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!”
