Do non-Christians not want to hear Christians reasons for beliefs if it is scripture? How else would we back?

Question

up our beliefs if they are founded from God's Word? I do know one other way and that is to tell you what has happened in our own lives because of choosing God. Would that be more acceptable? If we did that....would you listen?

Answer 1

Quoting from a volume the origin of which has NOT been determined, is not sufficient reason for belief in the view of a non-believer. It is too dependent on subsidiary belief:
'Why do you believe in God'?
'Because the bible tells me what is true'.
'Why do you believe the bible is true?'
'Because it's the word of God'.
'Why do you believe the bible is the word of God'?
'Because it says it's the word of God'.

See the problem?

To answer your question then, yes, telling about your PERSONAL reasons for believing in a god is a more compelling reason than a string of interdependent reasoning such as I mentioned above. At least a personal experience is understandably valid TO YOU. The non-believer might still think that you've misinterpreted your experience, but again, at least it's not illogical on it's own face.

Answer 2

ANYTHING would be more convincing than a quote from the Bible. You see, non-Christians don't believe in the Bible. Thus, whatever is in the Bible is meaningless to a non-believer. As far as non-believers are concerned, backing up the idea that Christianity is any way true by using scriptures as proof amounts to a circular argument. (Just in case you didn't know, a circular argument is considered to be invalid according to the rules of logic).

Also, when you say the word "listen" do you actually mean just literally listen to you? Or do you actually mean "agree" when you use the word "listen"? I'm sure a lot people would be willing to listen to you, (at least up to a point). However that doesn't mean that they are necessarily going to agree with what you are saying.

Answer 3

Talking about your personal experiences would likely be received a bit better - quoting the Scriptures does turn a lot of people off. If only because quoting Scripture is essentially telling people "You should believe in this book, because this book says you should." Not particularly compelling, I'm afraid.

I'm a bit uncertain as to why you're looking to "back up" your beliefs. Do you mean, simply answering a question as to why you hold that belief? If so, referencing the Bible is certainly okay - that's what contains the rules of your religion, so it makes sense to refer to your manual, so to speak.

But if you're looking to encourage people to convert? I don't know if there *is* a good way - quite often, us non-Christians have our own beliefs that we hold just as dearly as you hold your beliefs. Being a living example of the best parts of your faith is more apt to catch a non-Christian's attention than a fire-and-brimstone speach or random quotations from the Bible.

Answer 4

Non - Christians don't tolerate quotes from the Bible, that would be like a Muslim trying to convert us by quoting the Quran.

We just have to explain to them how there has to be a God, by logic. What's the point of living?- It can't just be to survive and reproduce, that is pointless in the end. How can we just go nowhere when we die? How can we sense good and evil, if there is no sources of them? How is it possible that this planet was made just perfect that it could sustain such complex life?

All we can do is preach to them and pray they will listen.

Answer 5

Speaking as a "non-Christian" my problem is that Christians will tell us every word of the Bible is true and must be taken at face value. So we ask about stoning a woman for adultery, etc, and we're told "oh, not that part". So we ask if it is metaphorical, and we're told "NO IT IS ALL TRUE" (see the issue yet?)

What you have to understand honey is that, while letting "God" into your life was a positive thing, for many of us, walking away from the Church was the positive turning point of our lives.

Answer 6

If you have even the slightest bit of evidence that the bible was the word of any god, your question might have some merit.

The only reason you say the bible is the word of a god, is because the bible says it is.

I know, you don't understand why that is so silly. But that, more than anything else, is why atheists have such a time making fun of people like yourself. You really do appear quite the fool when you say such things.

Answer 7

It is the basis of your statement. God's word was voted on as to what it should be. It was not written by god, it was written by loads of people and a committee decided on what was politically acceptable at that time. Much of the rest of it was taken from different cultures and reworded as necessary for the political climate of the time. It has nothing to do with god or his word. That is why we have problems with you quoting a fantasy to prove a point.

Answer 8

You worded your question very politely. I like that.

The Christian bible is very important to those who follow the Christian religion. I respect that. But I'm not interested in it because I'm not a Christian.

You do not need to back up your beliefs to me. I respect your rights to believe whatever you want.

If people ask you serious questions (don't look for many serious religious questions on YA!) in your daily life, they will listen to your answers. If they ask, they WANT to know something. But if no one is asking you, then they probably have no interest. Those who aren't interested are not going to listen. If I want to know about Christianity, I have friends and family that I can ask about it. I have co-workers that I could ask about it. Or, I can go to a local church and ask someone. I imagine that all I'd have to do is make a phone call to a church and someone would be happy to answer me. My friends and family have simply let me know that they are Christians. They don't try to make me listen to their reasoning or the tenets of their faith. And I return that respect by not trying to make them listen to my reasoning.

Don't waste your time trying to make people listen to words. Besides, we all know that actions speak louder than words anyway.

Answer 9

The Apostle Paul used the writings of Greek poets, philosophy, and cultural icons to convey the gospel message to those who would not have believed Jewish scripture. Why shouldn't we point to some of the things in our culture in order to share the gospel as well?

Answer 10

We want you to use your brain, not your scripture. Do you believe in Harry Potter just because some lady wrote it? Or do you use your brain and think for yourself so you know its all fiction? And thats just a modern example.

Use your brain, not your 2000 year old book written by sheepherders who thought the earth was flat.