I appreciate the concern, but I don't want to convert.?

Question

Why do people always try to convert me?
You have to understand that I really do appreciate the trying to save my soul and stuff, but lets put it this way. It is absolutely no business of theirs to try to push me into something. If I wanted to be whatever, I would change.
I am a Jew.
I am proud of that.
And no words about eternal damnation are going to change my mind.

I'm serious. I understand that someone is trying to save me, but it gets annoying. My friends have cried over how I'm going to go to Satan, and burn for eternity.

Everytime this happens, I feel so uncomfortable. I mean, here is a friend who is very dear to me, and she's talking about how I'm going to suffer for all of eternity? Is this supposed to make me want to change? If anything, these pleads make me even less likely to convert (not that that would ever happen anyways).

So, my question is, why? Why do people push me into changing?

Thank you for reading
- Lior

Answer 1

Coming from an atheists point of view, I would point out to the people trying to save you, that since they are so worried about your soul? Just tell them that you are still waiting for the Messiah, and when He shows up, your salvation will be taken care of.
I should think that, having said that? They will leave you alone.

I, on the other hand, am not concerned either way. Since I don't happen to believe in any of it.
No god! No heaven. no hell! No salvation needed..

Answer 2

I respect your Jewishness and heritage. One of my favorite characters in the Old Testament is Queen Esther. In fact her and the holiday of Purim have been on my mind of late as we approach the Christmas and Hanukkah Season. People say that Christmas is a pagan holiday. So I have been in wonder that Purim was started as a Jewish tradition but was started when Israel was in captivity under Babylon. The stories of Abraham, and the creation story and Noah were tales that came from that region also. Long before they became Jewish stories of truth.

II know the answer is there in all this, but I have not formulated an answer yet.

I want to thank you and your people for holding onto the truth through many generations. Those stories have never changed, and it is wonderful that we know the truth about man's existence and why we are here.

Your friends are wrong to try to convert you. Everyone must find their own path. What is astonishing to learn is that God already provided a pathway to God. Just as Jacob saw that staircase to heaven at Bethel.

Shalom and God bless.

Answer 3

I can relate, my dear. My own mother becomes emotionally distraught over the thought of me going to hell. She doesn't exactly know I'm an Atheist but she knows I don't go to church and she knows I don't teach my children about religion, so because of that she assumes I am going to hell. She cries and wails and puts her hands on my head and cries out to the Lord to put conviction on my heart. I try to avoid her because I feel like she's cursing me every time she prays for me. Think Marguerite Perrin, that's my mother in a nut shell.

Answer 4

Yeah, I know the feeling. I don't know why people do this. Maybe they think they are messengers from God. But they are not God. It is a turn off when people tell you what you SHOULD do. We have to find our own path and nobody can tell you what to believe. You believe what you believe and you feel what you feel. When I become a parent, I will guide my kids with religion but the final step is up to them. As an adult, I don't want anyone's guidance unless I ask for it.

Answer 5

You cannot be serious about being a Jew.

Can you seriously trace your roots to the Tribe of Judah?

Or are you a Jew because the Bible makes you a Jew?

There were 12 Tribes of the Children of Israel and Musa brought them all together in one people called Yahuudi or Penitents.

You are Yahuud but the Jewish thing is a Biblical Trick and you seem to have fallen for it.

Answer 6

Part of Christianity is to become "fishers of men." Many Christian denominations push that if you are "saved," then your next purpose in life is to save as many others as you can.

I am a Christian. I believe what I believe because I came to my own conclusions on my own. Though I am a Christian, I am not secure enough in my own faith to say that it is the one true faith and that everyone should follow me. I certainly respect other faiths and other points of view, and I acknowledge that faith is a deeply personal thing.

My best advice is to tell your friends: I love you and I understand what you are trying to do for me, but this is a path that I need to decide on my own. I believe that this is a very personal issue between me and God.

And, for what it's worth, I don't think you're going to hell.

Answer 7

All followers of Christ have to become part of the house of Israel either by blood line or adoption. Christ was and still is a Jew. Gentiles only come in by invitation and adoption. They must be of the seed of Abraham which is to be gathered. Hang in there. You have a front seat.

Answer 8

Exactly!
Why they are trying to convince a person who already believes that she is part of the chosen ones? How stupid of them. Don't they know that they are fighting against another, but at the same time, an identical credence with the same fanatical concepts of eternity, damnation and approach to religion fixations? Shame on them.

Answer 9

Wow...

Well, they try to push you into changing because they don't know any better. They have been brought up only knowing that what they are trying to do is "helping" rather than, in reality, being annoying. Best thing to do is just stay off the subject as much as you can. If they do keep obsessing about it, reminding them that Jesus was a Jew would help. Good luck.

Answer 10

If you thought you knew the only way to avoid eternal torture and seperation from the one true god, you'd worry for the people who didn't believe, too. If they won't accept your beliefs, or if they won't 'lay off' once they know how you feel, then it's time to spend a little less time with those people. You have to be comfortable in your own belief, and not have someone else shoving theirs down your throat all the time.