It is so difficult to know the rite words to say too a hurting heart. This is why one must be called by God to be his representative here on earth. If this is the case God will provide just the rite words for the hurting heart. I knew a woman whose daughter killed herself. She was questioning her own parenting and wondering what she could have done to prevent what had happened. She called the suicide hot line run by our free clinic. The councilor told her to hold while he saw to some other problem. She became so incensed at his lack of concern, she lost all interest in the idea of suicide. That was the rite approach for her. However, it isn't for everyone. Perhaps the minister merely wanted her to focus on how improving her relationship with God and with her church would help her solve the wrong thinking under which she was subject. He just didn't know how to help this particular woman. I was watching court TV. There was a case of a teenage girl who went to her Baptist minister and asked him whether her salvation could be lost. He said it couldn't. As she had been "saved" when she was a child, she immediately went home and killed her parents because they forbid her to see her boy friend. Imagine the guilt resting on that minister's shoulders? I think along with seminary training there needs to be a full course given concerning the proper counseling of distraught people. I will pray for your friend's soul that she will soon see the face of God. ----- Original Message ----- From: Rhonda Partain To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Monday, January 01, 2007 11:20 PM Subject: Re: pray for a friend It is so sad….this pastor and I use the word lightly needs prayer too…words can do such dammage we should speak the truth in love….would love belittle someone, make them feel as though they were worth nothing? When Jesus saw the woman caught in adultery did He tell her how wrong she was, how she should have resisted the temptation, did he criticize her, NO! He showed her love, something she had probably never known, the very thing she had been looking for, the reason she was in adultery, looking for love in the wrong place!! God help us, show us how to love, give us a heart of compassion, not of condemnation! Rhonda -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.432 / Virus Database: 268.16.1/611 - Release Date: 12/31/2006 12:47 PM