Always keep the faith

Monday, June 11, 2012

Recently, Boomz posted about evangelism on her wordpress and I chanced upon this comment being made by one of her wordpress.

Personally, I feel that some evangelistic events (and also by the way she described it) is not done because of one’s real desire to spread the gospel and to love mankind, but more for self gratification/glorification in knowing that they have met quotas and all. I personally feel that evangelism is important and it is a duty of every Christian to share the Gospel-but in what way? Here comes the sensitive issue. Maybe I’m not the best person to analyse this because I’ve never done street evangelism before and I have voices my concerns to Randy that the way some brothers and sisters share may be perceived as offensive and insensitive to some. I mean, do they pray before they share and pray that God will guide them in the sharing? Or do they mix some of their own perspectives with the Gospel and not refer to the Scriptures for sharing? Do they bother to find out more about the stranger they just approach, to learn more about their take on Christianity and their perceptions on religion? Probably not, and that is where (I feel) where problems and animosity starts arising. I have shared the Gospel before to friends and you can say that it’s a process? I feel that it is wrong to keep pestering someone and making the whole thing ugly, especially one that you do not know, hoping that he/she will open his/her heart and accept Christ. That alone, we cannot make a change, only the Holy Spirit can touch their hearts through God’s will. alright, so moving on to the disturbing thing..

“SECONDLY, WHICH GOD WOULD BE SO MEAN as to doom you to hell just because you did not know / acknowledge a certain aspect of him/her/IT/WTV. how can she put down her religion, her god, our god, whoever’s god like that? GOD GOT TEACH HER BE SO UNFORGIVING MEH send ppl to hell cos they didn’t know something?! wtf! like that i rather not believe in anything forever cos at least it means i won’t be sending anyone to hell” *disclaimer: this is taken from my friend’s blog, which is open to public

I am quite disturbed by her comment, because it seems that she has had the wrong impression on what God is like. A lot of people believe that God is purely an all loving, all encompassing God who forgives sinners and sent his only Son, Jesus Christ, down to earth to die for our sins.

so WHO IS GOD?

1. He is the creator of all things. Acts 17:26 “and he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted period and boundaries of their dwelling place” This essentially means that He determines time and space for men. You may also debunk this statement by bringing out the theory of evolution-which is will not touch on because it’ll lead to more explanation which I regretfully confess that I do not have enough capabilities to explain it by myself. (more importantly)

2. He is Judge. Psalms 5:4-5 “For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;evil may not dwell with you. The boastful shall not stnad before your eyes, you hate all evildoers” It means that God will punish those who still choose to defy Him/sin against him/have no regard for him. Then, you can argue that you do not know about God! After all, Christianity came down to Singapore at around the 18th century and does that mean that our ancestors all went to Hell? The answer is:yes, if they did not believe that God is their master.

Trust me, after converting to Christianity, there are still so many things that I had to clarify with the leaders/pastor. Just by accepting Christ alone does not “certify” you as a “saved sinner” with a “one way ticket to Heaven”. SO i questioned on how God can just send someone to Hell despite them really not knowing of his presence?

Let me refer to Romans 1:17-23 “For therin is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, The just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven agaisnt all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteouness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and the Godhead; so that they are without excuse; Because of that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Progessing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasets, and creeping thing”.

The presence of God is innate in our hearts. We know it, but due to sin, we block him out. I can also justify that God does exist, because simply of the fact that Jesus existed too. Take a look at your History textbook, there is a term called “before Chirst” but now, due to religious sensitivity, it is changed to “before common era”. Christ was like any other living man, both a man and God himself. We can no longer deny that we don’t know God, because Jesus was a walking human being on earth too. He died and was resurrected three days later. Maybe it seems surreal or ridiculous, because the Bible often portrays the truth in a narrative manner-it seems like a fictional story book. I urge you to look at it in a different perspective. How can someone still plead for forgiveness to God for those who tortured him on the cross? (Do you know the extent of torture inflicted on him?) Someone who have lead a pure life, a perfect man but due to the wickedness of mankind, was prosecuted on a based on nothing? Maybe if you’d open your hearts to want to know more, you’ll realise that Jesus really died for us, suffered for us and that is pure Love for us. I didn’t get the significance of His death for us till recently in 2012, although i converted in 2010, december. It’s a long process, a maturation of my spiritual growth.

Yup, and perhaps I haven’t talked about Randy’s reply. Street Evangelism still happens because there is still a chance of people coming to Christ. There are a few, but the numbers pale in comparison to those who shun/develop a bad impression about Christianity due to the way that it is shared.

After all, we are still humans (In fact, sensitive ones!) so I urge everyone who wants to share the Gospel to do so with tact and choose your words properly. I believe that the same message can be portrayed to the receiver without compromising on facts.

Have a good week ahead! I can’t wait for University to start ^^

8:37 PM