I am uncomfortable in churches, and I dislike the methods of many Christians.
It’s often awkward. I am a church-going Christian. I love Jesus. I just can’t stand the way we often portray his love to others.
To reiterate: I love Jesus.
Without counseling, I have been healed of crippling guilt and shame that made me afraid of things like the doorbell and the telephone. I didn’t wish it away.
Christ’s love and forgiveness, extended to me by accepting Christians, was what ultimately made me not obsessively check caller IDs out of insecurity.
I didn’t accept Jesus immediately.
My acceptance of Christianity was the result of a long-term commitment of one guy to love and accept me, arrogance and all.
He didn’t tell me what to do; he accepted me for who I was. I wanted what he had, and what he has is a love of Jesus.
That’s how Jesus operated.
Jesus didn’t force anything on anyone. Jesus says some pretty hard stuff in the Bible, but he didn’t make people do anything.
Jesus told the rich young man in Matthew 19 to sell all he had and give to the poor. He had to give up his wealth to put God first.
The man didn’t take up the offer; he wanted money more than God.
Jesus did not follow him, berate him, form a picket line around him, or shun him because he didn’t take up the offer. Jesus didn’t get offended or get all weird around him.
He let the man do as he pleased. It’s his life. It’s his choice. Jesus will be there if/when he comes back, but he’s not going to hound this man mercilessly until he says yes.
This is something everyone, Christian or not, should hear. You can’t force a person to believe something. You can’t force someone to want something. If people don’t want to change, they won’t. It’s as simple as that.
Hopefully, I’ll be able to impact lives in a positive way for Christ, but sometimes people just like how they are.
This leaves me with the reality that some people I know choose not to be Christians.
I can go all Westboro Baptist and freak out on people who don’t know Jesus. But what good would it do?
They would just get a bad impression of what I believe Christianity to be about.
It’s not about dragging you into a set of rules. It’s about getting yourself right with God.
I know it sounds all metaphysical and hippie-fied, but it happened to me. My friends can attest.
No, I won’t be offended if you’re not a Christian. Nor will I tell you every time I see you that you’re wrong and need to convert.
I would love for you to become a Christian, but it’s not for my agenda, glory or ego.
I wish everyone would follow Christ because you can be healed of your hurt. If you don’t want it, I can’t convince you to believe it, and I won’t try.
But I’m not going to hide it in my own life. If you ask me how I’m doing, there will probably be a reference to the Wesley Foundation or InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, because those ministries are a part of my life.
I’ll offer to pray for you if you’re hurting. If you don’t want me to, OK But if you do, I will.
If you want to know about Jesus, I’ll tell you about him. I’ll tell you about my transformation from the arrogant, hurting jerk that I was to the calm, joyful and healed person I am and am becoming.
I’ll tell you how you can start moving toward that peace yourself.
It’s our job as Christians to represent Christ as part of the loving God who offers this choice: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
It isn’t a command. It’s not an ultimatum.
It’s an offer.
I hope you take it. But if you don’t want it, don’t take it.
I can’t force you to, and I hope others respect your distance, too.
Stephen Carardini is a professional writing junior. His column appears every other Thursdsay.
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carrottope 3 years, 7 months ago
Happy Yom Kippur everyone!
EN 3 years, 7 months ago
The caveat with your offer is Revelation 20:10 - if non-Christians don't belong to Christ, they belong to Satan, thus the entire business of false prophets, a fiery lake of hell, eternity, etc.
No, not all Christians push this part of their religion, but it's impossible to consider the aggregate without being attentive toward one of the most vital and eye-opening components of Christian scripture. It is, "I won't force my religion on you for purpose of convenience, but know that if you don't accept my religion you will receive severe and unrepentant consequences."
It's a little hard to ignore that part for non-believers or believers alike in the discussion of modern evangelism.
BrianCBiggs 3 years, 7 months ago
Stephen, I'm going to have to side with EN on this.
We cannot force someone to be a Christian; that is, we cannot make an unwilling person repent and have faith in Christ. Nor can we change a person's heart and change his nature, only God can do that. The most we could do is force someone to abide by rules and observe social practices - force them to pretend to be something they are not (that is, a Christian). Because of this we should not try to force someone.
All that being said, we ought to try convince others of Christianity. And we ought to do it by speaking the truth and living a winsome life that reflects the gospel we strive to spread. We do it first and foremost out of our love for God, but also because we love the people we are trying to reach. "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others." (2 Cor 5:10-11a, ESV).
God DID command man to love him, and there is a terrible price to pay for those who have broken that command. This, among many things should be in our minds throughout the day. If truly believe in Hell then we ought to be fervent in our evangelism.
Now, I realize that your point was not to discourage evangelism. But my point is that what Christ has done is more than make an offer and if we have received Christ we must do more than passively make an offer. We must speak the truth.
jfreezy 3 years, 7 months ago
Yeah but you're not going to be able to convince everyone, no matter what. How would you feel about evangelical atheists? Atheists coming to your door and trying to convince you to give up your belief in God? I think something of that nature would provoke violence.
The point is, your "truth" is not the same as someone else's. Most arguments have certain truthful or factual aspects. Like the sciences. In those fields, people take empirical truths, and apply them into theories and realities, i.e. they take an aggregate of basic facts and use them to discover higher, more complicated facts. But when it comes to God, no one has ever been able to prove or disprove it. Because of this, there can be no truth at the base of the argument, therefore, truths cannot be discovered from untruths or uncertainties and thus the existence or non-existence of God can never be proven. You can test scientific theories, and you can test what you believe to be true in science. If it works, it's true, if not, it's false. But since only opinions, theories, and theologies can attempt to argue for or against the existence of God, and no hands on tests or applications can be implemented to test these theories, then it is unlikely that the argument will ever be completely resolved.
So, long story short, many people are never going to be converted, because when you tell someone who does not believe in Christianity, particularly hell, that they are going to go there, they laugh. Maybe not in your face, but in their minds they laugh. So I agree with Stephen, if you want to win converts, practice your religion and keep your places of worship open and welcoming to outsiders, even overtly so, but do not really try to go out and convert with guilt and pressure, because this will likely create more enemies than converts. To try to do a theoretical mind battle with someone to win them over to your religion rarely wins anything.
BrianCBiggs 3 years, 7 months ago
Jfreezy, I disagree on many points. First, you are making the assumption that God has not and cannot be proven to exist - apparently due to the nature of empirical evidence. And you also assume that apologetics is just a "theoretical mind battle." Furthermore, you seem to think I am suggesting that we win converts with "guilt and pressure."
A few things I would like to point out:
1) GOD saves - NOT man.
Only God can save someone, and only he can change a person's heart and nature. Biblical apologetics does not deny this, but is a part of man's responsibility and faithfulness (2 Cor 10:3-6, 1 Pet 3:14-16). In fact, in 1 Peter 3:15, the instruction is to first "sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts." It is more than a "theoretical mind battle."
2) Guilt and pressure are NOT what I am suggesting - but that just as Paul reasoned in the synagogs and market-places, so should we.
3) If you think that God cannot be proven empirically, you are correct. If Christians borrow an opposing world-view's epistemology it will never arrive at a Christian conclusion. However, if a Christian were to reason on the basis of a Christian epistemology then he should always arrive at a Christian view. These are basic facts of consistency. But, if the Christian can then demonstrate that all views that don't begin with Christian presuppositions are inconsistent then he has proven God (specifically the God of the Bible) by the impossibility of the contrary.
Will #3 win people to Christ? No. Man is naturally an enemy of God and loves his sin and depravity. But if someone is faithfully sharing and God works in that person's heart, then will someone be saved.