Is religious conversion moral?

[kdet]

"People who don't believe in missions have not read the New Testament. Right from the beginning Jesus said the field is the world. The early church took Him at His word and went East, West, North and South." -- J. Howard Edington

 

[Thirst_For_Knowledge]

Maybe it's location or maybe you should get out more. I live in New York City and ride the subway to school and work everyday and almost everyday or every other day there is some christian trying to preach to the whole train or station about how they need to be saved.

You scripture says it exactly - shake the dust of your feet ( move on). If people don't ask that means they don't want to know so move on.

The most annoying ones are those that won't leave you alone. Often when I'm at school, I'll get Christians that try to preach to me. I'm kind of fine if they ask me if I'd like to hear the word of Jesus. That's fine. But, when I say no, I'm an atheist, and they continue to persue the conversation, that's what bothers me. Often, I've had them follow me all over campus.

Why can't people understand that their religion is not mine, and that I want no part of it?

 

[kdet]

Mat 9:35 And Jesus went about all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of disease and all manner of sickness.

Mat 9:36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were distressed and scattered, as sheep not having a shepherd.

Mat 9:37 Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest indeed is plenteous, but the laborers are few.

Mat 9:38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth laborers into his harvest.

 

[Thirst_For_Knowledge]

Doing some reading I ran across this...

The Bible teaches that evangelism is sharing the message of Jesus Christ with a lost and dying world in need of a Savior. A statement by the late Dr. Walter Martin, who was a Christian apologetist for the faith said the following: "Are we willing to do for the truth what the Cults do for a lie?"

http://www.afcministry.com/What_does_the_Bible_teach_about_Evangelism.htm

Unless you live in a third world country, I'm sure people are aware of Christianity and its beliefs. They don't believe what you do, so why try and talk to them about it? They know the beliefs, and believe differently. It's all in vain. And quite annoying.

 

[kdet]

"'Not called!' did you say?
'Not heard the call,' I think you should say.
Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face -- whose mercy you have professed to obey -- and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world. -- William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army

 

[hernyaccent]

Doing some reading I ran across this...

The Bible teaches that evangelism is sharing the message of Jesus Christ with a lost and dying world in need of a Savior. A statement by the late Dr. Walter Martin, who was a Christian apologetist for the faith said the following: "Are we willing to do for the truth what the Cults do for a lie?"

http://www.afcministry.com/What_does_the_Bible_teach_about_Evangelism.htm

What does preaching have to do with converting? Isn't it possible for someone to have christian beliefs yet not convert to mans standards of christianity? I don't have to be saved before you to be saved.

 

[Thirst_For_Knowledge]

"People who don't believe in missions have not read the New Testament. Right from the beginning Jesus said the field is the world. The early church took Him at His word and went East, West, North and South." -- J. Howard Edington

Not to be rude, Kdet, but you do this often. You use quotes from random people to back up your point. Why does the person's opinion whom you're quoting really matter?

 

[morningstar2651]

How to find Jesus

"I'm not looking for Jesus, so don't ask me if I found him." -- morningstar2651

 

[hernyaccent]

The most annoying ones are those that won't leave you alone. Often when I'm at school, I'll get Christians that try to preach to me. I'm kind of fine if they ask me if I'd like to hear the word of Jesus. That's fine. But, when I say no, I'm an atheist, and they continue to persue the conversation, that's what bothers me. Often, I've had them follow me all over campus.

Why can't people understand that their religion is not mine, and that I want no part of it?

They can't take no for an answer. They fear if they dont save us perhaps they will have to pay.

 

[Thirst_For_Knowledge]

They can't take no for an answer. They fear if they dont save us perhaps they will have to pay.

Random Eminem lyrics are yummy.

/weirdcommentaboutsignature

 

[kdet]

The Disciple’s Charge

Go into all the world

Jesus starts by saying “go.” Jesus does not say for us to sit in our homes and preach the gospel. Nor does Jesus say sit on our pews and preach the gospel. We can get into a mentality that the lost need to come to us and we will sit here until they come. We have a sign outside and if they want to know God, then they will open the doors. That mentality, however, is simply not true. People in the world today do not know the difference in what we are trying to do and why we are different from the rest of the religious world. We are to go out there and tell, just as Jesus told us to go.

Jesus also told us to “go into all the world.” This statement has a couple of implications. The obvious implication of this teaching is that we are to make sure that all have heard the good news of Jesus Christ. Whatever we can do to ensure that the people in our sphere of influence have heard the gospel must be done. But there is another implication of this teaching by Jesus. It means that we must be in the world to teach those who are of the world. There is no way to have a “hands off” approach to reaching lost souls. We must get to know people, make contacts, and build relationships so as to teach them the good news of Jesus Christ. We cannot cut ourselves off from the world in an attempt to be spotless and without blemish. We still must live in the world, not being of the world, so that we can teach those who are of the world. It is time for each of us to get up, go into the world, make relationships with people, and teach them about Jesus.

Preach the gospel

What else are we to do while we live in the world but proclaim the gospel? This is the task given to every disciple. If you recall, we began this series of lessons from the book of Mark for this very purpose: that each of us would know the story of Jesus and be able to tell the story to others. Let us also consider that our mission is to preach the gospel. Jesus did not give us the mission of solving world hunger. Nor did Jesus give us the mission of taking care of the poor. Jesus did not command the church to become a social welfare system to those in need. The purpose of every disciple and the purpose of the church is to preach the gospel. While it may bring in the masses, we are not an entertainment facility. Jesus told us that we must preach the gospel. We cannot resort to golf tournaments, softball leagues, and Super Bowl parties to try to bring people to Christ. The tool is the gospel and we want to bring in people by the hearing of the word of God; otherwise, we are not creating disciples of Jesus, but disciples of entertainment.

This is the work and responsibility of every Christian. Every person in this room has been given this commission by God to go into all the world and preach the gospel. All of us must be affecting those within our sphere of influence. We must reach out to those who are near us and give them the opportunity to hear the good news of Jesus. Let us not think that this is only the preacher’s job. Let us not think that this is only the leaders of this congregation’s job. Let us not think that this is only the job for men. This is the role and work of every person here. Let us accept our responsibility.

http://www.westpalmbeachchurchofchrist.com/articles/mark/mark_16-15_20.html

 

[hernyaccent]

"'Not called!' did you say?
'Not heard the call,' I think you should say.
Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face -- whose mercy you have professed to obey -- and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world. -- William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army

-The Earth is flat. It's shaped in the form of a pentagon, thus it has five corners. -FES

Someone said this and truly believes it. Perhaps I should believe it to because I found it on the internet.

http://www.flat-earth.org/platygaea/faq.html

 

[hernyaccent]

The Disciple’s Charge

Go into all the world

Jesus starts by saying “go.” Jesus does not say for us to sit in our homes and preach the gospel. Nor does Jesus say sit on our pews and preach the gospel. We can get into a mentality that the lost need to come to us and we will sit here until they come. We have a sign outside and if they want to know God, then they will open the doors. That mentality, however, is simply not true. People in the world today do not know the difference in what we are trying to do and why we are different from the rest of the religious world. We are to go out there and tell, just as Jesus told us to go.

Jesus also told us to “go into all the world.” This statement has a couple of implications. The obvious implication of this teaching is that we are to make sure that all have heard the good news of Jesus Christ. Whatever we can do to ensure that the people in our sphere of influence have heard the gospel must be done. But there is another implication of this teaching by Jesus. It means that we must be in the world to teach those who are of the world. There is no way to have a “hands off” approach to reaching lost souls. We must get to know people, make contacts, and build relationships so as to teach them the good news of Jesus Christ. We cannot cut ourselves off from the world in an attempt to be spotless and without blemish. We still must live in the world, not being of the world, so that we can teach those who are of the world. It is time for each of us to get up, go into the world, make relationships with people, and teach them about Jesus.

Preach the gospel

What else are we to do while we live in the world but proclaim the gospel? This is the task given to every disciple. If you recall, we began this series of lessons from the book of Mark for this very purpose: that each of us would know the story of Jesus and be able to tell the story to others. Let us also consider that our mission is to preach the gospel. Jesus did not give us the mission of solving world hunger. Nor did Jesus give us the mission of taking care of the poor. Jesus did not command the church to become a social welfare system to those in need. The purpose of every disciple and the purpose of the church is to preach the gospel. While it may bring in the masses, we are not an entertainment facility. Jesus told us that we must preach the gospel. We cannot resort to golf tournaments, softball leagues, and Super Bowl parties to try to bring people to Christ. The tool is the gospel and we want to bring in people by the hearing of the word of God; otherwise, we are not creating disciples of Jesus, but disciples of entertainment.

This is the work and responsibility of every Christian. Every person in this room has been given this commission by God to go into all the world and preach the gospel. All of us must be affecting those within our sphere of influence. We must reach out to those who are near us and give them the opportunity to hear the good news of Jesus. Let us not think that this is only the preacher’s job. Let us not think that this is only the leaders of this congregation’s job. Let us not think that this is only the job for men. This is the role and work of every person here. Let us accept our responsibility.

http://www.westpalmbeachchurchofchrist.com/articles/mark/mark_16-15_20.html

Where does Jesus force people to listen to him?

 

[hernyaccent]

Random Eminem lyrics are yummy.

/weirdcommentaboutsignature

I wish the whole thing fit.

 

[kdet]

-The Earth is flat. It's shaped in the form of a pentagon, thus it has five corners. -FES

Someone said this and truly believes it. Perhaps I should believe it to because I found it on the internet.

http://www.flat-earth.org/platygaea/faq.html

Well, I do believe William Booth, a great man of God.
I appreciate these discussions really because they make me do research and read and learn things myself.

 

[kdet]

Where does Jesus force people to listen to him?

You keep using the word force...you are the ONLY one using the word force. No one else has used the word force.

 

[Caylin]

How to find Jesus

"I'm not looking for Jesus, so don't ask me if I found him." -- morningstar2651

Jesus was hiding behind my couch, so the rest of you can call off your search, I found him.

 

[hernyaccent]

Well, I do believe William Booth, a great man of God.
I appreciate these discussions really because they make me do research and read and learn things myself.

I respect the FES. Therefore the earth is flat. Perhaps you should read and exam what you post as a whole before you post it.

 

[Thirst_For_Knowledge]

-The Earth is flat. It's shaped in the form of a pentagon, thus it has five corners. -FES

Someone said this and truly believes it. Perhaps I should believe it to because I found it on the internet.

http://www.flat-earth.org/platygaea/faq.html

LOL, actually that site is a parody, but there is a real flat earth society that does actually believe that the earth is flat.

 

[hernyaccent]

You keep using the word force...you are the ONLY one using the word force. No one else has used the word force.

They are not directly using the word force but they are saying they are being bothered and followed.I use force because in my experiences I don't have a choice but to be surrounded by these people because I have to go to class and work. I can't jump off a moving train or find a new platform to catch my train so I am forced to listen to many christians preach their message to me even though I have no desire or interest.