Evangelism

[TofuDreamer]

This post is mostly opinion and jumble. Respond to however. wink

Spreading the word of gospel. Converting people. Come to our religion or you'll go to hell. Call it whatever you want but evangelism is still the same thing: spreading the word of god. Religious groups have started campaigns to "ignite the light" within the youths so they can find "god" recently. Like Battlecry, an event that is held around the U.S. to attain the fire of Christ. With guest speakers and crappy Christian rock bands, they spread the word of god of those uncertain. Is it alright to convert a person of their faith into another religion? Who knows for sure, people have doubts and uncertainties and may find a new light. Although some of us may not agree with some religious group's methods, some people do find new lives for themeselves which make them happy.

I'd say maybe 90% of my friends are Christians and when they have the chance to convert me, they always take it. Just hearing about God and his "glory" just seems a bit too impractical. Being the cynical boy I am, I always try to question things and find impurities within any statement. I just find it strange that other religions are trying to discredit other religions. It's like a game of who has more converts. I may not like their methods, but I still respect everyone as a person in whole.

So the question, do you think evangelism is okay for people actually seeking a new light? And what is your opinion on evangelism in general.

And a simple question that has nothing to do with the topic, why are some people so inclined to disapprove of other people's religions? Is it because of their attitude or of their doctrine?

Damn, I'm such a crappy writer.  

[The MoUsY spell-checker]

I have a friend who became Christian last year ( gonk ), and she's obsessive about it.

When she became Christian, I no longer lived in the same country as she does (it is even possible that she turned to Christianity because she needed something to keep her company, but let's not go into that), but we keep in touch via email. Lately she's becoming more and more focused on church and her visions and whatnot, and recently she tried to convert me.

It's not the first time. I've told her before that I don't believe in such things, but she insisted. I replied to that email with a few screens worth of reasons why I do not believe in any religion. She still hasn't replied. (That was only yesterday and we have a three-hour time difference, so there is a chance that she hasn't saw it yet.)

By sending that email with why I don't believe in religion, I am prepared that she might not be my friend after reading it. I say that it's her fault for trying to convert me after I've told her that I do not believe in such things. I'm fine with her being Christian, but I won't have her trying to convert me!

I agree with the quote in the GAU banner by hellpike:
"You hang on to your delusions, and I'll hang on to mine."  

[Sanguvixen]

It is but a pathetic tactitional game that all religions play.

They want to discredit other religious because they believe that thier religion is the one and only true religion. Or that thier interphretation of the bible is the right one.

They believe that thier God/Diety is the real god/diety and all others are fake. To validify what they feel, they'll go around and play a game of Convert others.

The reason they want to Convert others is to one(gain the largest following), and two they want to "Save others" by getting them to switch the to thier following.

I don't really have much of an opinion of Evangalism....except that I hate with a burning passion Televangalists.

Look at the whole thing this way. Religion is like one big group of Cell Phone companies trying to sell thier service.

Christianity would be Verizon trying to put Sprint out of business.

Jehova Witnesses would be the cell phone company you never heard of, because they are too cheap to afford effective advertising(thus the door to door tactic)

That does help make sense of the foolish chaos?

 

[Sanguvixen]

The MoUsY spell-checker

I have a friend who became Christian last year ( gonk ), and she's obsessive about it.

When she became Christian, I no longer lived in the same country as she does (it is even possible that she turned to Christianity because she needed something to keep her company, but let's not go into that), but we keep in touch via email. Lately she's becoming more and more focused on church and her visions and whatnot, and recently she tried to convert me.

It's not the first time. I've told her before that I don't believe in such things, but she insisted. I replied to that email with a few screens worth of reasons why I do not believe in any religion. She still hasn't replied. (That was only yesterday and we have a three-hour time difference, so there is a chance that she hasn't saw it yet.)

By sending that email with why I don't believe in religion, I am prepared that she might not be my friend after reading it. I say that it's her fault for trying to convert me after I've told her that I do not believe in such things. I'm fine with her being Christian, but I won't have her trying to convert me!

I agree with the quote in the GAU banner by hellpike:
"You hang on to your delusions, and I'll hang on to mine."

Well....I don't see why she has to keep bugging you and trying to convert you. I also don't see loosing a friend over something so trivial.

I wouldn't cut ties immediately though. I knew a person who had a similar problem. Instead of cutting ties, whenever his friend would bring up religion, or start trying to convert him he would just turn mute and ignore them. Only when they would change the subject would he start talking or paying attention to his friend.

Eventually his friend got the hint, and stopped trying to convert him.

Try to ignore her attempts to bring up religion, and just flat out tell her no if she tries to get you to go to christian events. If she tries to convert you just ignore her until she stops.

 

[HaileSelassie601993]

Hmm...it may be as annoying as ********, but I can understand it. If you knew the truth, wouldn't you want to tell people?  

[iviary]

paulkimpaul

Hmm...it may be as annoying as ********, but I can understand it. If you knew the truth, wouldn't you want to tell people?

Exactly. I asked a Mormon friend why he enjoyed riding around on his bicycle, knocking on doors, attempting to convert people {though I phrased it a little differently. wink } He used a metaphor I found quite understandable. "When you see a beautiful sunset, don't you want to share it with someone?" Makes sense. Just don't try to convert me. razz  

[The MoUsY spell-checker]

Sanguvixen

Well....I don't see why she has to keep bugging you and trying to convert you. I also don't see loosing a friend over something so trivial.

I wouldn't cut ties immediately though. I knew a person who had a similar problem. Instead of cutting ties, whenever his friend would bring up religion, or start trying to convert him he would just turn mute and ignore them. Only when they would change the subject would he start talking or paying attention to his friend.

Eventually his friend got the hint, and stopped trying to convert him.

Try to ignore her attempts to bring up religion, and just flat out tell her no if she tries to get you to go to christian events. If she tries to convert you just ignore her until she stops.

I know that I shouldn't cut ties with her over such a trivial issue, and I'm not intending to. I'said that I sent her an email on why I don't believe in her religion (or any kind of god for that matter), and I know that there is a chance I might have offended her enough for her to decide to cut ties with me, although that isn't what I intend.

Also, I've received a text message from her yesterday, and she wrote a very short response, simply telling me something to the effects of "God loves you" (I won't quote the whole thing because the message is for me and I don't think I should be showing it to other people, even if she'll never know), with no hint of wanting to cut ties with me.

It's just that she happened to have started on suggesting that I should believe in God for a specific reason (which wasn't a very good one in my opinion, although I think I might have typed something that didn't really come out right, so she took the chance), even if I've told her that I don't believe in such things.

Luckily, there's no way she can make me go to Christian events at least until November.

(I mentioned that I don't currently live in the same country with this person. I also said that one of the possible reasons why she turned to religion was that she needed something. Yes, she was that lonely at the time.)

All the conversion attempts and religion talk are on email / SMS / phone. That's a problem: about two-thirds of her emails involve her church / religion. That's why it's annoying. She's gone to the point where it's her main interest (which is also the reason why I think the email might have offended her to the point where she might cut ties with me).  

[DivideByZero14]

I think that you should tolerate her discussion of church and religion and her attempts at conversion, if you want to keep her as a friend. Change the subject. There's no reason to pursue a topic that might be mutually hurtful if it can possibly be avoided.

(This thread makes me wish I had some less accepting friends. When I tell them I'm an atheist, they don't really care. I'd love it if, just once, someone came up and tried to convert me. Then the moron-bashing could begin. twisted )  

[caustic 0_0]

I haven't had any friends try to convert me, so I don't know what that's like. I think trying to share your faith can be okay, but you should be respectful if people are obviously not interested in talking about it or hearing about it. You shouldn't try to force them to listen or bombard them with pamphlets. That'll make them less likely to want to talk to you anyways, so what's the point?

Another thing I always heard at church was that if you're friends with people, you're willing to talk about your faith if it comes up or they ask, and you lead a good example with your life, then that can be enough of a witness to people without you ever having to approach them on the subject directly.