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]

Nice post. But quoting scriptures doesnt mean something is automatically true.

Interesting. But please point out where I quoted Scripture. If you mean talking about the Commandments, I guess I wouldn't consider that quoting Scripture as if I'd copied and pasted Revelation 21:8. I named some of the Commandments -- they're universally known as things you shouldn't do.

I used to consider myself to be a Christian. Heck, I go to a Christian school. But it seems the more I research and learn about it, the less and less I believe it. Now its gotten to the point that I dont believe it at all.

I'm glad you're honest enough to recognize that you're not a Christian, then. Most people would be in denial saying that believing in the person they think is Jesus is enough. They're not looking to the Jesus who was prophesied in the Old Testment and who was revealed in the New.

...but what about people who dont believe? They're damned. Just like you believe in Christianity with all your heart, non believers believe the exact same way. If non believers really are damned, then 99% of the world is going to hell. Would our kind and loving God do that to his children? Not the God I know.

First of all, please don't misunderstand: I don't believe in Christianity -- the religion with many different flavors. I believe in Christ -- Messiah -- and His Word alone.

Second, I don't believe with my heart. My heart's been wrong many, many times. In fact, my heart's led me to more mistakes than I can count. I believe with my mind because God has proven Himself to me. I'm a guy and I'm a professional software engineer -- both points major strikes against making emotional decisions. Further, I'm Jewish. I started reading the Bible to prove that Jesus is NOT who He claimed to be. I was wrong.

Regarding those who don't believe, you're exactly right. Anyone who has a problem with it will have to take it up with the One that wrote it -- the Lord Himself. If you try to break the law of gravity by jumping out of an airplane mid-flight, is it the parachute's fault that you didn't put it on ? Of course not ! You would have to put the parachute on first. In the same way, if someone's heard that Jesus is the only way to be saved from the penalty of breaking God's moral Law (the 10 Commandments), simply knowing about Jesus won't do it. You need to, in effect, put Him on. Trust in Him as you would a parachute.

Of course, the next logical question from someone who doesn't believe in the Jesus of the Bible is, "Well, what about those who've never heard about Jesus ? Are they going to be damned as well ?" Sadly, there's nothing in Scripture that says that everyone must hear the Truth of the Messiah. The Bible does rightly say, though, that each one of us has been given a conscience (meaning "con" = "with", "science" = "knowledge) by God. Every person lies with knowledge that it's wrong. Every person steals with knowledge that it's wrong to do that. Every person who looks upon someone to lust after them does so with knowledge that if they're mother were looking, they shouldn't do that, too. The Bible teaches that the conscience bears witness and when you break that conscience you've condemned yourself to the well-deserved sentence of "Guilty" as I stated in my previous post. But, if you're that interested in those who are in far-away tribes, get yourself saved and go there and preach to them ! Otherwise, you should really just consider what's going to happen to you after you die. Where are you headed -- for eternity ??

As for your comment about the "God I know". You're right. The god you know is one you've made up in your head - he doesn't exist. As I mentioned in my previous post, you've broken the Second Commandment and molded a god to suit your own understanding as opposed to looking into God's Word and seeing who He really is. The god you know is not the God of Bible who is described as a righteous and Holy Judge. Since God is love, He must hate that which is against love. Since He loves righteousness, He must hate evil.

Here's a question for you: It sounds like you might think that whether you believe in the Jesus of the Bible or not, you're still good with the God who created all things. If that's the case, why did Jesus live a perfect life only to screw it up at the end by allowing Himself to be killed (disregarding the fact that this was prophesied in the Book of Isaiah about 700 years before He was born) ? If people that claim to be "good" can get to Heaven, then why did Jesus have to die ???

But when you see these people, who twist religion, and hide behind it, and use it for thier own purposes, these are the worse. These are the false prophets.

I couldn't agree with you more. Those who do this will receive the appropriate judgment. Nothing's hidden from God.

Don't let the bad example of some lead you to make an eternal mistake in rejecting the only way to receive salvation.

[datass]

I named some of the Commandments -- they're universally known as things you shouldn't do.

They're known as things people who believe in it shouldn't do.

EDIT

ScottD, all the "should" and "shouldn't" things you posted disgust me. Are you telling people what they SHOULD and SHOULDN'T do? Who are you to do that?

Not one single person on this Earth should tell you how to live. The Word of God should.

So what if there's no God? What if we're not Christians? Why do we have to live the way some book (Bible) tells us to?