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]

sadolakced acid:
If you want to follow God, but don't believe in the Bible as His Word, then you're left to follow only that which you think is right. If you at all believe that God has the power to create everything, why don't you believe that He has the power to keep His Word intact ??

Please take a long, deep look at the integrity of 66 Books written by 40 authors over 1500 years. Year after year, the Bible is confirmed more and more through archaeology as well as the through prophecies that come to pass.

We have the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts to know that what we have is unchanged. Yes, there have been many edits to the English versions -- not only to make it more readable, but also to try to change what the Word says and this is why you need to be careful. But, even those mistranslations can be found when comparing to the unchanging original languages.

insomniac:
Yes, I am a Messianic Jew.

Your comment on being a lazy Jew really cracked me up. Thank you for that. I never thought of it, but that pretty much describes me before trying to originally prove that Jesus was not who people said He was.

I grew up in a household that the name "Jesus" was worse than a 4-letter word. My father would become stiff with anger at the mention of His Name. I grew up thinking that people were either Jewish or they were Catholic -- no idea of the differences in so many Christian sects. I was so ignorant of Jesus that I had no idea He was even Jewish !! I had no clue that the guys that penned the Brit Hadashah (New Covenant) were Jewish men following the promised Messiah of Israel. I didn't even know that what is known as "The Last Supper" was actually a Passover meal !! I just didn't know. If you know these things already, you're far more knowledgable than I was.

When you say that you sat through all the lectures and you're "just sick of it", are you sick of the lectures or sick of hearing that some Jews believe that Jesus is God ? That isn't meant to be sarcastic, I would just like to know since I couldn't tell from the sentence.

Interesting that you say that Messianic Jews are inherently NOT Jewish. This is actually one of the first things that came up against me when I realized that Jesus is the Messiah prophesied throughout Tanach. How is is that completely secular Jews are still Jews ? How is it that Buddhist Jews are Jews, that atheistic Jews are Jews ?? It's simple: the term "Jew" has been used to describe both the bloodline as well as the practice of religious tradition (i.e. "Judaism"). Secular, Buddhist, atheistic, etc. Jews do not practice Judaism yet are still considered Jews because of their bloodline. For those who read this and don't know what I'm talking about, they may ask, "What bloodline are you talking about ?" The Bible teaches that there is a race of people that were born of 3 specific men: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The offspring from that lineage are called "Jews" after one of the sons of Jacob, Judah. Therefore anyone who has blood in them that follows down from these 3 men called "patriarchs" have Jewish blood and are Jewish. You can't change your blood. My belief that the Messiah of Israel has fulfilled His promises and has come already certainly doesn't change the blood passed down to me from my parents and their parents, etc.

I can only assume that your comment that Messianic Jews are inherently NOT Jewish is not based on studying Scripture or seriously considering the exclusionary statements made about Jewish Believers in Jesus. Instead, your commment is most likely made because it's what you've been told and you accepted it from men that you probably regard and respect. That doesn't mean, though, that they're right.

As for people trying to "save" you, it's unfortuntate that your perspective is that it's rude. True Christians look to the Jews with the highest regard since the Bible teaches that they've been chosen from all the nations as God's people. In fact, true Christians love the Jews and Israel more than any of my family members. They feel this way because they (as Ruth did) have made the God of Israel their God. The desire and efforts to see you saved is done in complete obedience to what the Word of God teaches.

Please search the Scriptures for yourself and find the truth in our Messiah. Don't take someone else's opinion or thoughts as fact. Not making a choice for yourself based on your own studies is still making a choice. Have you ever heard, "If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything" ??