Proselytizing signs

[9-10ths_Penguin]

As I watch the Olympic luge team relay, I notice a guy in the grandstand at the finish with a sign that says:

JESUS = HEAVEN
NO JESUS = HELL

Do people actually expect this sort of thing to win converts?

 

[idea]

I have never been impressed with the scare tactic. So sad for someone to go through life thinking people are going to hell, I mean if you truly believed that, wouldn't it be horrible???

 

[Flame]

They are really running out of ideas for spreading the "good word" aren't they?

 

[Terese]

I think the person isn't looking for converts, but more wanting to assert his opinion and religion as the truth. Religious fear tactics show none of the love of a religion, only "our side and the other".

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

I have never been impressed with the scare tactic. So sad for someone to go through life thinking people are going to hell, I mean if you truly believed that, wouldn't it be horrible???

I wasn’t think of it from a scare tactic perspective; I was thinking more “what sort of person are they trying to reach?”

Presumably, he’s trying to reach someone who can read English and knows what Heaven and Hell are, but doesn’t know that Christians (or at least whatever sect this person belongs to) claim that a person has to accept Jesus to get to Heaven and avoid Hell.

I mean, this guy went to a lot of effort and expense to get a seat at the Olympics that was right in line with the cameras; presumably, he thinks he’ll affect somebody... but who? Whose mind would be changed by that sign? Who, because of that sign, would say to themselves “hmm... maybe I should look into this Jesus person?”

 

[Trailblazer]

As I watch the Olympic luge team relay, I notice a guy in the grandstand at the finish with a sign that says:

JESUS = HEAVEN
NO JESUS = HELL

Do people actually expect this sort of thing to win converts?

It is not good enough for us to believe in Jesus, we have to believe about Jesus the same way they do or we are slated for hell. There is a Christian on another forum who keeps saying I am going to hell but that is not what Jesus said:

John 3:16: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

1 John 5:13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.

I believe in Jesus and I believe in the name of the Son of God. So why don't I have eternal life?

 

[Trailblazer]

Whose mind would be changed by that sign? Who, because of that sign, would say to themselves “hmm... maybe I should look into this Jesus person?”

Besides that, everyone knows about Jesus, this is old news.

 

[YmirGF]

As I watch the Olympic luge team relay, I notice a guy in the grandstand at the finish with a sign that says:

JESUS = HEAVEN
NO JESUS = HELL

Do people actually expect this sort of thing to win converts?

The "my way or the highway" shtick doesn't generally win many converts. It does tend to make people giggle however.

I believe in Jesus and I believe in the name of the Son of God. So why don't I have eternal life?

Because you can't be given something you already posses?

 

[columbus]

I wasn’t think of it from a scare tactic perspective; I was thinking more “what sort of person are they trying to reach?”

Maybe he took up a collection at church to pay for the tickets? Got the money in exchange for proselytizing? And proving that he actually went and didn't scalp the tickets for hooker money?

Tom

 

[Trailblazer]

Because you can't be given something you already posses?

No, because I do not believe that the same Jesus is going to return from the sky on a cloud. The problem is, Jesus made it perfectly clear that the world would see Him no more so that means He is not going to return to earth in the same body.

John 14:19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.

John 17:4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.

John 17:11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I mean, this guy went to a lot of effort and expense to get a seat at the Olympics that was right in line with the cameras; presumably, he thinks he’ll affect somebody... but who? Whose mind would be changed by that sign? Who, because of that sign, would say to themselves “hmm... maybe I should look into this Jesus person?”

That makes me think of the people around here I have heard, Christians, who say before they were Christian they knew god existed but didn't know how to approach him until the read the Bible, learned about Jesus, and all that stuff. And some of the alternatives of that sign I've seen, such "Know Jesus = Heaven/No Jesus = Hell." Or even a billboard currently up around here that asks "Where will you go when you die? Heaven -or- Hell?"

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

I think the person isn't looking for converts, but more wanting to assert his opinion and religion as the truth. Religious fear tactics show none of the love of a religion, only "our side and the other".

Could be.

I’ve heard some people (presuppositionalists, IIRC) explain that when they do what looks like ineffective proselytizing, their objective isn’t to convert: they think that God has already predestined people for Heaven and Hell. Instead, what they’re doing is trying to convict unbelievers: they’re trying to ensure that unbelievers will know enough about Jesus that they’ll be “without excuse” when God condemns them to Hell.

Maybe that’s what this is.

 

[Kenny]

As I watch the Olympic luge team relay, I notice a guy in the grandstand at the finish with a sign that says:

JESUS = HEAVEN
NO JESUS = HELL

Do people actually expect this sort of thing to win converts?

no, although the man with the sign does

 

[Trailblazer]

Instead, what they’re doing is trying to convict unbelievers: they’re trying to ensure that unbelievers will know enough about Jesus that they’ll be “without excuse” when God condemns them to Hell.

Maybe that’s what this is.

That is what I heard from a Christian on another forum today... He said that once you know about Jesus you are without an excuse, but if you had not known you would not be going to hell.

But pretty much everyone knows about Jesus, so where does that leave us?

 

[Skwim]

As I watch the Olympic luge team relay, I notice a guy in the grandstand at the finish with a sign that says:

JESUS = HEAVEN
NO JESUS = HELL

Do people actually expect this sort of thing to win converts?

Like other things that put Jesus and god in the public eye such as "In god we trust" on our money and "One nation under god" in the Pledge of Allegiance, I think it's more a matter of self reassurance and reconfirmation than an attempt to win converts. It's a rather odd psychological need, but does fit in with the need for reassurance and comfort that comes through a belief in Jesus as one's savior.

.

 

[Terese]

Could be.

I’ve heard some people (presuppositionalists, IIRC) explain that when they do what looks like ineffective proselytizing, their objective isn’t to convert: they think that God has already predestined people for Heaven and Hell. Instead, what they’re doing is trying to convict unbelievers: they’re trying to ensure that unbelievers will know enough about Jesus that they’ll be “without excuse” when God condemns them to Hell.

Maybe that’s what this is.

If that is so, those people are heartless and cruel. Awful people in my opinion.

 

[Epic Beard Man]

Scare tactics don't work on me as an adult. I find this common among Muslims, Jews, and Christians, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons etc.....

Live your life right. Be kind to other humans. Don't kill, steal, cheat, or lie to advance yourself. Preserve life as best as you can. Be kind to animals and plants. If Jesus or any cosmic being is that petty to condemn you for a religion, an inanimate ideology, to an eternity of suffering despite your actions as a decent human being, they're not a beneficient as their doctrine proclaims them to be.

 

[Revoltingest]

As I watch the Olympic luge team relay, I notice a guy in the grandstand at the finish with a sign that says:

JESUS = HEAVEN
NO JESUS = HELL

Do people actually expect this sort of thing to win converts?

Sounds like encouragement.
Heaven = white bread, tofu, white robes, no one I like
Hell = Zingermans Parmesan pepper bread, BBQ pork ribs, Hawaiian shirts & blue fuzzy thongs, & all my friends

 

[The Kilted Heathen]

I've started to enjoy rustling their jimmies; when they say I'm going to hell, I reply with "Yeah, probably, unless you're itchin' for a fight."

 

[BSM1]

As I watch the Olympic luge team relay, I notice a guy in the grandstand at the finish with a sign that says:

JESUS = HEAVEN
NO JESUS = HELL

Do people actually expect this sort of thing to win converts?

Maybe he was just trying to save your "Seoul"....