Post by Johnny Gotham on Apr 2, 2005 16:20:20 GMT -5
Whenever a Bible-believing Christian share the gospel with others they are usually met with the charge that they are "forcing" their views on others. This accusation has two problems. First, the views of the Bible are not a person's personal opinions but rather those of God. Second, simple expressing them does not constitute forcing them on other people. Jesus gave people the option to listen to him and be saved or not. If you don't care for the Gospel, then don't listen. If you don't like me, stop visiting my website.
Besides, the whole argument is moot because everyone has some opinion of what everybody else should do. By sharing those opinions, or by telling somebody else to do something different, they are "forcing" their opinions on someone else. For example, the person who usually says "You're forcing your views on other people!" is saying that you should do something different that they prefer, which means they are "forcing" their views on you. It seems whenever Christianity is in the public square, it's "forcing" itself on others.
Jesus never forced anyone to follow him. He preached the word, warned of the consequences of not accepting him as Lord and Savior. We should do the same.
This is not to say that Christians shouldn't be politically active (rights for the unborn, etc...), just that we shouldn't seek a theocracy.
To quote Doug Newman; "Christianity cannot be forced (Revelation 3:20). The idea that we can achieve some kind of Christian utopia by electing Christians and letting them pass a bunch of Christian laws and policies is an unscriptural fantasy. It is a false hope with no biblical basis whatsoever."
There are also many people who accuse Christians of "forcing their views on others" when they do one or more of the following:
However, we can see that in all listed above, the Christian who does such things is either; (1) Exercising his/her right to run his/her business including the right to refuse service to who ever they want (in fact it is the customer who is trying to force the owner to do something), (2) Voicing their opinion (which is not "forcing" anything on any one as discussed above) and trying to prevent the government from forcing an evil agenda on the population (abortion, gay marriage, etc...), and (3) Demanding that the government- run schools present all sides fairly and not endorse any one particular idea (such as bringing balance to the creation/evolution debate).
There are other examples, but I don't have the space to explore them all. The point is that true Christianity doesn't force itself on any one. True, the "Christian" right may seek to make a bunch of Christian laws and policies, but this is unbiblical.
Besides, the whole argument is moot because everyone has some opinion of what everybody else should do. By sharing those opinions, or by telling somebody else to do something different, they are "forcing" their opinions on someone else. For example, the person who usually says "You're forcing your views on other people!" is saying that you should do something different that they prefer, which means they are "forcing" their views on you. It seems whenever Christianity is in the public square, it's "forcing" itself on others.
Jesus never forced anyone to follow him. He preached the word, warned of the consequences of not accepting him as Lord and Savior. We should do the same.
This is not to say that Christians shouldn't be politically active (rights for the unborn, etc...), just that we shouldn't seek a theocracy.
To quote Doug Newman; "Christianity cannot be forced (Revelation 3:20). The idea that we can achieve some kind of Christian utopia by electing Christians and letting them pass a bunch of Christian laws and policies is an unscriptural fantasy. It is a false hope with no biblical basis whatsoever."
There are also many people who accuse Christians of "forcing their views on others" when they do one or more of the following:
However, we can see that in all listed above, the Christian who does such things is either; (1) Exercising his/her right to run his/her business including the right to refuse service to who ever they want (in fact it is the customer who is trying to force the owner to do something), (2) Voicing their opinion (which is not "forcing" anything on any one as discussed above) and trying to prevent the government from forcing an evil agenda on the population (abortion, gay marriage, etc...), and (3) Demanding that the government- run schools present all sides fairly and not endorse any one particular idea (such as bringing balance to the creation/evolution debate).
There are other examples, but I don't have the space to explore them all. The point is that true Christianity doesn't force itself on any one. True, the "Christian" right may seek to make a bunch of Christian laws and policies, but this is unbiblical.