Who Besides a Christian has Tried to Convert You?

[David Mauldin]

  Last Thursday I met a couple who were into "Native American Religion"  At first I just enjoyed fellowship, you know we chatted about Joseph Cambell, Black Elk and Carlos Castinteta, yet as the conversation went on I could tell that the husband "Good Black Heart" wasn't just content to accept me as I was. He kept preaching at me. "The truth is......."  "In the beginning...."  "When God speaks to you then you won't need anyone to tell you!"  "You will know it!"  I tried to be polite and nice about it. "I agree with everything you say dude!"  Yet this wasn't enough, he gave me his card and strongly encouraged me to contact him so I could learn "The Native American Path!" O.K. let's be honest. As a Christian I did this all the time!  I just assumed people I met were not "enlightened" as I was. I assumed that they needed to be "discipled" to know the truth better. We all have had other Christians do the same to us. (probably how you came into fellowship into the assembly!),  But it has been on a rare occasion that someone from a different religion will take this stance with me. (A mormon, J.W.  suedo Christian maybe) but not Muslim, buddhist, etc...   How about you?  Has anyone ever tried to convert you outside the Christian faith?  Did you get the feeling, "This person is whacko?" 

[Jem]

By far the most of one group that has tried to convert me has been atheists. A few Hare Krishnas and a couple of Muslims, but more atheists than anyone else. No, I didn't think they were wacko. Most were very earnest, sincere and desperately in need of Christ. Some are my dearest friends. (Guess who got "converted?")

[David Mauldin]

funny I have never had an athesit come up to me and start preaching. Tell me about it!  Did they have a tract?  The four skeptic laws?
1. There is no God and he doesn't love you!
2. There is no purpose or meaning to life.
3. People who think there is a meaning to life are wrong!
4. This is the meaning of life!

[Jem]

Yes I have been handed atheist tracts. Most are full of Bible verses that show "contradictions." And most of those were very easily refuted by anyone with only a scant knowledge of scripture. And while I have been approached in public by a few atheists, most who have tried to convert me were friends. Foremost among them was the most loveable of atheists, my father.

Having been surrounded by atheists in this way it was easy to realize that their zealousness was energized by a conflict with the very One they try so hard to deny. All have had some sort of truama and their philosophy has become "If God is so good, why did He allow...?" And they divorced themselves from their Creator with all divorce entails, bitterness, anger, accusation. I have been blessed to witness several atheists come back to the Lover of their souls. I'm working on another one now. They like to stay in the attack and mock mode because, really, they have very few answers to our exisitence in the cosmos and trying to counter millenia of human thought and experience is a daunting task.   

[David Mauldin]

Jem, did an atheist just walk up to you out of the blue?  While you were minding your own business?  This is a mindblower!  Where do you live?

[Jem]

I am a So Cal gal.

[David Mauldin]

I live in Rancho Santa Margarita. I attended Cal State Fullerton and am currently taking classes at SDU. Yet no one has ever aproached me? Who are you?  Do I know you??  Where did these atheist approach you?  What did their tracts say???

[Jem]

Their tracts, like I said before, were mostly Bible verses they considered contradicitons, but most of those "contradictions" took a leap in thinking to make and were rather easily refutable. I did see one that was quotations from some big names saying there was no God. The tone sort of came across as since Marx and Voltaire are bigger than you, you must be wrong. Again that would be easy to counter with quotes from, say, Paschal and Einstien. They were funny tracts. The invitation, so to speak, was to just agree that there was no God, but then what?

Mostly atheists approached me after a Christian event--a Billy Graham Crusade, Harvest Crusade, church service, etc. So the question of whether I was minding my own business is interesting. It was not like I was at the grocery store. I did find at these events that Christians were much more willing to engage the "evangelical" atheists than most people on the HB pier would have been back in our assembly days.

Dave, how do you live in Rancho Santa Margarita on a teacher's salery? And what's a good Unitarian doing at a Catholic university? I'm kidding, of course.

--Wendy Hinman
 

[David Mauldin]

Hi Wendy!  I married up!!!!   

[Oscar]

  Last Thursday I met a couple who were into "Native American Religion"  At first I just enjoyed fellowship, you know we chatted about Joseph Cambell, Black Elk and Carlos Castinteta, yet as the conversation went on I could tell that the husband "Good Black Heart" wasn't just content to accept me as I was. He kept preaching at me. "The truth is......."  "In the beginning...."  "When God speaks to you then you won't need anyone to tell you!"  "You will know it!"  I tried to be polite and nice about it. "I agree with everything you say dude!"  Yet this wasn't enough, he gave me his card and strongly encouraged me to contact him so I could learn "The Native American Path!" O.K. let's be honest. As a Christian I did this all the time!  I just assumed people I met were not "enlightened" as I was. I assumed that they needed to be "discipled" to know the truth better. We all have had other Christians do the same to us. (probably how you came into fellowship into the assembly!),  But it has been on a rare occasion that someone from a different religion will take this stance with me. (A mormon, J.W.  suedo Christian maybe) but not Muslim, buddhist, etc...   How about you?  Has anyone ever tried to convert you outside the Christian faith?  Did you get the feeling, "This person is whacko?" 

Wellllll,

Other than Dave Mauldin, no.   

Thomas Maddux

[Margaret]

David, to refresh your memory, you and I didn't exactly have a chat. During the brouhaha between Brent and Lenore, you emailed me with an idea for a new bulletin board, with a different set of rules from this one. You described what you saw as the function of moderator on the new board and said you didn't think Tom would be the right one. I agreed with you.

I deplore that Tom sometimes treats you and a few others with contempt on this board. But I don'tt appreciate being used by you in your attempts to combat that. If I have something to say to Tom, I will say it directly.

In the case of Tom's post on this particular thread, I think your response is too touchy. You have given your atheist "testimony" on this board, and you have to admit that testimonies are a potent part of evangelism. You set yourself up for this one, and Tom humorously points this out.

[vernecarty]

  Last Thursday I met a couple who were into "Native American Religion"  At first I just enjoyed fellowship, you know we chatted about Joseph Cambell, Black Elk and Carlos Castinteta, yet as the conversation went on I could tell that the husband "Good Black Heart" wasn't just content to accept me as I was. He kept preaching at me. "The truth is......."  "In the beginning...."  "When God speaks to you then you won't need anyone to tell you!"  "You will know it!"  I tried to be polite and nice about it. "I agree with everything you say dude!"  Yet this wasn't enough, he gave me his card and strongly encouraged me to contact him so I could learn "The Native American Path!" O.K. let's be honest. As a Christian I did this all the time!  I just assumed people I met were not "enlightened" as I was. I assumed that they needed to be "discipled" to know the truth better. We all have had other Christians do the same to us. (probably how you came into fellowship into the assembly!),  But it has been on a rare occasion that someone from a different religion will take this stance with me. (A mormon, J.W.  suedo Christian maybe) but not Muslim, buddhist, etc...   How about you?  Has anyone ever tried to convert you outside the Christian faith?  Did you get the feeling, "This person is whacko?" 

Although I was saved at around seven years, I have always had a great interest in religion and read widely on the topic. In my years of exploratory wandering I became very interested in the Ba'Hai philosophy. I thought the people who first talked to me about it were some of the nicest people I had ever met. I also really enjoyed the music of Seals and Croft (still do!).
One of the hardest things for Christians to learn is how to be gracious.
Having said that, the indifference of some people to sharing the gospel message with those who have not heard it makes one wonder if some of us truly believe what the Bible says is at stake.
I am convinced that one of the reasons that the angels in heaven rejoice over the conversion of each sinner is not only elation over what the sinner is saved to, but equally so what he is saved from...
Verne

[M2]

.... Again I will say that I have received e-mails from many former members (Workers) who refuse to "come out" on this board because of what they read from you. ....

Aw!! I just feel so sorry for those poor poor  Workers.  They really got the raw end of the deal with George eh??

What I am puzzled at is why they would email you David.

And where are all those skeptics?  I kept the 'skeptics again' thread free of my comments in anticipation of hearing from them.

Marcia
(I'm not supposed to be posting here anymore )

[David Mauldin]

Margerite I appologize and repent! Vern I attended a Bahi meeting a few years ago. It was a group of very nice people who were clean and well dressed. (Just like the assembly) They had a meal afterwards. It was persian food? (This was suppose to be significant somehow.) I remember that on one hand they were supose to be open to all religions yet they believe their religion was the only one for this time period. (similar to Christianity in that Christians will point to other religions and say they are "enlightened" ie Plato etc..) Some guy kept talking at me in the most serious intense way!  "You got to embrace what I am saying."  Yet I have had enough of dogma/religion.  Marcia I gave up on the skeptic thread because "Believers" kept jumping in with their two cents.  Tom deleted the first guy who tried to share about his experience because he shared he was gay. It is to bad that there seems to be no room on this board for people who are different. Yet their are ton of people out there who would benefit from chatting. Have you ever visited a dieing church?  It always has one guy who is basically responsable for "holding up the principles of our beliefs!" In other words this guy doesn't like anyone crowding out his space, authority, control, power. Yes I have been contacted by former workers who are not believers anymore. Because of what they have seen going on they don't want to share openly.

[M2]

I do not know and do not want to know what Tom deleted, but to be fair to Tom this is what he said as to the reason he deleted Shin's post:

David,

I just noticed this one.  Apparrently it was buried behind the tremendous volume of new threads you introduced last week.

In reply to your attempt at sarcasm, I would just say that I most definitely did not shut out Shin.

I merely asked him to respect the social convention that our sex lives are our private business.

Apparently, his sex life is all he wanted to talk about.   

Thomas Maddux

I do not always agree with Tom's methods either.  IMO Brian is an excellent moderator.  It is unnecessary to have Tom and Mark moderate as well.  However, I am not (supposed to be) a frequent poster any more, so ....

David, this BB is dying because people want to express their opinions without honest discussion.  Kind of like the Democrat/Republican debates at election time.  Almost everyone's already settled in their camps, and no one's budging from their POV.

If your skeptic emailees don't want to have a discussion, then a BB is definitely not the place for them.  They should join a former-Geftakys-assembly-now-skeptic support group.  The thing that gets me about most-not-all Geftakys Workers is that they were so zealous to uphold the vision, and now they are cowering under the "poor me" umbrella.  They could 'take it' from George and remain faithful to him, but they cannot take a little, or a lot of, criticism from the BB or any individual that would dare to suggest that they were/are wrong.  The labels "hypocrites" and "cowards" comes to mind.  Of course I am just one of those bitter disgruntled former members eh??

Marcia