John Piper - At what point should I share the gospel with my neighbor?

[grozde]

Do it right away.

This way they'd be warned you might turn up with an axe some night, going after them, 2 Chronicles 15:13 and Deuteronomy 13 style!...

[andrewccal]

Yeah, I'd agree. Either way, it's a person's own worldview, and I'd prefer it if people openly listened to each others' POVs and didn't shove it down each others' throats.

I definitely have considered that I may be entirely wrong and that there is no God, nor gods. There's still the doubt in the back of my mind that says maybe I'm wrong, but every time I've entertained those thoughts, I've found too much evidence for a God to be convinced otherwise.

[UrukEngineer]

"At what point should I share the gospel with my neighbor?"

Save it for bedtime stories along with unicorns, fairies and Santa.

[andrewccal]

@UrukEngineer Why do you have to be so mean?...

[UrukEngineer]

@andrewccal "Why do you have to be so mean?..."

That is one of the fairest questions I have had from a believer (I assume that your subscription to this channel is valid evidence)

I don't feel that I am mean, certainly not compared to many on YT. But I accept that it may seem so.

I felt that any advocate of proselytising should not go unchallenged. There is no evidence for a god, let alone the biblical one. Therefore why peddle unjustified claim?

[UrukEngineer]

@andrewccal You are right, insulting one another gets us no where. I am, by nature, somewhat direct...but I hate rudeness.

The problem is that religious beliefs lack the evidence to place them on the same level as even tentative scientific theories. Therefore religious opinions should be open to robust scrutiny particularly as they support misogyny, homophobia and other unpleasant behaviour.

Christains aren’t “evil”, just fundamentally mistaken.

[andrewccal]

@UrukEngineer There are two issues here. 1) Historicity of the bible and ideas 2) Christian response to these ideas. There is evidence for Jesus'existence, resurrection, and the resulting movement that is connected to His claim to being God. That can be debated. However, just because the doctrine is not agreeable it may still be true. I don't like gravity, but I can't say it's wrong because I don't like it and it causes a lot of people hip fractures.

[UrukEngineer]

@andrewccal Many people say they are Atheist (and put no caveat on it) because they just find their native religion unpleasant or illogical. Their Atheism is a reaction to religion. However when pressed they acknowledge that a human can’t know everything about everywhere, so the existence of a god(s) can’t be ruled out. Critically however, an Atheist’s position is that there is no evidence to support a belief in god(s).

[andrewccal]

@UrukEngineer I agree with your statements here too. Just that I think there is evidence to support belief in God. There's too many people that don't know what they believe, just taking on their family's traditions and assuming it as their own.

[UrukEngineer]

@andrewccal Christains however don't recognise their worldviews as "opinions", they form the core of their identity. Because they have "raised the stakes" in this way, ANY critism of their worldview is seen by them as a personal attack. I would rather they did not feel that way.

[andrewccal]

@UrukEngineer I totally agree that Christians often apply these doctrines in horrible ways like picketing a gay person's funeral or justifying abuse of women's rights, but that doesn't make the fundamental doctrine false.

Also, if Christians need to recognize their worldview as an opinion, so should atheists. The core of an atheist's identity is that there is no God, something that can't be proven definitively either way. They are just mutually exclusive worldviews, not superior or inferior.

[UrukEngineer]

@andrewccal “just because the doctrine (or scientific theory) is not agreeable it may still be true” I whole heartedly agree. I hope that you can see that statement working both for and against any religious belief.

Would you be willing to consider that you might be wrong? There may be no god(s)?

[margovallen]

At what point do we share the Gospel with our neighbor? Answer : As the Spirit leads us :-)

[JunkmanJim]

If my neighbor starts in with telling me what to believe, I will start telling them about my toilet habits, it is all about boundaries......

[Abhorsen27]

@JunkmanJim I'm sorry you feel that way, we don't want to tell anyone what to believe. If someone does, that's not in line with how the Bible says to act.

Rather, we want to tell people the truth; obviously, it can take convincing that what we think is the truth really is the truth, but that should still be all it is. If somebody has acted badly to you, I apologize.

[Inmatinus]

And be ready to answer questions.

[Abhorsen27]

@Inmatinus "...but do so with gentleness and respect." 1 Peter 3:15 (not saying you do it badly or anything, idk, just felt moved to say something). God bless :-)

[Inmatinus]

@Abhorsen27

Humility! More than half the battle is how one acts. Very important :)

[Inmatinus]

I think its generally better to do it relativly fast. Because the longer you put it off the longer it will bother you, but i also think you should wait till a good moment comes by or/and pray for one to come by.

Well prepared is important if you want to share the gospel, aka know the basics of biblical truth, e.g. Jesus' death. You should know what you talk about before you try to engage. If you have a witness that'd be great and i also think that might even have the greatest impact onto him.

[themeloninc]

The greatest secret never shared, but should be...

[166beads]

These sound like sales tactics...oh wait.