Wednesday, April 22, 2009

An imposition?

    Many people equate evangelism with imposition - someone imposing their religious views on another person as a ploy for power or control. But this idea is mistaken.

  • To equate evangelism with imposition implies that Christianity is only subjectively true - true and binding for me, but not for others. Christianity is not man's subjective opinion. It is God's objective truth, regardless of our subjective opinions.

  • To equate evangelism with imposition implies that Christians are able to convert people themselves, which is entirely false. In fact, of all the religions in the world, Christianity is the one least amenable to such imposition because of its theology of conversion.

  • Humanity is so entrenched in sin that unless God's Spirit does the converting work Himself, none of us would ever repent and believe.

  • Therefore, Christianity is actually unique among world religions for the impossibility of imposing its belief structure on others. Only God convinces people to repent and believe.


(from 9Marks.org)

4 comments:

Dr. Russell Norman Murray said...

'Only God convinces people to repent and believe.'

Yes, God chooses to regenerate a person and he or she believes and repents.

Therefore we do not need to 'Bible belt' people, but need to simply live and share the gospel.

nitewrit said...

Hi Jeff,

I like your post on evangelism. Not only can it mean different things to different people, I think it can also involve different approaches by different people according to particular talents.

This Post on imposition is nively done. I have just been attacked about Christian's "imposition" because of my last post and I have been planning to right on a similar theme in my next post, so your post kinda fit right in there for me.

Larry E.

Jeff said...

thekingpin68,

Yes, God chooses to regenerate a person and he or she believes and repents.Thanks, Russ.

Jeff said...

Nitewrit,

I think it can also involve different approaches by different people according to particular talents.I strongly agree, Larry.

This Post on imposition is nively done. I have just been attacked about Christian's "imposition" because of my last post and I have been planning to right on a similar theme in my next post, so your post kinda fit right in there for me.Thanks, Larry. I understand when non-Christians attack, but if it's another Christian attacking, that is disheartening.