'. Tell him that they don't believe in the intercessions of our patron saints, and that they believe everyone is a saint. Tell him they don't know the right way about the Trinity. Tell him that they don't have fasting. Tell him that they don't have priests.

Going to their meetings is like planting a seed; there, the seed is watered. Eventually it grows into a plant, at which point he just isn't going to the Orthodox Church and has become Protestant. You want to stop it at the 'seed' part by telling him these things! If they don't change his mind...boy, are you in for a lot of praying.

Unknown

Have you heard of Bishop Moussa, also known as the Bishop of the Youth, well if you don't, he wrote "Youth Concerns: Questions and Answers" and one of the questions is "I have tried to talk to my non-christian friends about God, but they never seem interested. What can I do? (I know this friend of yours is a christian, but I think what Bishop Moussa wants to get accross is I have tried to talk to my non-coptic christian friends... etc)  His answer was: It is better to talk to them through your examples and not through your words.  If you are holy, and pray for them, and you genuinely like them and care for them, a time will come for talking to them. But first, you must start by being a good example, and then the Lord will open the door for them, on a certain day and in a certain way.
If you want to see it for yourself you can go to this weblink:
http://www.youthbishopric.com/library/DownloadLibrary/Book/yconcernE.pdf ; Question 69!

Forever,
Coptic Servent