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]

Acid Bath Slayer
How many grains of sand make up all the islands of Hawaii ?

What is the average number of hairs on a full-grown Tibetan yak ?

Clearly, you cannot answer these questions because you do not have absolute knowledge. Did you know that Thomas Edison said, "We do not know one-milliionth of one percent about anything" ? You can agree or disagree with this, but clearly you know nowhere near all there is to know.

Let's give you the benefit of the doubt and say that you know a whopping 1% of ALL there is know. Wouldn't you agree that in the 99% of what you don't know and haven't come across yet, that this could be where evidence resides that proves God's existence ? Wouldn't you agree that the 1% of absolute knowledge you hold onto so tightly has kept from seeing the other 99% ?

I hope you'd agree that you have nowhere near absolute knowledge. Therefore, you're left with less-than-absolute knowledge. So, instead of saying your an atheist (there is no God), you must be an agnostic (just not sure).

More quotes:
Sir Isaac Newton said, "This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being."

Scientist Stephen Hawking is his book, A Brief History of Time said, "It would be very difficult to explain why the universe should have begun in just this way, except as the act of a God who intended to create beings like us."

Albert Einstein didn't believe in the God of the Bible, but he wasn't a fool. He knew that there was a Creator. He said, "God does not play dice [with the universe]." "Everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is
manifest in the laws of the Universe--a spirit vastly superior to that of man, and one in the face of which our modest powers must feel humble." (The Quotable Einstein, p. 152).

Professor Louis Bounoure, Director of Research, National Center of Scientific Research so rightly stated: "Evolution is a fairy tale for grown-ups. This theory has helped nothing in the progress of science. It is useless."

Sir Arthur Keith (Sir Arthur Keith wrote the foreword to the 100th edition of Origin of the Species) said, "Evolution is unproved and unprovable."

Malcolm Muggeridge, the famous British journalist and philosopher said, "I myself am convinced that the theory of evolution, especially the extent to which it’s been applied, will be one of the great jokes in history books of the future." (The End of Christendom, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Mich., 1980, page 59).

Dr. T. N. Tah-misian of the Atomic Energy Commission said, "Scientists who go about teaching that evolution is a fact of life are great con-men, and the story they are telling may be the greatest hoax ever."

"Paleontologists have discovered a new skeleton in the closet of human ancestry that is likely to force science to revise, if not scrap, current theories of human origins." USA Today March 21, 2001

Reuters reported that the discovery left "scientists of human evolution…confused," saying, "Lucy may not even be a direct human ancestor after all."

Bottom line is that I fear for you. You might not care about that, but I see you jumping out of an airplane with no parachute cursing God and the law of gravity for taking you down. Please don't continue along the path of self-righteousness (seeing yourself as right and not seeing yourself the way God sees you) and rejection of the God that gave you life. I certainly don't expect you to respond saying, "Yes !! I see now !! You're right !!" But, consider that every day that He gives you breath is a chance for you to call out to Him and ask Him to forgive you for your anger toward Him and to repent and give your life to Him.

You can't guarantee that you'll wake up tomorrow. Please don't put your head on your pillow tonight without getting right with God.

Spirited Away

This is relevant to the original discussion, how one Christian thinks Christianity should be practiced:

"Everybody thinks of changing humanity and nobody thinks of changing himself."
--Leo Tolstoy

Interesting quote. I'm not sure if you're just asking for my opinion on it, though.

Do you believe that this quote indicates something significant to someone who calls himself / herself a Christian ?

To me, it immediately implies humanism. Since I hold to a Biblical worldview, I see little truth to Tolstoy's statement. The little bit of truth I do see is that everyone does want to change others before changes occur within themselves. Jesus Himself said this in that people will always look to the speck in someone else's eye before looking to the log in their own.

As for "changing himself", I don't believe anyone can change themselves. Deep down to the core, people will lean toward doing that which is unacceptable to the Lord. You don't have to teach a little child to lie. They do it simply because it seems right. Only God can truly change someone. I know men who've had $300 a day cocaine habits that stopped and turned on a dime because they repented and put their trust in Jesus Christ. I know others that have similar victories over alcohol, smoking, pornography, etc. They will immediately tell anyone that they'd tried to change themselves before, but it never "stuck".

So, I don't believe anyone can change themselves for a lasting change. It's a temporary patch, if that. Only the God who calls Himself "The Beginning and the End" can do an everlasting work in someone since He always was, is, and always will be.

For anyone else reading
Please don't get lost in the details here.

The important thing is your eternal destiny.

Do you think you're going to Heaven when you die ? Are you 100% sure you'll make it ? What does it take to get there ? Do you think it's based on being a "good person" ? Are you a "good person" ? If you've lied, stolen, used the Lord's Name in vain, looked at someone with lustful thoughts, then you're a lying, thieving, blasphemous, adulterer at heart. This is how God sees you and you will be found guilty of breaking just those 4 of His Ten Commandments. Please consider your eternal destiny. Where would a guilty sentence send you ? That answer should fill you with fear, but knowing that God didn't want that for you and knowing what He did so that wouldn't happen to you should fill you with tears. He sent His Son to die on a cross to pay your fine and He raised Him from the grave and defeated death so that you could escape the wrath to come. Please don't let your pride in thinking that you can merit your way into Heaven keep you from humbling yourself and looking to Him for something you can't do yourself. Please.

[Spirited Away]

Spirited Away
Interesting quote. I'm not sure if you're just asking for my opinion on it, though.
Do you believe that this quote indicates something significant to someone who calls himself / herself a Christian ?
To me, it immediately implies humanism. Since I hold to a Biblical worldview, I see little truth to Tolstoy's statement. The little bit of truth I do see is that everyone does want to change others before changes occur within themselves. Jesus Himself said this in that people will always look to the speck in someone else's eye before looking to the log in their own.
As for "changing himself", I don't believe anyone can change themselves. Deep down to the core, people will lean toward doing that which is unacceptable to the Lord. You don't have to teach a little child to lie. They do it simply because it seems right. Only God can truly change someone. I know men who've had $300 a day cocaine habits that stopped and turned on a dime because they repented and put their trust in Jesus Christ. I know others that have similar victories over alcohol, smoking, pornography, etc. They will immediately tell anyone that they'd tried to change themselves before, but it never "stuck".
So, I don't believe anyone can change themselves for a lasting change. It's a temporary patch, if that. Only the God who calls Himself "The Beginning and the End" can do an everlasting work in someone since He always was, is, and always will be.
For anyone else reading
Please don't get lost in the details here.

The important thing is your eternal destiny.

Do you think you're going to Heaven when you die ? Are you 100% sure you'll make it ? What does it take to get there ? Do you think it's based on being a "good person" ? Are you a "good person" ? If you've lied, stolen, used the Lord's Name in vain, looked at someone with lustful thoughts, then you're a lying, thieving, blasphemous, adulterer at heart. This is how God sees you and you will be found guilty of breaking just those 4 of His Ten Commandments. Please consider your eternal destiny. Where would a guilty sentence send you ? That answer should fill you with fear, but knowing that God didn't want that for you and knowing what He did so that wouldn't happen to you should fill you with tears. He sent His Son to die on a cross to pay your fine and He raised Him from the grave and defeated death so that you could escape the wrath to come. Please don't let your pride in thinking that you can merit your way into Heaven keep you from humbling yourself and looking to Him for something you can't do yourself. Please.

I was not fishing for your opinion alone, ScottD, as I stated that the quote was relevant to the original discussion, anyone can have their say about it. That, and I'm don't know who you are, nor have I read through this thread to see what you have to say so far, so I'll just reply to what it is you have to say to me.

Humanistic views from a Christian, I suppose it bothered you. The "little bit of truth" you saw, that everyone wants to change others and not themselves, was the whole point of the quote. What else did you see in it? Where is the big untruth?

Tolstoy is not suggesting for a person change himself, so there is no need to worry about whether or not man can change, though I would argue that he can in the same way that a dead beat Dad finds that his children are his life and returns to them, and a rebellious kid matures into reliable family man. Children do not lie because it seems right, they lie out of fear, anger, curiosity, or mischievousness, because they do not know what is right and what is wrong. Older children who do lie because "it seems right" are, obviously, very troubled.

As you know troubled men who turned to Christ and become less troubled, I know men who achieved the same simply because they believed in themselves or in those who loves them. You may attribute these men's success to God's love, but I, as someone who wants to believe in man, will give their strong wills and passion for life the credit. To each his own.

What Tolstoy is conveying here can be parallel to the proverbial "practice what you preach", and that a person should not implore a change in others while he has yet to change. The Christian faith teaches that God is the only one who can judge man. Yet, by asking people to accept/evangelizing God and His laws is an act of judgement in itself. Why ask someone to convert if a Christian is not judging that the person is believing in untruths?

If God sees me as badly as you have said (blasphemous... etc), I see that because He designed me with the weakness to become those things, He should have no grounds complaint.

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I didn't mean for this response to be so long, sorry. I get bored with long posts, too, so bear with me people/whoever's reading.