what I can't do for you

I am posting about reaching out to potential Christians with the good news of Jesus. Christians call this “witnessing.” Yesterday I posted about what I can do as a Christian to fulfill my role of witness. Now I will look at what I can’t do.

I can’t force you to believe anything. Your faith in Jesus will come to you through the Holy Spirit as a gift. There is nothing you can do to earn Jesus’ love and there is nothing I can do to force you to receive it. In fact, there is nothing Jesus can do to force you to receive it.

I can’t shove my religion down your throat. When I am sharing about Jesus, I am commanded to be gentle and respectful (1 Peter 3:16). If you have had a bad experience with a Christian who was being aggressive and obnoxious, in other words was not following Jesus, than that is too bad. First, a central teaching of Christianity is all people, including Christians who know better, are sinful and in need of forgiveness. If you meet a belligerent Christian you see why there is a need for Christ. Second, don’t be too quick to dismiss the Christian faith because of the behavior of someone who calls himself/ herself a Christian. That is a huge dose of the genetic fallacy in logic. Remember? “First you must show that a man is wrong before you give reasons why.” Jesus can still be God and the Bible can still accurately tell his story even if you meet an obnoxious Christian.

I can’t try to hide the truth. Unlike many other worldviews, Christianity encourages you to put Jesus to the test. Be skeptical. Compare Christianity to other religions and philosophies. Christians are encouraged to do this. Some other worldviews try to keep the Christian message out. Some countries where Islam is the official religion, for example, will not allow Christian teaching, or even Bibles to be read. If Christianity is false, than what is there to be afraid of? You won’t find this with Christianity. We are encouraged to study other worldviews carefully. This helps us when we witness to the non-Christian. If you think Christians try to suppress open-minded thinking, it is just the total opposite. We worship the God who created the mind. I don’t discount that you may have experienced Christians who you thought were “closed- minded.” See the paragraph above for an explanation. Another explanation might be when you call someone “close-minded” what you are really saying is he/she doesn’t agree with you.