Christians, how many of you "Assume" you know why someone isn't a Christian?

Question

There is no "nice" way to ask that but I am asking it honestly. I see here people saying all the time that people aren't Christians because "they are arrogant" or "they follow the devil". But everyone has a story, I am one of them. It's not as simple as many "assume" it to be. And if you "assume" why someone isn't a Christian, then just how do you expect to sincerly "reach" them?

For the people who say "refusing to believe." How do you know I am "refusing" anything? you have no idea who I am or what I have been through? As soon as you make that assumption, I am done listening to anything you have to say. You just lost another possible convert.
A "slave to god"? Why do I have to be a slave at all? Why can't I just be loved for who and what I am? My parents can manage that but God can't? Ugh

Answer 1

Posters here have told me that I:

A) am mad at god for some bad thing that happened in my life
B) reject god so that I can sin all I want
C) reject god because I don't want to have to 'answer' to anyone
D) haven't been "chosen" by the holy ghost to understand (I love that one)
E) want to be my own god

None of that is true, of course, but they are the common, albeit ridiculous, assumptions voiced here.

Answer 2

I might be partly to blame for your reaction because of an answer I gave earlier.

The problem is, that while there are many reasons why different people are not Christians, yet when confronted with the truth of God's love and mercy; when shown what Jesus did by dying on the cross in our place, then the population splits.

Some (like myself) when confronted with the infinite mercy and love of God, responded by yielding to Him.

Others choose to reject God's Love and mercy. And why, exactly would someone refuse a pardon from the only one who can grant it - the Judge?

Ultimately, people think they are good enough and do not need God's pardon.

People tend to think that there can not be a God who would judge us, or some other similar excuse.

The bottom line is, as I quoted Jesus before so now quote him again, that people refuse to come to Him because their deeds are evil, and they don't want to be exposed by His Light.

Let me, please, give an illustration.

You come into a cave with a flashlight. As you sweep around the darkened room, you start seeing people doing things that - even in your own sensibilities - are downright wicked.

People can only respond in one of three ways.

1. They can come out to the light, accept their moral guilt and stop whatever they were doing.
2. They can crawl deeper into the darkness so their actions are not revealed by the light.
3. They can attack you as the light bearer to try to extinguish the light that is exposing them.

I hope you understand what I'm trying to get at here. It is not judgemental to say that somebody is guilty if they truly ARE guilty.

And if you are offering them a pardon, or offering to bring them to the One who DOES pardon, then why is that so offensive?

The offer holds for you no matter how long you hold out.

And, as far as referring to the devil, that's rather a rude way of saying that people who refuse God's love is obeying the devil. God says to live unselfishly by His loving Laws, while the devil says simply to just disobey God.

It might seem like a crude way of putting it, but - sadly - according to God, you are either a slave to God, or you are a slave to sin.

I sure hope this helps you to understand what people are REALLY trying to say.

Answer 3

Many folk are not christians because of the way they see so call christians acting. Christians are the most unacting like christian people i have ever met. They are unkind, judgemental and down right uncaring when it come to other peoples right to believe in the way they see fit. The word God, is love. There is nothing loving about you, when you will not allow others to live and believe as they want to. Many people are dead and being killed in the name of religious. If you believe in whatever you believe, believe with all your heart. But respect others and their right to do the same with what they believe in. This world is big enough for us all to live together. I love god, and believe in God. But i have lost faith in the church. I lost faith in the church because i see that it mostly in a man made thing, that is based on a way of collecting money. But if you say that around so called christians, they say you do not believe in God. well i do believe in God. I just do not believe in these churches of today.

Answer 4

I am not Christian but I thought I'd share my experience about a Christian who "assumed" I was not a Christian before I even knew myself that I wasn't.

When I was 18/19 years old I lived with my boyfriend. I am (now) atheist and didn't know it at the time and he and his family were Southern Baptist. One night I had to take my boyfriend to the emergency room for some stomach problems he was having and (to make a long story short) would up sitting in the hospital room with his (devout Baptist) father for quite a while whilst my boyfriend was unconscious.

Being the devout Baptist that his father was, he began to talk about religion. We discussed the differences between the Baptist and Catholic denominations (I was raised Catholic). I in no way discussed my personal beliefs and thought that we had simply had an objective discussion.

A few days after having this discussion with my boyfriends father, my boyfriend tells me that his dad told him that he didn't think I was a Christian. I have no idea what gave him this idea and how the subject of my beliefs would have even come up in conversation but I was offended. Who was he to judge me when I didn't even know myself what I believed? Yet this is the same man who referred to my home as the "Den of Iniquity"...

Answer 5

no longer all Christians are like this yet there are extremely some. i'm no longer probably bothered by potential of them. I only forget approximately them. the only time they piss me off is while they tension their morality into our rules and politics. I easily tend to vote Republican and many years in the past that replaced into the occasion I overwhelmingly voted for... yet that replaced into earlier the non secular appropriate had a vice grip on the GOP, Then the Republican occasion placed greater of a concentration on abortion and gay marriage and faculty prayer than economic conservatism. I choose those Christian Republicans could only circulate away so we are able to come back to economics yet i do no longer see that going on any time quickly.

Answer 6

We can't reach anyone by insulting them or criticising them. Neither can non-beleivers convince anyone of anything that way.

If you want to make your world seem attractive enough for others to explore, show them how good you are and how wonderful your world is too.

If peace, love, patience, compassion, kindness, gentleness, helpfulness and respect for others sounds like a world that you can enjoy, then come to Christ. He is ready to welcome you and will never mock you for taking too long to get there.

Answer 7

I don't. But Jesus said something about those who refuse to believe in Him. He is the light of the world. He went on to say that men do not come to the light because their deeds are evil. His words, not mine.

Answer 8

You're right, too many people assume. This isn't our place. People that accuse, as you say, do not understand the grace that was given to them.

Answer 9

I wonder if thou wert spammed by the same spammer as I this morning.
I was informed I had a bad experience in my parent's church.
As my parents are non-church going (agnostic and atheist) this was quite interesting.

Answer 10

Only God and the person know why he/she is not a Christian.