What do you think?

me spreading the good word:

Let me shed some light if i may?
PERSONALLY speaking, a true devout Christian, i know first habd tge options you are refering too, but its only became more important since I was where you are now..a valley if decision.
Gods word says many times not to be ashamed of the gospel. Not wanting to share your faith gets you destined to hell. Shame for sharing it brings honor to God. Jesus said if ye deny me before men, i shall deny ye before my father in heaven.
We cant live one foot in heaven, one foot on earth and avoid life in hell! You choose who you serve as an individual, but you also must choose as a corperate, worshipping in God in spirit and truth.
Letting otgers live their choice is one thing, but the bible CLEARLY states we must gently correct them, the believers, out of love. If they are not believers, we must walk, talk and live so they choose Jesus! You are not of the world, cone out from them is another verse to apply to your not so understanding knowledge..the great commission of Matthew 28 says go and do..we cant fix the situation in the field if the troops dont gather for the vattle my friend! Faith is at steak but so is knowing how to handle the situation. Refuse to correctly abide in Christ, you have made your choice...because we all fall short of the glory, and even the most elect fall down, we are all under grace and mercy. Just dont live any way you want to, keep in mind about Gods love, praying for you!

I was struggling long with the same question. One needs to realise though that the Church as such was created by Christ. One follows Christ as a Christian so there's no reason not to obey his commandments who were simple enough. Love God and love your neighbour as yourself. If you truly want to love your fellow human being then one needs to tell about the saving grace of Christ's message. There's no way in not doing that. Like I'm now doing. I don't tell you to join whatever church because that's a personal decision, but being part of such a gathering and sharing the bread is what makes us all one bread. Hope this helps a bit. Take care!

Hey GemniniDuality. It is great to hear of your faith in Christ, and that you are seeking to grow in your faith.

Jesus calls us to go and make disciples in Matthew 28:18-20. The Apostle Paul says that "I am not ashamed of the Gospel for it is the power of salvation to all who believe..." in Romans 1:16. Acts 1:8 Jeus says "...and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and as far as the remotest part of the earth.”

There are other Scriptures, but we are called to live and share our faith. The way that is going to manifest in your life and circumstances might be different. I would pray and seek the Lord for direction, and speak to other mature Christians in your local church how you might do that.

I've had a weird go around religions myself. I'm kind of a mix of buddism and atheism and wicca, technically. But I live as an atheist.
If there's a hell, I'd much rather be there than in heaven. Simply a matter of people for me (and free will). I'm sure a lot of nonbelievers would agree with me.
Don't push your beliefs onto other people. It won't make you a better Christian and it certainly won't improve your interpersonal relationships.

Honestly, that whole "spread the word" always felt very pryamid schemey to me. It always reminds me of the meme where one person says, "If I didn't know about God and sin, I wouldn't go to hell?"

The other person says, "No, not if you didn't know."

The first person then replies, "Then why did you tell me?"

But, given this day and age, what rock has a person been living under that you would reach out to that hasn't heard about God or Jesus? I think that would be harder than finding someone who hasn't.

Another point I want to make is about free will. Supposedly, we were goven free will to choose god and be happy for eternity or not choose him and be tortured for eternity.

The thing with free will is that it is a lot like consent. You can't have free will if one of the two choices is to suffer forever, much like you can't consent if you haven't been given all the details. It is operating under false pretenses. What kind of free choice is that? Obviously, if I have the choice of drinking this delicious drink or burning in a fire, I'm going to choose the drink. That's not free will. That's akin to a serious threat. "If you don't pick the right box, you're going to be killed!"

So, god already knows we will choose pleasure over pain. Duh. That's simply not free will.

And honestly, if that is how god wants to have that concept work, well...I really don't want to have much to do with a god like that. 🤷‍♀

I'm a lifelong atheist. I have no interest in spirituality or belief in any 'higher power.'

How would you feel, with your current beliefs, if there were millions of us telling you that you're lost? That your life has no meaning? That you're immoral and hateful?

And then what if atheists were given tax breaks, a seat at the political table, masterminded strategies to receive billions of dollars and, way too frequently, were responsible for some of the real "evils" the world? War, subjugation, oppression, child abuse and all the rest that we see?

You do you bro. There's different paths up the mountain. But you don't get to tell others. Because it's not bettering the lives of others. Christians do that to be seen. To be recognized by their 'team.' To acknowledge their own beliefs. To be 'right." Things your god tells you that you shouldn't be.

So maybe walking the walk should be a more important action for you to take. Take care of your own house. "I" have mine under control.

I BELONG(ed) to a church that believes in preaching and conversion. Even if you were already a Christian, you weren't the CORRECT kind of Christian unless you belonged to their church. THEIR particular interpretation of Christianity was the ONLY kind that could possibly be saved.

What really bothered me about the proselytizing was that is was pretty darned RABID and super annoying. I watched time and time again as these super eager beavers were SO anxious to "save" people that they actually drove people away. They got scary.

So I vote for live and let live.

Use your own personal LIFE as an example, to DEMONSTRATE to others, in a quiet and beautiful way, what a TRUE Christian really is.

I always thought it'd be appropriate to bring it up if it comes naturally in a conversation.

Perhaps if the person is looking for religion

I honor God, my family my country.

I lead with humility.

I serve with love.

I forgive quickly.

I stand accountable.

My life is my amends.

My freedom is in surrender.

🩷✝

Humans always make the error of trying to impose their interpretation of whatever they think their chosen deity or prophet meant by trying to interpret a particular book or philosophy with no evidence of fact that it's the meaning that was meant.

Mankind has yet to evolve beyond the idea that 'if you believe exactly as i do, you'll be safe. The rest are off to Hell.

I think that's half the problem. This concept of Heaven and Hell.

I think that the second option would be worse.

Any group that seeks to exclude themselves from everybody else seems to become prone to abuse from their leaders.

The lack of exposure to the thoughts of those outside the group would probably make the group members more vulnerable.

People are free to believe as they wish, but should probably keep it to themselves or discuss only among like-minded.

I believe REAL christians do not feel the need to go around boasting about it.
Anyone can call themselves a christian but it doesn't mean they are "Saved".

In my observations, most people calling themselves that do so for one of two main reasons -

They are looking for an excuse to h4te the Left or more specifically, the LGBT.
Or they are trying to get out of having to go to h3ll.

This may be off topic but if any of religion is true what about the people never exposed to organized religion? Like some tribe deep in the jungle will they still go to heaven or hell. Will missionaries come force it on them essentially trying to destroy their culture?

I think that's a false dichotomy. Why ask what's worse when we can reject both?

One of the most obnoxious elements of religion is this selfish need of the followers (or managers) of a religion to go out and (AT BEST) evangelize others in hopes of converting them (or at WORST actively trying to FORCE people to convert or else just kill them ... evangelizing is on the same spectrum as sawing off people's heads because religion's proponents psychopathically want to believe those not following that religion are some sort of misguided "infidel" ... evangelizers aren't any better, either they just don't spill any blood, or the blood they spill is indirect and thousands of miles away on a different continent via the government policies they support ... and make no mistake, every religion seeks political power too).

The most insane part of all is that, unlike trying to sell Avon or Amway or used cars or other such nonsense, in the unique case of religion, you're attempting to sell a deity to people. Think about what that intrinsically implies — you're trying to sell something which you claim by its very nature is omniscient and omnipotent — which means your evangelizing isn't even needed to begin with!!!!!!!! This mofo you're trying to sell me on could easily speak to all eight billion people on this planet right now, ELIMINATING ANY AMBIGUITY. And yet for some ponderous reason it chooses NOT TO???? Or at least his is what I am told by a .... human???? And the deity prefers instead to just randomly send some of you the most ambiuguous "signs" that you, instead, are to be its MIDDLEMEN?!?!?!? How insane is it to hold that utterly preposterous belief, which is actually downright insulting to the supposed powerful deity you're trying to sell us all on? Any deity which needs human middlemen isn't any deity worth following!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Duh.

Look, we know you religion exists, ESPECIALLY if it's one of the most already well-known (e.g., the top 3 Abrahamic religions). Especially in this thoroughly connected modern world with resources like the Internet.

Evangelizers are not providing a service by inserting themselves into our lives to tell us about what we already know is around us. They're only trying to scratch their own itch to CONVERT people. But we've already CLEARLY DECIDED we don't want that crap, so evangelizers bugger TF off and mind their own lives. If evangelizers genuinely wanted to HELP people they could just go volunteer at soup kitchens or support politics that actually help people rather than the wealthy / corporations.

I think you goyim should enjoy your beliefs, but keep them to yourselves and don’t go around preaching as if they’re superior to those of others.

Do you really know Christ though or is it just in your imagination?