Religious proselytising: A selfish or selfless act?

Question

When atheists come on Y!A R&S to explain things to theists, it is clear that the one reason we *don't* have for doing it is sucking up to a deity. For the religious, it's not so clear cut - do they proselytise out of selfless concern for the welfare of others' souls or is it a rather more down-to-earth point-scoring exercise in anticipation of an eventual reward from their god?

Answer 1

In my experience of being in a group that does this more than once in my life (did not stay), I would say it is how they have been conditioned to behave.

At one level, people who descent are considered evil or slanderous. One must propagate ones belief amongst none believers or you are part of the problem so to speak.

Those who speak against the belief or critisize it are evil doers. Though there are contradictions and one is supposed to have peaceful dialogue and not try to convert everyone just as many as you can...argh. I will not do that to my friends and family. It is disrespectful. They know, they can ask, if they are interested cool, if not just as cool.

If you are not doing so you are not fully part of things. You are not as true a believer as others. So inclusion in your group is a big issue. Acceptance by your deity and spiritual leaders is threatened at least at the level of having their approval if you don't. People who are really striving want to do the best they can and of course some really believe that it is a life or death thing and are desperate to convert you because they are caring people. They have had the _ _ _ p scared out of them!!!!!!!!

So for some religions it is pretty much that you have to do it!!!Missionaries are a good example to. Even if you say no and they except that, it does not look as good on you.

Congragations are pressured to do this. Pressured to take their religions into their workplaces, into our public schools, in amongst their friends and neighbors. I have seen it. Friends who are Christians and attend church bringing it up and you can just see them testing the water to see how far they can take it. I have a nephew I adore who says the LOrd this and the Lord that all the time!! It gets a bit much, but that is his way. Argh.

Somnetimes I just turn it around and start talking in reference to my beliefs, talking about ceremonies or gatherings and experiences in the same manner as they do. They get very uncomfortable!!!! Sometimes scared. It is really sad.

I feel strongly that pastors, priests and the like have come between some of my friends and I in the past because they push this idea on them. I try to be very understanding because I do not want to loose my friend (s) but there has come a point from time to time where they go to far and it is to hurtful to continue the friendship. I site the time I was not able to be a bridesmaid for my closest friend because I was not a Christian. That hurt is still there. It had meant a lot to me at the time. Seeing her other friends up there with her and helping with the wedding, wow, I just cryed and cryed. The priest did not even want me at the wedding or reception because I was a Buddhist.

The wonderful thing about Atheisim is that it is always scrutinizing, looking for the truth of things not just not believing in a god. Sure they may say theists are silly now and then but they are usually more humanist in nature. At least those that I have known. I don't see Atheists as being selfish or immoral people and I do not automatically see theists as selfless moral people.

I thik many theist of the evangelical kind se what they do as a war against evil. Their leaders want to influence our society and they want conformity to their beliefs. I see these ideas as a threat to neutral ground. Neutral ground is our only chance of peace. Humanity will never conform to one belief.

So the line is drawn between those who want peace and those who see themselves as wanting peace through distruction of evil which means war, inquisition, conversion by peaceful means or by force if nescessary down the line.


Not all theists are evangelical. I think your question needs to distinguish between those who are conversion based and those who are not and if they want to create a society that conforms to their belief or are willing to live in peace with others without judging them.

Peace and neutral ground...love you guys!

Answer 2

If you could talk with the missionaries churches supports, I suspect you'd come away with a different view. Not only would they tell you about the work they do in education and medicine, but they'd also tell you about the way Christ has radically changed the lives of people who had never heard of Him.

The real question, you see, is this: Who was Jesus Christ? Was He just another religious teacher who thought He had some new spiritual insights to share? Or was He more than this? The Bible's answer is clear: Jesus Christ was unique, because He alone was God in human flesh. The Bible puts it this way: "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us" (John 1:14). This sets Jesus apart from every other religious teacher in history.

Why is this important? The reason is because only a divine Savior could save us from our sins and offer us the gift of eternal life. Our greatest need is forgiveness, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). And that is what Christ offers us, for He died on the cross to pay the full penalty for our sins.

Christ's command has never been withdrawn: "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation" (Mark 16:15). If you have never asked Christ to come into your life, do so today. Then thank God for those He has sent to tell others about Christ—and ask Him to make you a missionary to those around you.

Answer 3

Closure is the key word here. If the husband and wife love eachother, they must understand you can't just move on until u know the corpse is actually dead and gone forever. Knowing that there have been miracles, and talking to the person in bed at the hospital help, also helps give closure to the wife and kids...they will feel that they did all they could and all they wanted to do before the natural end of life. I would have to say that leaving the family secure is sensible, but how comfortable are you really going to be if you have depression and guilt from not being there as much as you could have been until the TOD came???I'd be a mess personally. And money wouldn't matter to me much. Yes it would add to the stree, but when you are depressed, you could give two shits about anything.

Answer 4

One of the better questions I've seen on YA. The motives for this go back to how one views free will. If the decision is yours, then you are charged with the task of proselytizing as a work, which is point scoring for rewards, and thus God owes us. So what, we had God under our control anyway with a decision for him, which leaves me wondering who is in charge at all in salvation.

If the decision is God's, it can only be God's because Man has no ability to make a decision for Christ because of his sin. The only result we can expect from salvation here is joy since we've done nothing to deserve it and we would righteously have been sent to Hell if it wasn't for God's intervention. Therefore, no mention of Man can be made in salvation, and it's the guilty-but-rescued sharing with the guilty, and only God gets the credit. Quite naturally it would be selfless, because there's nothing to claim for the proselytizer in witnessing or the proselytizee in accepting. The proselytizer would only be a participant in God's work rather than the other way around.

Answer 5

Many evangelical Christians believe that talking to others about their faith strengthens that faith. Also, genuine concern for others is usually a motivation. I don't think scoring points with a deity--at least in evangelical Christianity--is much of a motivation at all, at least not consciously. The theology itself is quite clear on the futility of such an exercise anyway. Of course it is possible that point-scoring is a subconscious motivation, or a way of proving to oneself/God/others that one truly is following God.

Answer 6

it's a business. and Christianity is the Walmart of religions.which would make Islam Target? i want to punch the pinheads in the face when they knock on my door and start their smiley scripted pitch with the pat answer and questions. works on sheep but not people who can think critically.pascals wager,intelligent design, the watchmaker argument do not translate into the divinity of Jesus,you morons

Answer 7

Some do it because they care for you and don't realize that they are honestly aggravating you and others do it out of selfishness as you said. I gain nothing but 2 points by answering your question...and I believe you are correct in your assumptions.

Answer 8

I think it's very selfish. It's as if they want everyone else to be like them, and to have temptations and the discomforts of facing people who think differently removed from their line of sight. I recently read a Christian single woman say she wanted "revival for the single men of her generation," so she and her friends could get married!

Answer 9

***is it a rather more down-to-earth point-scoring exercise in anticipation of an eventual reward from their god?***

^

That part.

Answer 10

Point scoring.