By Anthony:
Evangelism in our culture is normally seen to be offensive and intolerant. To tell someone that they need Jesus or need forgiveness for their sins, or shouldn't be living a life without God is very politically incorrect. Unfortunately I think many Christians are buying into this lie. I want to argue in this post that evangelism is not at all offensive and intolerant, though some people may indeed be offended by it. It is actually a loving and caring thing to do. Even for people who believe the Christian faith is false, or who believe that God does not exist should still see evangelism from Christians as a loving action. Here are a couple of videos that show my point. I thank my brother for pointing them out to me. First, a funny video from the show Seinfeld.
In this clip, Elaine's boyfriend is certainly not a model Christian. His faith seems pretty shallow. However, Elaine herself points out to us the true nature of evangelism, that it is a loving and caring action. Elaine is most upset in the show, not that her boyfriend is a Christian, (though she doesn't like that either), but that he doesn't care enough about her to try to get her to become a Christian. He seems to not care at all that she is going to Hell, since he doesn't try to talk to her about his faith. Elaine remains firm in her rejection of the Christian faith, and yet she is still greatly bothered by his lack of love and evangelism. Even this secular television show points out to us that our culture's notion of evangelism being offensive is based on false logic. If we really believe what we claim to believe, we should be sharing our faith with others because we care about them. If we don't, we might seem less offensive, but actually we are callous and uncaring towards non-Christians.
Next, an atheist named Penn Jillette argues the same point. Although he is an atheist, he sees the true logical and loving nature of evangelism, and argues that all religious people should proselytize.
People should want to be evangelized to by Christians, (even if they are convinced that God does not exist), because that shows that Christians care about them. At the very least, people should expect Christians to evangelize to them. If we don't share our faith, it makes people think our beliefs are a bunch of nonsense that even we don't really believe. Sharing our faith with someone is not intolerant. Real tolerance means respecting people and allowing them to believe differently. Tolerance does not mean we shouldn't try to influence other people.
I can't guarantee that it won't offend someone if you tell them about Jesus, but it shouldn't offend them. Evangelism is loving. We were commanded to love our neighbor, and sharing our faith is the greatest application of loving our neighbor. We should care about whether they have eternal life or not. If what we believe is true, then sharing our faith is the most loving thing we can do. It is a beautiful thing to do. It is sharing good news, not bad news.
Romans 10:9-15
9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. 11 As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
Thanks for sharing that Anthony. I can reinforce exactly what Jillette was saying. I was not raised with a faith or with any church experience. I knew nothing of God and became an atheist because science was my god and science had no room or need of any other god. And in college, I was absolutely certain that those who believed in God were wrong, especially Christians, because of their actions and they way they lived. If they really believed in God and eternal life, they would not be living like the rest of us and they would be whole-heartedly committed to trying to show us the "truth." Yet no one I had ever known had ever even tried to tell me about their faith. I concluded that Christianity was obviously not true.
ReplyDeleteOf course, God did a number on me later on to convince me otherwise, and that included a Christian who did not proselytize but who cared about me deeply, in spite of how obnoxious and difficult I was. He started me thinking that maybe, just maybe Christians had something.
Witnessing and sharing the reality of God, accompanied by love, honesty, and patience is a most important Christian activity.
-- Bill Durkin
When I was working, one of my co workers was an atheist, and was offended that in my cubicle, which was far removed from her area, was a Bible, and at Christmas time I had manger scenes decorating my area. She asked me to remove them because they offended her, and I refused, telling her that I was offended that she took offense at my beliefs. I told her that since she did not have to pass or come anywhere near my cubible, she could just avoid it, and not concern herself. She would bait me every chance she got about my Christianity. Finally, not wanting to cast my pearls before swine, I told her if she had any questions, my Bible was available for her to look up the answers to any questions she may have. I do not know if she ever looked at my Bible or not, but once in awhile she would ask for some explanation, and I would give it, as long as she refrained from using it to mock my Savior. I retired several years ago, and do not know if she is still convinced that God has nothing to do with her if He, in fact, exists, but I also know that she is without excuse. She heard it, several times from me, she could have read it herself-she is college educated and no dummy as far as research and looking things up, so she cannot accuse God of not giving her the info. I pray for her, continue to pray that she come to see and know Jesus. As long as she is alive, there is hope and an opportunity.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
Joan Garrity
Anthony you are spot on! We have been talking with our DG girls about this and I am going to send this to them! so cool how God is working in your and Sara's life right now!(not just what will be once you get to Uganda! ) Nicole L
ReplyDeletethat was a good post, i enjoyed reading that.
ReplyDeletemy main issue with evangelists are when they enter territories they're not welcome in to spread the word. I've heard missionaries in church claim to have been chased off by police in foreign countries after trying to spread the word in a section of the country where it was actually illegal to do that. the natives were so happy with their religion that they actually made it illegal for christians to go door to door yet these evangelists still day after day for a week continued to do it, repeatedly getting chased to the border. they felt so proud of themselves but they looked like jerks to me because they weren't preaching to people who cared, they were simply boosting their own ego's and looking for a good story to tell.
ReplyDeletethat being said i still agree with everything you've said in this post anthony and looooove the seinfeld clip