Ok confession time, I struggle with evangelism, in general I have a hard time talking to anyone about most things. Especially in groups. At church last week they did the testimonial thing in front of anyone. Thats just something at this time is between me and God. Anyway dispite this I have managed to talk to someone at work, my mum, dad, sisters and brothers and I try to use facebook to share the good news as much as possible. (small steps I guess) anyhow I saw a post today saying how we should be ready to have people hate us, persecute us because thats what happened to Jesus. I get some people will be upset if I start talking about my faith but I tend to teach out of love and what good he has done for all mankind. From the messages I get from posts/articles like the one on facebook they want me to tell people turn or burn. To me this is the only way people will "hate" me. Telling people I believe in God, Im a christian or I believe in Jesus most of the time (unless im naive) would not result in them hating me. Maybe laugh or mock but hate? surely this would only come from me preaching they will burn but hey Gods great. Well the more I learn about Universalism the more it seems to make sense. I was reading the article on http://www.truth.info/future/universalism.htm I found very interesting, I still havent finished it yet. As for me right now I Just cant preach of an eternal hell, maybe a time of correction but for now I will tell of Gods love and what Jesus has done for us all until I have more understanding of this. I would never scare people to death or into believing I cant see how any good comes from this.. :Chinscratch:
Looks to me you made the right choice! :thumbsup: Sharing God's love much better than a turn or burn message. I've used that old religious message and it's like beating the water with a stick when fishing. The fish will get the heck away from you.
I don't know what type of church denomination or non-denomination you go to but maybe they are looking for members to share hoping to increase membership to increase revenue. Sad to say that is often a underling motive to get out and beat the bushes or people with the "Bad News". :eek:
Took God several years to convince me to use a Love Net instead of a Hell Fire Hook. I too don't say much face to face mostly because people are used to getting bashed by the religious turn or burn folks and I don't want to be found or perceived to be in that group. Many mean well but as you can see by their self-righteous actions they come across to people like a case of bad breath. :punish: :eek:
Hello Truth Seeker and good post, I think we have all felt that way at some point! I know I was there not too long ago, worried I needed to spread the word, worried that if I didn't I wasn't good enough, etc.
He1, I totally agree.
I think that evangelism during the time of the apostles is different from today. Today, I would venture to say all areas of the world have heard the so-called gospel (usually with hellfire in there somewhere if not front and center), so there is baggage now when someone hears you are a christian. They already have pre conceived ideas about what we believe and how we act and they have already decided how they feel about that. When the apostles lived the news was brand new, radical, and still had most of the goodness attached.
Today you have to be delicate about sharing the faith. You have to be led by the spirit, not guilted into sharing by a preacher or by the feeling that you aren't being a good Christian if you arent telling all of your friends and family they will burn in hell if they don't turn to God.
Not to mention, what a weak conversion that is--someone who believes out of fear of being tortured for eternity!!
You can work in a little sharing here and there as you are led by the spirit. I like to just talk about what God has done in MY life and not to point fingers and what they should or shouldn't do. It's the Holy Spirit's job to change them not ours and not even their own. I also have shared my believe in universal salvation with a small handful of people with mixed results.
John 13:35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
I read a good article and I can look for it again. That in the bible "hate" often means "to love less than" such as "Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated" ...the article did a good study and showed lots of examples.
So when people say that you aren't a good christian if you don't hate your family...or you arent a good Christian if the world doesn't hate you, the context is a little different if hate doesn't mean hate in the literal definition we use today. The Jewish people had a culture and a way of talking that needs to be taken into consideration sometimes when we read the bible I believe.
Also, who hated Jesus?
The sinners? Nope. He was criticized for hanging around them
The children? Nope. They wanted to see him and he let them
The women? Nope. They washed his feet with their hair
The masses? Nope. He often had crowds listening
The religious leaders? Yes!! They were the ones Jesus had the harshest words for and they were the ones he showed his anger toward and fashioned a whip to drive out the moneychangers from the temple and they were the ones to put him to death.
Hmmm...
28"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
Just remember that all the worry and the "am
I good enough" and the stress are not from God. It's a process for sure to trust and surrender and just rest in God.
:cloud9: Best thing to do is get the Word in you, let it be "baked" in you over time, and then let the Spirit lead you when to open your mouth and to who. Getting ahead of Him does just as much damage to people sometimes as getting behind Him. Be at peace, and just feast with Him. My :2c: Blessings....
:dsunny: :HeartThrob: :iagree:
I have to say thank you for every single post wow so true all of them.
Cardinal, I agree I have to give time to learn and let the spirit lead me. I think I have been guilty of trying to get ahead like its some sort of tick sheet!
God is love,
thank you for all your posts! its good to put things into perspective with who hated Jesus and Im really interested in the meaning of hatred back then as your description makes sense in many ways.
He1
Its good to know im not the only one who has gone through these issues! I just cant see how preaching hell fire would work on any level. Im sure if I ran into the road and asked the first person do you know what hell is they would know! I feel when the spirit guides me preaching the good news about what Jesus has done with love is far more effective in bringing people to know him.
I think once I give up all these ways I am taught by pastors or pushed by others and just find peace with God everything will fall into place. This will be when I let the spirit take over more and more, its not easy but I pray :Pray: in time that will get better. I am so thankful to have found this forum many thanks to you all and God bless