Conversations with those who do not believe

I wish you knew Christ like I do - Conversations with those who do not believe

I was a participant at a retreat recently where we were encouraged to share with someone we didn't know well a turning point or point of conversion of life in our life. The gentleman who shared his story with me we will call Ted and that is his real name. Ted told me about a coworker that he didn't know well who became suddenly ill with terminal cancer. He discussed how he had felt the nudge from God to talk with this coworker. He initially resisted until he could not resist any longer. The coworker was known to most of the staff as a humanist and didn't believe in God. Some coworkers, no doubt well intentioned in their own minds, had tried to convert this person to Christianity using the age old methods of threatening - our religion's very own version of 'shock and awe' - with hellfire and brimstone, eternal damnation, etc. None of these approaches worked, as they rarely ever do.

Instead, Ted tried a different approach; he simply went to talk with the coworker without an agenda. He said he walked into the office, closed the door, sighed, and was surprised by what came out of his mouth. He said, "I wish you knew Christ like I do." Ted said that the words didn't come from him, that they were, in a sense, given to him to speak.

I wish I could say that this resulted in an instantaneous conversion for the sick coworker, but it did not. Ted isn't even sure if this man ever changed his mind. What he did do is open himself up to Ted to talk about religion and Christ. It started a close friendship that lasted until the man finally passed away.

How amazingly powerful are these simple words! Ted didn't try to convert anyone, he simply conveyed a wish. He didn't resort to beating anyone over the head with scripture. He didn't argue or use any other tactics. In fact, Ted's approach could almost be considered the opposite of trying to convert a person. That's the way it needs to be.

You see, attempting to coerce someone to believe what you believe is never the pathway to getting them to see your viewpoint. It may work for the short term, but I will argue that it will be a shallow, tenuous, fragile belief that will never last. It is, for lack of a better word, worthless.

Perhaps you wonder why I say that.

God has given us free will. God will not coerce us to love him. He will not force us into relationship with him. He will let us push him away as far as we can and never turn to him again if we so desire. He will not strong-arm us. He will not use threats.

This is because if we are forced to choose something then we have not really made a choice. It is worthless, utterly without value. When we speak of slavery we talk of those who were "forced into" slavery. You don't hear about people choosing slavery. God will not make slaves of us by forcing us to love him.

And you know what? Neither should we.

If we are going to bring people to the love of God then we must use the same techniques as God. We must show love and respect to everybody around us, believers and non-believers alike. We have no right to force our opinions or viewpoints on others, we have no right to use threats that even our Lord would not use. Our only right is to use love.

We should love people to God. We should so live and model our lives that people want to be like us. That is true evangelization. Nothing is more damaging, more inspiring of hatred towards Christianity than fear mongering. No amount of biblical quotations or hitting people over the head with fear is going to do any good. Love is the answer. A person must choose to love God and come to those terms on their own.

God wants us to choose to love him on our own.

We plant the seed, God does the watering.