Do You Evangelize?

Discussion in 'Faith & Religion' started by Lon Tanner, Aug 31, 2021.

  1. Lon Tanner

    Lon Tanner Supreme Member
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    Some Religious Folks have a need to evangelize at every opportunity.
     
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  2. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    My SIL (wife's sister) does that and so does her daughter, our niece. We don't though.

    Actually, in this "day and age" I sure wouldn't advise it. Way too many people simply don't want to hear it and will let a person know that quickly.
     
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  3. Marci Miller

    Marci Miller Very Well-Known Member
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    No but if someone asks me about something related to Christianity and the bible and whatever, if I have an answer I will give it. Sometimes people come to me for advice and I tell them what I would do if it were me and let them decide. I've had God shoved down my throat before. It doesn't work. People come to him when they decide to not when we decide they need to. All we can do is lead by example which many are not. I'm not perfect by any means. I only know what God has allowed me to learn at this point. I do the best I can. I am not smart enough to Evangelize because I'm not buried in my bible all day and all night. And God is the only one who really knows the story and how things are to go. At best all man can do is speculate with the limited knowledge we have.
     
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  4. Hugh Manely

    Hugh Manely Very Well-Known Member
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    Yes. Several years ago I purchased the book Share Jesus Without Fear, by William Fay.
    I can't go into depth for lack of space, but its the best book I've ever read on how to share Christ in the right way.

    He uses what he calls the Five Questions. They are a technique by which a person can subtly change a conversation from sports, politics, weather, etc to spiritual matters without the person feeling as if he/she is being beaten over the head with a bible, or sometimes not even realizing that the subject has been changed to a spiritual discussion.

    His theory is that we are only vessels that God can use, because without the intervention of the Holy Spirit, there is no "change of heart" possible, because He (the Holy Spirit) is the means, and only means, by which anyone can be drawn to contemplate the supreme, holy, heavenly, loving Father, and then have a change of heart, so that His salvation can be accepted.
     
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  5. Joseph Carl

    Joseph Carl Very Well-Known Member
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    I don't think Christians need to rely on Matthew 28's great commision instructions to his apostles in order to feel compelled to share the gospel. If you truly love God and care about other people, you'll want them to enjoy the same peace, joy, and salvation as you do. Consider, you discover the fountain of youth as an 80 year old and find that it miraculously restores your youth to a 20 year old. Would you not feel an excitement, passion, and necessity to share this discovery with your friends and family? And if the supply was unlimited and free, would you not also want to share it with everyone you meet? Of course, anyone with a good heart likes to share good news, and the more significant the good news, the stronger the desire to do so.

    In this age of political correctness and cultural pressure not to offend anyone, I understand why Christians are meek with their faith. Speaking up will often cause awkward moments, accusations of being judgemental, and personal criticism. It's easier, safer, and more pleasant to be quiet and passive with one's faith or any controversial issues. And more often than not, it seems like speaking truth about God or moral values only causes arguments and divisiveness, rather than influence or change. Why provoke controversy if it serves no purpose?

    The answer should be obvious. Without speaking up and provoking controversy, the Gospel message would never have grown. Only with outspoken preaching, teaching, and believers' witnessing efforts have billions of people been steered in the right direction over the past 2000 years. Understand, while defending the faith might illicit a negative response from some, there may be others who's hearts or minds are less decided, subject to influence. A message from you may be just one in a number of encounters that brings an unbeliever to Christ - without you ever knowing it.

    For the past 70 years, America has experienced a strong secular trend, and this has not only manifested as a separation of church and state, but to a cultural pressure to suppress all Christian beliefs and values from public society. No doubt, this discourages believers from being open with their faith. Masses of irreligious people don't want to see or hear it, and unfortunately many Christians cooperate with this agenda.

    In my view, based upon the Bible, it's clear that God created us and gave us a purpose in life - to know and love him, and to learn how to love others. With this being the most important thing in the world and our lives here, we should feel a passion for it. To share this truth is to honor God and show love for others. To hide or suppress it suggests something lacking in our hearts - a desire perhaps to be safe, comfortable, and liked by the world more than by God.
     
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  6. Marie Mallery

    Marie Mallery Veteran Member
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    I will discuss the subject sometimes ut not evangelize. I think God calls those who will listen. If ask I will give my opnion but tell them to prove it to themselves. I sure don't have all the answers or interpretations.
     
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  7. Joyce Senior

    Joyce Senior Well-Known Member
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    I'm a secular Jew. Jews don't try to convert and, if a person is trying to convert with an Orthodox rabbi, he'll do his best to convince him or her to forget about it. The easiest way to get me roiling angry to try to tell me how to think and what to believe. I won't try to deconvert you (get you to stop believing in god) and you don't try to convert me to your way of thinking. We'll get along.
     
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  8. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    No, I never would. I would share, if asked, or if it seemed appropriate in the moment, but not in the way many others do it.

    There are far too many who use the Bible as a checklist for others rather than a mirror for their own behaviour. There can be a side to evangelizing that is done to avoid the necessary introspection while thinking they are "doing good." I also think there are people who have lacked boundaries their entire lives and who use evangelizing as a shield to act out on their inappropriate secular proclivities.

    If you wonder what God's plan is in your life, just get in line in the grocery store next to someone who evangelizes, and before you can say "Paper, please," a complete stranger has told you what it is (and you don't have to utter a syllable.) Many don't do this for your benefit or for your eternal soul...they do it for themselves.

    For every Bible verse that can be cited that supports such behaviour, there is one where we are admonished to not be overtly public with our faith, because God knows that doing so is purely for show. I think that evangelizing is a net-negative, because it drives people away and casts all believers in a disfavorable light.
     
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  9. Ed Wilson

    Ed Wilson Veteran Member
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    A place I worked at had a bible school not too far away and some of it's students worked there after classes. Since their heads were filled with biblical studies, I received lessons on who married who and bore how many children and who was smitten by whom, etc. I guess they were practicing for when they became ministers but I didn't mind since it passed the time.
     
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  10. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    People all have different beliefs and understanding of the Bible, and what they want to tell other people is exactly what they believe. So, if I believe in church on Sunday, and a Saturday worshipper comes along, they are going to try to tell me why I am wrong, and this seems to hold true with just about all diverse beliefs.
    None of us actually knows if there is a heaven or hell, and what it takes for people to be in one or the other, or even when it actually happens after you die.
    So it does not matter what we think or believe; whatever is the truth , is what it is.

    As others have said, if someone asks me what i believe, I am happy to share; but I only present it as my personal belief and not as the absolute word from God. Most of the leaders of the different denominations all tell people what they believe is the absolute word of God, and yet they all say different things.
     
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  11. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    That Old Testament lineage is sure hard to wade through. Those are the days when Retirement Age was 525.
     
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  12. Marie Mallery

    Marie Mallery Veteran Member
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    Some thingsare obviously wrong to do but much of it is interpretation so I try not a preach. I will enter debates but not often. I have learned from some debates though and studies.
     
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  13. Denise Evans

    Denise Evans Supreme Member
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    The bible tells of Jesus instruction to spread the Good News. But when people are saved they now have the Holy Spirit to direct them, and I was taught to pray for guidance in all things, not just sharing God's Word. I haven't ever done what I would call Evangelize, but I respect people that do in what I believe is the good way. Jesus didn't chase people down, and He told His disciples to shake the dust from their sandles and move on (not a quote of course). I think that God will put people in our paths that "want" to hear the Word, but when we do it, or try to do it, under our own steam, we just defeat the purpose. It's another one of those spiritual things, and it's how so many people are believers today. The hardest thing for me to get is the difference between it being God's idea, or my idea to talk to someone. If someone comes up to me, or brings it up first, it's surely "now" that God wants me to share my story of salvation.


    Jesus said:
    Luk 4:24
    Then He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.

    country to me means where we are well known, or even maybe before we were saved. With my home-town reputation, pretty much no one would, or did believe I got saved. I once believe Christians were so far above me that I couldn't begin to be part of. Then I found our no christian is perfect, we are sinners saved by Grace (we didn't earn it and cannot earn it).

    I have to add this too in all fairness. Sometimes, even though others may not "want" to listen to some "evangelisers" God will plant a seed if the people truly speaking as they are led by the Holy Spirit, than God will not let their sharing fail. I just didn't want to sound as if I thought we were just full of hot-air if we kept sharing. The disciples told Jesus some were sharing Him that weren't saved, and He said let them, basically. Don't know the verse off hand. @Bobby Cole or @Yvonne Smith or any bible believer here will probably know the one.
     
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    Last edited: Dec 29, 2021
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  14. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    I still think it's just too dangerous to do in these days.

    Back in 2009, my wife joined a Bible Study at work. After a couple of weeks, meeting during lunch in the cafeteria, and having complaints made about if being there, the company told them the Bible Study would have to move off of company property. That ended the Bible Study.

    A lady supervisor, at the company I use to work for, wanted to start a Bible Study. It definitely wasn't very popular. Only three employees, plus the supervisor showed up. I was one of the three employees. The Bible Study ended up stopping.

    From what I understand, Bible Study in the workplace is no longer legal and/or if a company doesn't want it, that ends that.
     
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  15. Denise Evans

    Denise Evans Supreme Member
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    Christians being persecuted for their beliefs is no news, it's all over the bible, especially the New Testament. If someone doesn't want a bible study group in a company they own, I would respectively move on. I'm only guessing that you use "dangerous" because of losing your job, which I think there are enough places where a person can evangelize or have a bible study, without doing it at work. Especially when christians are told that God is always with us, even surrounded by lions, so it's not like we have to have bible studies on other's property.
     
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