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Originally Posted by knox
Well, I got used to it. Many times at work or in school you will talk to hardcore christians and they will smile and talk to you and offer you a cookie, but deep down they are thinking you will go to hell. And they want you to. After all, they work so hard not to sin and you're a sinner, it would be unfair of their God to save me. So they think of me going to hell with a faint sense of pleasure while they offer me a cookie. It's fascinating to watch.
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that my friend, is precisely the problem this thread hopes to address.. so many Christians use their religion to judge, condemn and even hate other people, when Jesus promoted people NOT to judge, NOT to condemn, and to abandon hate by ALL means.. for many Christians, to talk to other people is a kind of superficial niceity, and that is a shame. Evangelism is not to simply walk around throwing Jesus into everyone's faces.. it is to genuinely talk to people to empathize with them, spread some sincere love and understanding around, and generally make every situation more positive for having contributed.
Christians who WANT people to go to hell actually frighten me. When I was ministering on skid row, I didn't even have a bible, let alone thought to thump it.. I rarely even brought up Jesus.. what I did was walk around and just talk to folks with an open heart and a genuine ear to listen without judging a thing.. Hence why Jesus said "judge not" because Christians who are not judgmental make great listeners for people on the street who just need someone to talk to
I once walked up to a Christian highschool kid preaching there on the row, and he was telling some homeless dude all about hell and how much the dude was going to go there without Jesus! The nerve of that kid! How can you walk up to anyone and talk to them in such a disrespectful manner and expect anything but the obvious hostility he deserved! So I said, "Kid, listen, its not about hell and fire, its about love and peace! We are either ALL going to heaven, or we are ALL going to hell, but if heaven is such a limited place I don't want to be there, and if God is such a judgmental asshole, I want nothing to do with Him!"
He said, "So what about Hitler? Should Hitler go to heaven?"
I said, "If you saw Hitler in heaven would you want to leave or condemn God as well? I pray that the Devil himself is forgiven and that ALL things are in heaven. I would give up my place in line for anyone who couldn't get in for any reason."
that kid just walked away, probably more upset than he already was, but hopefully the idea of a heaven without judgment, a God without hell, might have buried a seed in his heart that will flip his lid after the fact. the homeless dude gave me a hug for listening to him rather than trying to talk over him like the kid, and we continued the conversation for twenty minutes more at least..
Bible thumpers beware, I will chew you up with love and kindness until all your bigotry and ignorance either consumes you or dissipates completely.