Post by Random on Jul 29, 2005 2:03:23 GMT -5
Firstly, I'm not trying to complain, I'm only trying to understand the motives behind the behavior of evangelists. I'm also not trying to put down any religion, all of them have their merits, and I don't want this to turn into some childish fight.
Like I said, I would like to better understand why people try to convert people to their religion in the same manner that a door-to-door business person, or an infomercial host would, repeatedly.
I can understand the "we love everyone, so we don't want them to go to hell" argument, but when someone shows a lack of interest, would it not be meaningless to try and keep chipping at them, while that has as good of a chance at alienating them as it does converting them? I know there are other ways to deal with this situation.
For example, my grandparents are relatively hardcore christians. My immediate family (parents & sibling) is not actively religious. My grandparents wish that we were, and have tried to get us to be christian ONCE. After we told them that we'd prefer not to, they accepted that we wouldn't, and that was the end of them trying to convert us. However, they still love us, and every night they pray for us and have a picture of us between two pictures of jesus. They are not harassing us, yet they are showing that they love us and want us to be ok. Because of this, I respect them immensely, and our entire family absolutely loves to be around them. Additionally, if we were thinking about being christian, I believe that act would have greater potential for converting us than continuously asking over the course of several years would.
Basically, I just wish that we could understand each other better as a society and respect that often times we believe different things, even if that damns us in the eyes of others.
If this is rather unorganized and doesn't flow well, I'm sorry, its late, I just got back from hockey, and I'm a bit tired, if inspired. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if this went to a conversation about other forms of tolerance, and it'd be interesting if it went there as well.
Like I said, I would like to better understand why people try to convert people to their religion in the same manner that a door-to-door business person, or an infomercial host would, repeatedly.
I can understand the "we love everyone, so we don't want them to go to hell" argument, but when someone shows a lack of interest, would it not be meaningless to try and keep chipping at them, while that has as good of a chance at alienating them as it does converting them? I know there are other ways to deal with this situation.
For example, my grandparents are relatively hardcore christians. My immediate family (parents & sibling) is not actively religious. My grandparents wish that we were, and have tried to get us to be christian ONCE. After we told them that we'd prefer not to, they accepted that we wouldn't, and that was the end of them trying to convert us. However, they still love us, and every night they pray for us and have a picture of us between two pictures of jesus. They are not harassing us, yet they are showing that they love us and want us to be ok. Because of this, I respect them immensely, and our entire family absolutely loves to be around them. Additionally, if we were thinking about being christian, I believe that act would have greater potential for converting us than continuously asking over the course of several years would.
Basically, I just wish that we could understand each other better as a society and respect that often times we believe different things, even if that damns us in the eyes of others.
If this is rather unorganized and doesn't flow well, I'm sorry, its late, I just got back from hockey, and I'm a bit tired, if inspired. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if this went to a conversation about other forms of tolerance, and it'd be interesting if it went there as well.