If we are to follow Jesus example as closely as possible, and he specifically commanded us to preach from house to house, and city to city, why don't all religions require this? Matt. 24:14
2006-11-18 15:49:35 · 13 answers · asked by yyyddd 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
that's a good question!
Only Jehovah Witnesses do that. I think. The funny thing is, few(if any) religions actually follow the bible verse by verse.
2006-11-18 15:53:11 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 1⤋
Most religions don't have what Acts 1:8, the power from the holy spirit.
As to Acts 20:20, meaning teaching to believers, the context of vs 21, shows that it was door to door to all, especially non-believers,
20how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house,
21solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
The 'you' in questions is all people, both believers and non believers, that is why Paul could declare he was free of the blood of all men.
Luke's account of Jesus' ministry and those of his apostles, dealt with a favorable house and a house that rejected the good news.
How did they know if the householders were favorable or unfavorable? by going door to door.
Even the Supreme Court of the USA, recognized that going door to door was bible based.
2006-11-20 15:29:03 · answer #2 · answered by TeeM 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
All religions preach, that is how grow. There are other religions that go door to door. I work from home and in the past 12 months I have had Catholics, Mormons and Seventh-day Adventists preaching at my door.
Jesus and the apostles did not go door to door. For an extensive look at this read http://www.jwfacts.com/index_files/preach.htm
In Luke it specifically says not to go door to door, quite funny as the Watchtower uses the first part of the scripture to support their form of ministry
Luke 10:1-7
“After these things the Lord designated seventy others and sent them forth by twos in advance of him into every city and place to which he himself was going to come. … 5 Wherever YOU enter into a house say first, ‘May this house have peace.’ 6 And if a friend of peace is there, YOUR peace will rest upon him. But if there is not, it will turn back to YOU. 7 So stay in that house, eating and drinking the things they provide, for the worker is worthy of his wages. Do not be transferring from house to house.
The NWT mistranslates Acts 20:20.as the Greek term is not Ek oikia eis oikia, but rather Kata oikos, which most translations translate as "taught you in your houses". Here Paul was talking to the believers, not a 'house-to-house' ministry.
House to house is a very ineffective form of preaching, and does not copy the early Christians who preached everywhere and to everyone, such as in markets and synagogues.
2006-11-19 23:27:15 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋
This is something that truly saddens me. I feel the Christian Church as a whole fails in this area. The only reason I can think of is we do not have a burden and a true vision for the lost souls like we are supposed to. This is really where Gods heart is, is lost souls.
Our Church body has a group of people that do just that. We go door to door, and into stores, street corners, wherever we feel we are led to go, yes even into bars. I for one will and do go into all kinds of places that your average Christian would never go. I cannot stand to see people go through life without hearing the good news that is Jesus Christ.
2006-11-19 02:34:45 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 2⤋
Jehovah's Witnesses don't just go door to door. They do street witnessing, and they go to prisons and teach. They do letter writing etc, they preach in all types of ways not just door to door.
2006-11-20 02:44:21 · answer #5 · answered by JB 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Actually there is another religion that goes door to door preaching the gospel. That religion is called The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was founded by Joseph Smith in the early 1800's. He saw God the Father and Jesus Christ in a vision. They told him to start their true church which he did and now there are more than 12 million members worldwide. They have missionaries that give up 2 years of their lives to go out all over the world to preach the gospel.
2006-11-18 23:58:25 · answer #6 · answered by twittoe 1 · 0⤊ 5⤋
Other religions like those outside of Christianity?
Well, they don't believe in Jesus... and most don't feel the need to press their religion on others and find converts.
It's possible to be satisfied merely with knowing what you believe and not making it what others believe too.
And if you're talking about other religions within "Christianity" (those believing in Christ), because they feel that if someone is interested in "finding Christ" they'll do so.
People knocking on my front door trying to convert me scare the sh*t out of me. If people want religion they go to church- not their front door.
2006-11-18 23:54:53 · answer #7 · answered by britt 2 · 2⤊ 3⤋
Because not all world religions believe in Jesus or the Christian holy text. They have their own prophets, gods, and holy texts. Not all religions need to "sell" their religion to others. The lives of the practitioners is enough for people to want to practice. For example, after seeing the peaceful nature of a Buddhist, one may want to seek to learn about Buddhism. Or after seeing the tolerant, friendly nature of a Hindi, one may want to seek to learn about their Hindu path. Proselytizing isn't necessary.
2006-11-19 02:14:44 · answer #8 · answered by Witchy 7 · 1⤊ 4⤋
Too many so-called religionists, and even "Christians", view their religion as a social club rather than as a way of life which should influence every action the adherent takes. Too many so-called "Christians" do not give any real evidence of taking their so-called "faith" seriously and understanding that it obligates them to do Christ's work.
It seems that three activities can help deepen one's faith; sadly only two of them are acknowledged by most of Christendom's clergy; they are: regular bible reading, regular prayer, and regular personal ministry.
Perhaps these so-called "Christians" are ignorant that the bible most closely associates being "Christian" with PREACHING about Christ and Christ's teachings. Review all three times the bible uses the term "Christian" and note that the context connects the term with:
"declaring the good news"
'teaching quite a crowd'
'open eyes, turn from dark to light'
"uttering sayings of truth"
"persuade"
"keep on glorifying"
(Acts 11:20-26) [The early disciples of Jesus] began talking to the Greek-speaking people, declaring the good news of the Lord Jesus... and taught quite a crowd, and it was first in Antioch that the disciples were by divine providence called Christians.
(Acts 26:17-28) [Jesus said to Paul] I am sending you, to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God... Paul said: “I am not going mad, Your Excellency Festus, but I am uttering sayings of truth and of soundness of mind. ...Do you, King Agrippa, believe the Prophets? I know you believe.” But Agrippa said to Paul: “In a short time you would persuade me to become a Christian.”
(1 Peter 4:14-16) If you are being reproached for the name of Christ, you are happy... But if he suffers as a Christian, let him not feel shame, but let him keep on glorifying God in this name
Sadly, so-called "Christians" try to hijack the term "Christian" and hide its Scriptural implications. Yet, the preaching work makes it clear that the relatively small religion of Jehovah's Witnesses are by far the most prominent followers of Christ:
(Matthew 28:19,20) Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded
Learn more!
http://watchtower.org
http://watchtower.org/e/jt/index.htm
http://jw-media.org/people/ministry.htm
http://watchtower.org/library/ti/index.htm
2006-11-19 01:08:45 · answer #9 · answered by achtung_heiss 7 · 3⤊ 3⤋
Because lots of Christians (Protestants) bash people over the head with the Bible, so it evens out.
2006-11-18 23:51:38 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋