Ever After

On Spreading the Gospel

I was planning on posting anything, but for some reason I felt strongly to write my opinion about religious groups, especially Christians, that try to spread their beliefs to others. The reason being is that I read a post that Regina wrote about inappropriate conversion, and though I agree with them on some parts, I find myself standing up for these accused Christians.

Now the girl who wrote the post on inappropriate conversion was a Muslim, and when the Christian group tried to convert her at an Arabic festival, I can see why she was annoyed (and amused) at the same time. However, it’s when self-claimed Christians mock what the group was doing that I got really upset and disappointed. I don’t expect non-believers to understand what those people are doing or even why they’re doing it, but as Christians, we should know why they do it. But when you start saying things like”The bible did not say that everyone has to believe in god. there are other religions too, like Buddhism“, it’s apparent that

1. people either don’t know the bible at all
2. people have been taught to the twisted truth

I’m no expert in the bible myself and I’m still learning, but the first commandment of the 10 made it very obvious

You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.

If you are a Christian and believe that God is the creator and ruler of the universe and that the bible is His Word, then you should know that even though the bible doesn’t explicity say “EVERYONE SHALT BELIEVE IN GOD”, it implies it very clearly. Yes there are other religions, but to God and Christians alike, those gods are nothig more than idols that humans have made and decided to worship. And God is so adamant about everyone eventually coming to know Him and believe in Him that in the new testament Jesus says again in Matthew 28:19-20

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

So pretty much the bible is saying, those of you who already believe, good, because now you got to make sure that everyone else knows about God too! This is why those Christian groups go out there and talk to people. They have nothing personal to gain from doing it, absolutely nothing. There are no financial rewards, not even an award on paper or a chocolate medal for doing what they do. But they do it because they know that 1) God commanded them to 2) they just want to share the joy and peace they feel with others. The second part is something that words can’t describe, but any one who has an initimate relationship with God can understand, and it’s just something you can’t keep inside of you. It’s like you want the whole world, or at least your close friends and family who are non-believers to know about it and experience the same kind of joy and peace that you have. I’m speaking from personal experience here.

What I’m trying to say is that people need to understand that these Christians are getting scorned and mocked, and sometimes even physically hurt, for what they do. Haven’t you ever wondered what’s the driving force behind them, why they’re willing to do something like this? It’s not a cult, and it’s sad to hear that even amongst Christians, some would say something like that or have such deep misunderstandings. But all I can say is that it’s not easy, and that it takes a lot of guts. But the bible never said it’d be easy, and in fact Jesus said in Jon 15:18-19

If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

Of course, it was foolish of the Christian group to chose to spread the gospel at an Arabic festival. I also don’t like it when they try to force things on to people. Things like this should never be forced, and in fact, it can’t be forced. Sometimes I think they get too desperate and too passionate that they forgot what it was like to be a non-believer.

Posted in: Quiet Time

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 1st, 2008 at 12:57 pm and is filed under Quiet Time. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.