Start with Romans?

[yeshuaslavejeff]

Recently a local Baptist church taped flyers to our front doors telling us we needed to ask Christ into our lives. As a Born Again Christian who is not Baptist, I agree with this. What threw me for a loop was them saying, “You must read the bible beginning at ROMANS”. I'm not here to debate or tear down your traditions. It's just that I've never heard of this before and I'm trying to understand. Is this a “Baptist” thing? If so why tell people to start with Romans and not the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John)?

Sounds fine.
Romans declares the truth from YHVH ,
and is 'easier' for gentiles to learn the truth from, YHVH willing.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

QUOTE="Sam91, post: 72404002, member: 388985"]I'm not sure. Although coincidentally, I started attending my Church in April and the head Pastor was preaching through the whole book of Romans. ...
... ... New Christians won't necessarily understand most of it.

EDIT:
Just had an idea... remember the books '..... for Dummies' we ought to have a Christian version for Romans. Illustrated too. A big one, going into all the themes explored, but simply! If that is done already and someone has seen it, recommend it to me. My older children might enjoy reading that with me.[/QUOTE

New Christians (true Christians) will DELIGHT in ROMANS and won't have any trouble understanding it unless a religious person/ group / has already messed with them. (a lot of mis-understanding is more common than truth)

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

Peter started to evangelize the Roman gentiles by invitation from Kornelius, not by force !

We all should pay attention to religious tolerance !

Did Peter or any Apostles 'tolerate' ANY false gospel ? (no)

 

[mark kennedy]

Recently a local Baptist church taped flyers to our front doors telling us we needed to ask Christ into our lives. As a Born Again Christian who is not Baptist, I agree with this. What threw me for a loop was them saying, “You must read the bible beginning at ROMANS”. I'm not here to debate or tear down your traditions. It's just that I've never heard of this before and I'm trying to understand. Is this a “Baptist” thing? If so why tell people to start with Romans and not the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John)?

If you can follow it, it's one of the more important doctrinal books. You will wade through nearly three chapters of learning what a bunch of sinners we are. Then Paul will introduce the gospel with his all important, 'but now the righteousness of God has been revealed. Romans 4 is about the fact that faith has always been by grace through faith and Romans 5 discusses or father Adam and contrasts him with our Savior Jesus Christ. The 6th, 7th and 8th chapter are the doctrinal discussions and leading up the 12 generally focuses on Israel.

I think Ephesians would be a better starting point, he covers most of the same ground and it's only six chapters.

 

[St_Worm2]

We should not spread Christiantiy by force to people, it can create an endless wars and destruction on earth ! Peter started to evangelize the Roman gentiles by invitation from Kornelius, not by force !

We all should pay attention to religious tolerance !

Hi RH, what is your definition of spreading Christianity "by force"?

Thanks!

Yours and His,
David

Mark 16
15 Jesus said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation."​

​

 

[R. Hartono]

Hi RH, what is your definition of spreading Christianity "by force"?

Uninvited evangelism, people come knocking the door of unbelievers and preach about Gospel.


Peter didnt come to the Roman yelling "Jesus is Saviour" on the streets, he was invited by Cornelius, thats how he established the first church of gentiles.
Acts 10:21 Then Peter went down to the men which were sent unto him from Cornelius; and said, Behold, I am he whom ye seek: what is the cause wherefore ye are come?

You cannot win the unbelievers by teaching Gospel on the street



Unbelievers know the place to find Bible if they want to learn, no need to do this.

You are lucky these people never knock on your door and tell you that ..... is the last prophet, would you accept him? and they never preach on the street either, like those naive christians did.

We must watch the religious tolerance and never come and feed people with your belief uninvited. If you want to witness to friends or relatives thats your personal situation with the people you already know.

Matt 5:16 let your light shine before people in such a way that they will see your good actions and glorify your Father in heaven

If your light shines, people will ask what is your religion and will glorify God and they will follow you to follow Jesus.

Our duty is to spread love and Gospel to people, but its Holy Spirit's duty to open the heart of people. You cannot open the heart of people, the first thing what we can do is to pray for them and share Jesus's Love with them, be4 ambitiously attempting to feed them with the Gospel at the 1st place, it wont be good.

 

[R. Hartono]

Did Peter or any Apostles 'tolerate' ANY false gospel ? (no)

You are free not to accept other religion but we cannot treat the non believers badly or curse them.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

You are free not to accept other religion but we cannot treat the non believers badly or curse them.

YHVH'S WORD (the BIBLE) says clearly ANYONE who brings a false gospel IS CURSED.
BY YHVH (GOD).

 

[R. Hartono]

YHVH'S WORD (the BIBLE) says clearly ANYONE who brings a false gospel IS CURSED. BY YHVH (GOD).

It's God's authority to condemn, not us.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

It's God's authority to condemn, not us.

That's right - exactly as HIS WORD SAYS.

Accept YHVH'S JUDGMENT and DIRECTIONS, or fail.

 

[Doug Melven]

Uninvited evangelism, people come knocking the door of unbelievers and preach about Gospel.

You mean like Paul and the other Apostles did?
Acts 5:42 And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.
Acts 20:20 And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publickly, and from house to house,

I also believe in lifestyle evangelism.
Psalm 40:3 And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.

 

[R. Hartono]

You mean like Paul and the other Apostles did?
Acts 5:42 And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.
Acts 20:20 And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publickly, and from house to house,

Paul and Apostles came from Judaism which is the root of Christianity, there was no other religion in Israel, so it was good.

 

[Doug Melven]

Paul and Apostles came from Judaism which is the root of Christianity, there was no other religion in Israel, so it was good.

If Paul and the other Apostles went from house to house preaching the Gospel to those who were steeped in Judaism, wouldn't they have been turned off by the Gospel or accepted Christ like they would turn from any other religion?

 

[St_Worm2]

Hi RH, I asked you what evangelism "by force" meant. You answered:

Uninvited evangelism, people come knocking the door of unbelievers and preach about Gospel.

Isn't that one of the very things the Lord commanded us to do however, to witness/tell others why/how we became Christians, and to evangelize/preach the Good News to all/everywhere?

Luke 9
1 He called the twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all the demons and to heal diseases.
2 And He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to perform healing.
3 And He said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, neither a staff, nor a bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not even have two tunics apiece.
4 Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that city.
5 And as for those who will not receive you, as you go out from that city, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”
6 Departing, they began going throughout the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.​

In fact, some of His last words to us right before His Ascension were these:

Matthew 28
19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

Mark 16
15 Jesus said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation."

Acts of the Apostles 1
8 "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."​

You mentioned one of my favorite verses above, Matthew 5:16, but you left out the two preceding verses that go with it in that section of Scripture.

Matthew 5
14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden;
15 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
16 Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven."​

.
We weren't called to hide the light we've been given from those who don't have it until they decide they 'want' to see it .. because they NEVER will .. e.g. Romans 3:10-12. Rather, we are taught to preach the Good News, because faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ .. Romans 10:17. Unfortunately, explaining the Gospel to others most often requires that we tell them the "bad news" first, but people don't want to hear that, IOW, hear why they need a Savior*. But if we don't speak up on their behalf, even if it makes them uncomfortable when we do so, who will

*(remember that while evangelism certainly concerns "reaping", our principle concern should be "sowing", because few come to Christ the very first time they hear about Him)

Finally, while Acts (as well the rest of the Bible) is replete with workers heading out/being sent into the Lord's harvest WITHOUT an invitation from those they ended up preaching to, it's interesting that you landed on the one and only time in the Book of Acts that an invitation was given. Of course, that invitation was given to St. Peter, who up until that time had refused to have any contact with Gentiles whatsoever .. cf Acts 10:28, and who did not believe (before he was shown otherwise in a dream and then sent by God to the Caesarea) that God was planning on extending His salvation to the Gentile nations as well (so he had no plans to go to them before this time). In fact, the main theme of this section of Scripture is about St. Peter's change in disposition toward the Gentiles, and the knowledge that we all received through him about the Lord's intention concerning the Nations

Yours and His,
David
p.s. - here's an example of an anti-invitation (if you will) to preach Christ, and what St. Peter and St. John decided to do with it.

Acts of the Apostles 4
18 When they had summoned them, they commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.
19 But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge;
20 for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

​

​

 

[R. Hartono]

Isn't that one of the very things the Lord commanded us to do however, to witness/tell others why/how we became Christians, and to evangelize/preach the Good News to all/everywhere?

I live in the largest number of muslims in the world,
one day, in a "car free day" occasion in Jakarta, where people swarm to the main streets of the city to do sport or sight seeing this christian woman is busted evangelizing a muslim woman on the street.

The woman grab the old woman's hand and told her : "Jesus is the Saviour, would you believe Him?"

The muslim woman just smiled but other muslims around that (look at the picture) politely asked the woman that she should not force her faith to other believers. This incident has spread and christianity has been mocked instead of being received and appreciated.

In every nation there is a so called "religious tolerance" which we must obey, otherwise we all will be in endless wars.

Let me ask you what if these muslims grab your hand on the street and tell you "...... is the last prophet, will you believe Him"


I'm not banning you from spreading Gospel, thats our duty but we must use spiritual discernment and Holy Spirit guidance be4 we speak with strangers uninvited. You can preach at the churches provided by your nations for your faith, the muslims and the buddhists at their own building. You are free to preach to your friends or neighbours or family relative which you already know.

But trying to feed strangers with your faith doesnt do any good. People usually feel that this kind of man is only an annoyance.

This poster should be placed in front of your church, you are not called to be a teacher for everyone.


One day two man walking in my neighbourhood yelling "Salvation unto this house", nobody open their door, people hide themselves when they look at this kind. In their point of view, religion is cheap. The most disgusting to the people in the neighbourhood is the Jehova Witness who keep feeding people again and again, some even wanted to throw dirt at them if they havent been patient.

Please can you figure out a more respected way of Evangelism which can be accepted by strangers, instead of bombing them with posters, verses, banners etc. which wont be appreciated.

People hv religion, you come to them with this trusting you have done something good for God. Who on earth is listening to you ?

How would you expect people to trust Jesus ? they dont even trust you.

I'm not banning people by all means if you think you hv done something good for God by displaying this kind of board : This board is better placed in front of your church, what do you expect carrying this board around the city ? people to gobble down what you write on the board ?

The buddhist and muslims never did this to push people to gobble down their religion. man oh man, without religious tolerance you will be desolated in ruins.

 

[R. Hartono]

p.s. - here's an example of an anti-invitation (if you will) to preach Christ, and what St. Peter and St. John decided to do with it.

20 for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”​

​

Yes we should not stop speaking about the Gospel, as you and i are both speaking of now.

But we should not grab a stranger's hand on the street and tell them "Jesus is Saviour would you believe Him???????????????" All apostles never did this.

And you are speaking to yourself if you do this : (its called one way communication without feed back/responds)


You are also scaring people if you do this :

We are not selling newspaper on the road, for which we must yell to offer.

Would you like this man to carry the board of Arabic verses on the street ?
At least he doesnt feed people with his religion and instead doing decent business without annoying people.You should feed this kind of people with food instead of Gospel at the first place. man oh man.

We are given the place at the church to preach and those interested can come :

If you want to spread the Gospel to public without force and with manner, you can give people free medication/doctors treatment for eyes, tooth, etc and at the same time you place a table with the sign FREE BIBLE, you can also provide free CD, christians books, invitation to Bible study, invitation to celebrate Xmas with free dinner, New Year free lunch at church, Easter celebration and dinner at church (provide meal box) etc. Just to make them come to church.
Whether they decide to take the Bible or not its their freedom.

Cholesterol and sugar free check on the road :
This way you are giving people something good and freedom whether they want to take the free BIBLE or not without forcing your religion.
We should not try to become the teachers of society.

 

[quidam65]

Recently a local Baptist church taped flyers to our front doors telling us we needed to ask Christ into our lives. As a Born Again Christian who is not Baptist, I agree with this. What threw me for a loop was them saying, “You must read the bible beginning at ROMANS”. I'm not here to debate or tear down your traditions. It's just that I've never heard of this before and I'm trying to understand. Is this a “Baptist” thing? If so why tell people to start with Romans and not the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John)?

I've never heard this one. Romans is a good book but for a new believer it may be like having a newborn read Excel 2016 for Dummies. Preachers can spend months preaching through that book alone.

John is usually recommended for someone checking out Jesus. Though if you're dealing with a skeptic I'd suggest Matthew (he does more referencing to the Old Testament showing that Jesus was who the Old Testament prophesied he'd be).

 

[Jonathan Leo]

Recently a local Baptist church taped flyers to our front doors telling us we needed to ask Christ into our lives. As a Born Again Christian who is not Baptist, I agree with this. What threw me for a loop was them saying, “You must read the bible beginning at ROMANS”. I'm not here to debate or tear down your traditions. It's just that I've never heard of this before and I'm trying to understand. Is this a “Baptist” thing? If so why tell people to start with Romans and not the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John)?

Start with the book of John. It shows the love of Jesus

The gospel of Matthew teaches us how to live like Christ but also speaks a lot about how He will judge those who do not walk accordingly. It speaks more about hell than heaven.

You should read the Old Testament before reading Romans because the book of Romans is about the Jews, the law, how Jesus is the new covenant and how gentiles become saved. Reading this book without knowing about the Old Testament will cause confusion at best.

After you read Romans, you should read psalms and proverbs. Now that you know your place in Jesus Christ, these books teach humility, our need for God and the wisdom of God that is available to us.

Reading Ecclesiastes will show you that everything other than Jesus Christ on earth is meaningless and one should devout their lives to Christ because everything else is worthless.

The epistles of peter, James and John are for Christians who are past the elementary teaches of why Jesus came and are proper teachings to how one should live in Christ

The book of revelation is when Christ returns and how not to be decieved in the end times because Satan will show up first and perform miracles and claim to be God. It’s a warning not to be decieved and to be ready.

 

[twin1954]

Start with the book of John. It shows the love of Jesus

The gospel of Matthew teaches us how to live like Christ but also speaks a lot about how He will judge those who do not walk accordingly. It speaks more about hell than heaven.

You should read the Old Testament before reading Romans because the book of Romans is about the Jews, the law, how Jesus is the new covenant and how gentiles become saved. Reading this book without knowing about the Old Testament will cause confusion at best.

After you read Romans, you should read psalms and proverbs. Now that you know your place in Jesus Christ, these books teach humility, our need for God and the wisdom of God that is available to us.

Reading Ecclesiastes will show you that everything other than Jesus Christ on earth is meaningless and one should devout their lives to Christ because everything else is worthless.

The epistles of peter, James and John are for Christians who are past the elementary teaches of why Jesus came and are proper teachings to how one should live in Christ

The book of revelation is when Christ returns and how not to be decieved in the end times because Satan will show up first and perform miracles and claim to be God. It’s a warning not to be decieved and to be ready.

The Bible has only one subject and one theme, the person and work of Christ Jesus the Lord. He is the promised seed of the woman in Gen. 3:15, the ark of Noah, the lamb provided by God in the stead of Isaac, the tabernacle and the sacrifice, thr high priest and the purpose of thr Law. He is the kinsman redeemer of Ruth, the message of the prophets and the whole New Testament. Chrst is the key that unlocks the Bible. Find Him in it and you will understand it.

 

[Jonathan Leo]

The Bible has only one subject and one theme, the person and work of Christ Jesus the Lord. He is the promised seed of the woman in Gen. 3:15, the ark of Noah, the lamb provided by God in the stead of Isaac, the tabernacle and the sacrifice, thr high priest and the purpose of thr Law. He is the kinsman redeemer of Ruth, the message of the prophets and the whole New Testament. Chrst is the key that unlocks the Bible. Find Him in it and you will understand it.

Agreed, Christ is the whole book. All points, represents, is, and ends with Jesus.
My point if you haven’t got the message, was answering to a question, “ should I start with the book of Romans?”
No, because you will miss the whole point of it.
The Old Testament = resembles or points to Jesus
The New Testament = reveals and points to Jesus

For new believers coming to Christ, they need to understand,
Who created them
Why we are sinners
Who are Gods chosen people
How He wages war on those who oppress His people
How God delivered them
How God has a plan to save the world of sin
How God gave His Son to save us from His wrath on sin
Predicts the messiah/Saviour
Predicts they will refuse their messiah and kill Him
How we would recognize Him
When Jesus came He proved He is God by miracles
His mercy and compassion on people
Warns us to turn to Him or suffer the consequences
How He was rejected by His own people
How The gentiles were grafted in to make the Jews jealous
How the law is now abolished
How Jesus is the new covenant
How He sent out the apostles
The apostles are pointing to Jesus
They warn us to repent and if so keep the faith
The visions the apostles got
The advise to remain in Jesus
The warnings to live a life like Jesus to prove your faith
When the end will come that Satan will claim to be God
Jesus comes to wage war once and for all
That when Jesus returns he will be the judge
He will judge the living and the dead
Those in Christ will live
Those not in Christ will go to hell
How there will be a new heaven and earth without sin/pain
And how it’s all going to be eternal

Now if anyone can get the lot of this from starting at Romans, He is a marvelous man. Lol
God bless bro