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?

[Mulder]

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.

first question: I meant the lectures. I've started skipping them lately. I mean, really, one conversation is not going to change my outlook on life, and either is a lecture.

second question: I don't think a buddhist-jew relationship...works. If you're born Jewish, you'll die as a Jew, unless you convert. I'm not saying that, by birth, you are not a Jew. You will always be a Jew by birth, and I for one am not trying to take that away from you. But the faith itself, there is one God, and he is holy, and he saved us from Egypt....etc... well, in my opinion, you can't be messianic and still hold that statement true. i feel like such a hypocrite now... i'm so not the person to be talking about faith