Can speaking about your beliefs lead someone to believe?

[RESOLUTION]

I am going to make this as clear as I possibly can and I would like as many of you to really take part in this discussion so we can be clear how we really see these things.

For Christians if you look at Acts 10. 35-46

We see there is no co-hearsing or anything else said other than about Jesus Christ and how believing on him you are saved.
Not everyone believe but those who hear are baptised with water and the Spirit.

I do not believe discussions about beliefs lead people to share your beliefs.
I believe hearing the gospel message and someone deciding for themselves to follow Christ is the only way.
No man can convince another.

So tell me do you believe anyone can by mere discussion bring someone around to their own way of faith/belief?

 

[loverofhumanity]

Hi Resolution!

My understanding is you can only point to the path and then it is up to the person whether they want to walk along that path.

I went away from Christianity for a number of years because although I believe in it when I was young and I really loved Jesus, I had no answer then for the world's rejection of Him.

But then through reading and investigating without any mentors I really believe and now all the world couldn't change my mind.

I do believe that God sent other great teachers like Moses, Abraham, Buddha and so on and that if we investigated them impartially we would also find that they teach truth too.

I agree if you go to the source with a pure heart you will be guided to see the truth but no one can convince you of it. It has to be your own effort.

 

[Dawnofhope]

I am going to make this as clear as I possibly can and I would like as many of you to really take part in this discussion so we can be clear how we really see these things.

For Christians if you look at Acts 10. 35-46

We see there is no co-hearsing or anything else said other than about Jesus Christ and how believing on him you are saved.
Not everyone believe but those who hear are baptised with water and the Spirit.

I do not believe discussions about beliefs lead people to share your beliefs.
I believe hearing the gospel message and someone deciding for themselves to follow Christ is the only way.
No man can convince another.

So tell me do you believe anyone can by mere discussion bring someone around to their own way of faith/belief?

I really love my Christian brothers and sisters, the Bible, and God. But I love people of other faiths too. What you understand from the verses you share, I understand differently.

 

[SomeRandom]

I am going to make this as clear as I possibly can and I would like as many of you to really take part in this discussion so we can be clear how we really see these things.

For Christians if you look at Acts 10. 35-46

We see there is no co-hearsing or anything else said other than about Jesus Christ and how believing on him you are saved.
Not everyone believe but those who hear are baptised with water and the Spirit.

I do not believe discussions about beliefs lead people to share your beliefs.
I believe hearing the gospel message and someone deciding for themselves to follow Christ is the only way.
No man can convince another.

So tell me do you believe anyone can by mere discussion bring someone around to their own way of faith/belief?

It depends, I suppose, on the person you're preaching to and how you go about saying such things to people. If you go up to someone and call their god/s false, I doubt you'll be met with receptive ears. I mean for starters, that would be quite rude to say to someone. And you'd elicit defensiveness rather than an honest debate/discussion.
It's not just what you say to people, but how you say it. Speaking generally, of course.

 

[Kelly of the Phoenix]

So tell me do you believe anyone can by mere discussion bring someone around to their own way of faith/belief?

If they're particularly weak-willed, which is why many Abrahamics start to swoon like stereotypical Southern women when other religions bring up their own views. I've noticed the loudest theists tend also to be the most fickle. A secure faith wouldn't need to advertise as much. I'm not a big fan of evangelism, which I see as a non-car owner trying to sell me a Porsche while flapping around a brochure about a Pinto. I mean, the POINT of evangelism is to coerce people into believing what you do, because apparently God needs you specifically to do His marketing, right?

And I'm Christian.

 

[Quintessence]

So tell me do you believe anyone can by mere discussion bring someone around to their own way of faith/belief?

I find it interesting that you put the word "mere" in front of "discussion." Seems to me there is nothing "mere" about it. Woe be upon those who underestimate the power of words and stories, for they govern much of how we understand and relate to the world around us. A story never told is a story never considered.

 

[Satans_Serrated_Edge]

I am going to make this as clear as I possibly can and I would like as many of you to really take part in this discussion so we can be clear how we really see these things.

For Christians if you look at Acts 10. 35-46

We see there is no co-hearsing or anything else said other than about Jesus Christ and how believing on him you are saved.
Not everyone believe but those who hear are baptised with water and the Spirit.

I do not believe discussions about beliefs lead people to share your beliefs.
I believe hearing the gospel message and someone deciding for themselves to follow Christ is the only way.
No man can convince another.

So tell me do you believe anyone can by mere discussion bring someone around to their own way of faith/belief?

Of course speaking can create believers, in the earliest times of Christianity on through to the invention of the printing press people heard the 'good' word orally only. Even now many many Christians have never read the Bible. Yet they believe still.

It works best when you get them young while they are impressionable of course, but that has always been the practice hasn't it?

 

[MonkeyFire]

Faith is unattainable.

 

[A Vestigial Mote]

Conversion probably doesn't happen most often when merely discussing faith with another. However, many "good works" are used as a launch platform to start a discussion where the believer can share their beliefs, with the hope that the person likes what they see and joins up.

I am on the fence as to whether the good works are done more often with real love of humanity at heart, or whether they are done specifically to get people to ask you why you are out doing these works so that they can potentially be brought "into the fold" in this manner.

More often than not, in my personal experience (with Christianity in particular), I have seen more claims that fellow congregation members are "family" that end in members estranged beyond reconciliation than I have seen signs that a true "family" mentality exists between members. Hands down. Which is one of the main reasons I believe that proselytization is frowned upon. Because it is usually difficult to tell whether the intent is to truly help out of a "love" for the people involved, or that it is meant to increase the proselytizers own conversion count - the end goal of which might be to solidify a spot for the proselytizing believer in a proposed "heaven" or to "help the cause" in general, or any one of many similarly "selfish" reasons a person might do such things.

 

[Twilight Hue]

So tell me do you believe anyone can by mere discussion bring someone around to their own way of faith/belief?

I wouldn't recommend it.

 

[Brickjectivity]

The way to attract a convert is outlined in I Peter. First, Peter says to live a certain way. Then, sometimes because you live that particular way and don't participate in certain human activities people will naturally suspect something is wrong with you and persecute you. Finally, prove to them with your continual good behavior and amazing character that you are correct and that the way you live is correct. They will then gain faith, and you will have atoned for them with your suffering in imitation of Jesus. Simple, very difficult and quite effective.

 

[ADigitalArtist]

Yes, I believe people's minds can change as a result of discussion. Though I feel very strongly that:

A. Actions speak louder than words, how one comports themselves around people of a different point of view is more important than what they say. Empathy, civility and charitability DESPITE having a difference of point of view is the best demonstration that you're committed to actually caring about other people, not just caring about people having the same viewpoint as you.

B. Leading a discussion by insulting the character, religion or lifestyle of the person will make the person defensive and unreceptive to a healthy discussion. This goes for non-Christians just as much as Christians. Saying that the only way to be intelligent or logical is to abandon their faith will only have an opposite effect and make you look like an ***. Similarly, saying that atheists are amoral, lazy, untrustworthy devil-ensnared sinners does the same thing.

C. Leading on threats of hell or bribes of heaven, which tries to force acceptance under duress and makes the discussion feel like a sales pitch, are also ineffective tools more likely to drive people away than convince them.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

A person's views changing (regarding anything) is the result of a range of experiences over a period of time which work to alter underlying assumptions and perceptions. Conversation with another person can be a component of this, but I doubt a conversation (or a number of conversations) in itself would generally be able to alter someone's view. And, certainly, it would be rare for conversation itself to be able to modify the views of someone who isn't already primed to absorb and adopt this new view because of previous experiences and thoughts.

At the end of the day, the logic of religious arguments are so unconvincing and inconsistent as to probably be incidental in anyone adopting said religious views.

 

[Aštra’el]

My tactics of indoctrination are more subtle and insidious. I would never truly convert anyone to my spiritual-religious system, as it was designed by me and for me, but I can shape people into what I want them to be- resources or instruments I can utilize somehow- at times with words alone, often with references to religion and spirituality.