Evangelism Options

[yummy_delight]

A good friend of mine and I recently got into a heated debate about evangelism. We're both Christians, but we have very different ideas about evangelism. When my friend started getting really involved in church a few years ago, he also became a rampant evangelist. He believes that by bringing more people into the church he is not only saving them from eternal damnation, but also doing his duty as a Christian. He has often quoted Charles Spurgeon, saying "Every Christian is either a missionary or an imposter," essentially stating that you can't truly be Christian without evangelizing non believers.

I, however, don't like the idea of evangelism at all. Although I'm a devout Catholic, I dislike the idea of evangelism because I don't believe that anybody, myself included, has the right to force his or her beliefs on someone else. I think that everybody has a right to be whatever the religion they choose. Perhaps it's because I have a different idea about God than other people. I don't think that God sends honestly good people to Hell just because they don't believe in him. There are such things as Christian people who are hypocritical, paying lip service to God at church on Sundays, and still go about causing harm to other people. In my opinion, these people are less deserving of heaven than the good-hearted people whose only "fault" is that they don't believe in God. I think that my duty as a Christian is to be a good person and have a positive impact on the world, which doesn't necessarily mean that I HAVE to be an evangelist.

I'd just like to know what everyone else's opinion is on this, not merely from a Christian standpoint, but from another religion's or atheist's perspective as well. Do you approve of evangelism? Are you an evangelist? Do you think that evangelism is a necessary requirement for all good Christians?

[sdingfelder]

now i have a question for you. how do you know, truely, who the false prophets are?

That's an excellent question. You use the Bible as your compass. You compare the teachings of someone who calls themselves a "prophet" to what the Word of God has said. If there's any contradiction, that person is falsely representing the Lord. Don't forget what happened to Moses when he misrepresented the Lord.

god is my beacon. If i follow him and him alone, i cannot be led astray. many will try to show me their ways. They may be right, and they may be wrong. but i do not know.

Please forgive me, but the only way to follow God alone, according to the Bible, is to be what's called "born again" (see John 3:3). You must be born again to truly follow God. To know if someone's right or wrong, again, is something that takes comparison to the Word of God.

what i do know is if i trust in god, i will find the right way. i do not need the guidance of anyone else; god shall find me, and i he.

How do you determine your level of trust ? Is it in simply following what you think is right ? Do you ever go in a direction that seems wrong in order to follow God ? If not, how much trust do you really have for Him ?

Be careful. Read Proverbs 3:5 and Psalm 118:8. How many times in your life have you been wrong ? I can trust in my best friend, but if I'm blindly following him on the road and he gets lost, I end up lost as well. You have to read your Bible, obey it, and live it.

In terms of trust, though, do you trust the Bible enough to believe what Jesus Himself says ? Do you see the words that He speaks and say to yourself, "Well, if He said, I need to do it" ?

what you preach may be noble, and what you preach may be good. but how do i tell? you are not god, so i must follow my own way.

What I say, if it has any nobility, is because it's from God's Commandments. He set them forth in order to show us how unclean we are compared to His righteousness. Picture a baby lamb against the backdrop of a bright green meadow. That lamb looks bright white. But, now take the same lamb and set it to the backdrop of newly fallen snow. That lamb now looks unbelievably dirty comparatively. This is how God's righteousness so drastically shows us that we are so far from His goodness.

As for me being God, you are SO, SO right. You should not listen to me nor trust me. Anyone who tries to share their faith with someone else should NEVER base their version of truth on their experiences, on their church, or on their emotions. I ask you to trust none of these from me, from anyone else, nor from yourself. The Bible is the only means by which to know truth. It's the only Book that's proven itself.

The beautiful thing is that God did endow everyone with a conscience that is meant to help show us all that we've broken His Laws. I hope you're not at the point that you've seared that conscience. Your eternal destiny's at stake. Can you guarantee that you'll wake up tomorrow ? No one can. Why, then, put your head on the pillow tonight without getting right with God ??

Throughout the Bible, God calls all people to repent and to follow Him. He doesn't say that you have to attend a church. He says you are to separate yourself from the sins that have separated you from Him and to make Him the most important thing in your life (the First Commandment).

It's a humbling thing to know that you can't make it Heaven on your own merits. God requires perfection -- and none of us would make it on our own. This is why, from the beginning, it was foretold that Jesus -- the Jewish Messiah -- would come and give His perfect life on a cross so that the penalty for our sins could be paid -- paid in full.

Please consider where your eternal destiny would be. Jesus said that I should love my neighbor as I love myself. I don't want to go to Hell and my only concern is that you not go there either.

I am full blown Christian

What does "full blown" mean ? Are you born again ?

but I never liked the whole "go door to door" thing.
but that's not what evangelism is about.

Unfortunately, going door to door has become a trademark for JWs and Mormons. But that doesn't mean that that's not what evangelism's about. You just disagree with it as the means by which to share your faith, right ? Truly, it is a hard thing to step out of your comfort zone to start conversations with complete strangers, but please don't look at others simply as trees (Mark 8:28). Please look at them as God does -- as souls that have one of two possible eternal destinations. Just as you can't guarantee that you'll wake up tomorrow morning, you can't guarantee that they will either !! How terrible it would be to know that you didn't tell them about the only way to make it to Heaven the day before they step off this Earth and into eternity ! Wouldn't you want to have had a clear conscience ?

my form of evangelism deals with me living it.
I live how I believe a Christian should live.

If you're born again, please point out in Scripture where any of the prophets or the apostles simply used "living it" as their form of sharing the singular Truth of God. When was there ever a move of God in the Bible where His representative was simply living his life with a smile on his face waiting for someone to ask, "Hey, why are you always so happy ? Tell me about what gives you so much joy ??" Never.

Think about how you asked God for His free Gift of Salvation. Was it at a VBS ? Was it an altar call ? Was it an evagelist ? Or was it someone who had a smile on their face and you asked them, "Hey, why are you always so happy ? Tell me about what gives you so much joy ??"

So, do you live as how you believe a Christian should live or how the Bible teaches you should live as a Christian ? Remember that "Christian" means "follower of Christ". Are you living your life as a follower of The Jesus described in the Bible ? Do you read your Bible and see ways in which you live that God says "If you want to honor Me, don't do that." ? Please strongly consider this question and answer it not based on pride or ego, but as God would judge.

no one is ever gonna listen to you
if you beat a Bible over their heads
and tell them they're going to hell.

You're exactly right -- beating them over the head with a Bible would never work. That's why I use a hammer instead. Much more effective.

Because I know that Jesus gave me a gift that I neither deserve nor could EVER earn, my desire is to share it with others who haven't received it yet. Because I know the promises of God to the person that isn't born again are true, I fear for them. Don't you ?? Don't you care enough about the people around you to talk openly with them about their eternal destiny ? Don't you care that they're promised an eternity in the Lake of Fire ? Don't you ??

If you say that you do, in fact, care then how about this: Do you care enough to do something about it ?? Because if you don't care enough to do something about it, you don't care.

If your neighbor's house was on fire late at night, would you simply knock on the door lightly and not want to disturb them ? If they came to the door, would you say, "I'm really sorry for bothering you, umm, but would you like to come over and, umm, have a cup of coffee at my house ? Not trying to say that we couldn't enjoy a cup here -- I mean your house is really nice, but, umm, I just thought you might like to have a change of scenery. But, you know, you just take your time and if I've offended you I'm really sorry." Of course not !! You'd bang on that door and yell for them to get outta there !! Their house is on fire for goodness sake !!

the hardest thing to ever change something about someone
is what they corely believe.

Please understand that I did not grow up with these beliefs. My current beliefs are not those of my parents nor the friends I grew up with. The people I called friends and that called themselves Christians didn't care enough about my eternity to tell me about Jesus. No one I grew up with ever told me that without repenting and accepting His gift of Salvation that I was destined for Hell & the Lake of Fire even though I thought of myself as a really good person. I won't do the same thing with the people that God leads across my path. Why would you ?

so tell me what you believe.

If it isn't clear from my previous posts, I completely trust the Bible as the inerrant, fully God-breathed Word of the Eternal God of Creation and of Salvation. Because I believe that, I read it. Because I read it and trust it, I obey it. Shouldn't you ?

As a "full blown Christian", do you believe differently ??

Romans 10:14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?