A Discussion I Overheard

Candy,

My ministry for the last ten years had been specifically geared toward people who are openly hostile to Christians due to the hateful attitude of Christians they have known in their life.

It is a very difficult ministry. I'd much rather speak to people who've never heard of Christ before, or people who simply were agnostic. Its very difficult to teach people to separate hateful Christians from Christianity.

I didn't hear the speaker this particular time. He's been on campus many times in the past, and once I heard who they were talking about I had a bigger picture of the situation.

But yes, I can think of three people, without even trying, who actually used the phrase, "Christians WANT people to go to hell," to me.

One is a young man who happens to come from a Jewish background who grew up in a very strong Baptist region of the United States. He said that when friends found out he was Jewish he was mocked, beaten up, and that the message he got from Chrisitans was they hoped he ended up in hell.

Another was a former Catholic in his 50's. He had been raised by a very devout Catholic mother, and had bought into most of the Catholic teachings until Vatican II changed the rules on him. That made him doubt everything he had been taught, so he turned to protestant churches to try to figure out what was Catholic lie and what was biblical truth. He was insulted, talked down to, made fun of. The message he got out of it all, per him, is not that all men have sinned and all men are unworthy, and that Christ died for all men, but rather an almost rabid gleam of delight that seemed to take a joy in telling people they were going to hell. A delightful, "I'm better than you," attitude. They, according to him, didn't seem to WANT to help others or to love others. They spent a lot of time talking about how others didn't deserve love or mercy or help because they were sinners - as if some people in this world AREN'T.

He now says the words "those born agains," with a venom that makes it a curse.

Another is a young woman who is now a Christian. She says that she met so many Christians who couldn't wait to tell her how deserving of hell she was that she went through a period in her life when she hoped that Christianity would be wiped off the face of the earth. Then she met a loving Christian who spoke to her of God's love.

I suppose I'm meant for this ministry. I can certainly relate to it.

As a child I once told a Pastor that all the Christianity teachings were a lie because people didn't mean anything they said about what Christ taught.

I also remember telling a young girl who made a habit of running around telling everyone and anyone that they deserved to go to hell that if she was the kind of people heaven was populated with I'd rather not go to heaven.

When I was a teenager a man I dated came to me and said, "Teach me about your Christ. There is a guy at my office who is so full of hate, and all he does is beat people up with his bible. I don't want anything to do with his God, but I got to thinking, and you and your friends aren't like that, and I want to know more about your God."

Fortunately, Christ is NOT like a lot of Christians.

 

Amen Texas Sky! God bless you for your ministry. I run into the same types of situations in my ministry. Many people have been so turned of by "hateful" Christians, that I must first work to show them that I am different, and explain why I am different. It is not difficult to approach someone in love and still be able to tell them about the danger of hell. Remember the saying, "It's not what you say, it's how you say it?" Well, in this case it is what you say, and more importantly how you say it. We cannot plant a seed in someone's mind if we are damning them to hell. The only thing that will be accomplished is planting a seed of hate. Look at it this way. I know many Christians who become very defensive when they are told they are wrong. It is only logical that a non-Christian would feel the same, especially since they do understand Christianity in the first place.

Texas, I'll continue to pray for you and this situation. I hope and pray you will be able to show those that are lost what it really means to be a Christian.