Evangelism

[theOperaGhost]

What is your opinion on Evangelism? I don't want this to be a debate between atheists and religious people about whether God is real or any shit like that, just how you feel about evangelism.

I myself am now between being a Christian and an atheist/agnostic, leaning more towards atheist. Even when I did believe in God, I just though evangelism went too far. It seems so fake, like going to see a hypnotist; it all looks the same. You see these "healings" on TV made by televangelists and I just don't buy it anymore, because it all looks like what the hypnotist did at all my after prom parties. People "feel" different, but I don't think they are.

I don't have a problem with religion in general, but I feel evangelists are brain washing people who are looking for answers, making them fearful. Religion should not be a fearful thing, so why are they making it that way?

[Sapphire]

Evangelical Christians drive me to distraction. They are the pinnacle of everything I hate about religion.

Luckily for me, I don't encounter them even semi-regularly.

[theOperaGhost]

I honestly like didn't even know how much it existed. I'd seen televangelists, not watched, but seen them when skipping through the channels. However I came to college and joined a group of primarily Assembly of God followers, or whatever. I go to the first meeting and it's like hardcore worship. It freaked me out quite a lot. Now the dilemma I'm faced with is, I don't want to be part of that anymore, however, I love the people I was with, just not their religious-ness. I don't want to lose the best friends I've ever had just because I don't buy into their religion anymore.

I went 19 years only going to church on Christmas, so all of that worship just hit me hard, I was uncomfortable, and like James (if any of you watch his youtube videos) said, he tried hard, he prayed and all that, well, so did I and nothing happened.

[Θάνατος]

I agree that the evangelist are good but yet they brain wash a lot of people and actually have scammed from money the elderly before.

Billy Graham was very good but other than him I don't think too much of the rest of them.

[Sapphire]

Now the dilemma I'm faced with is, I don't want to be part of that anymore, however, I love the people I was with, just not their religious-ness. I don't want to lose the best friends I've ever had just because I don't buy into their religion anymore.
I'm sure that you can all be friends despite the clash in religious views. They should respect that you don't feel comfortable in that certain environment. You can all meet up outside of religious settings and go bowling or something like that instead.

[CaptainObvious]

I inherently don't like people trying to actively convert me. However, I can see exactly how the beliefs work that lead to it. Think about it: if you were convinced you held a belief that would entitle you to the greatest reward imaginable, and all you had to do was let everyone else in on this belief, wouldn't you evangelize to as many people as possible? That's what a lot of these Christians believe (not the fake televangelists and their ilk, who are just in it for money), and as a result I don't consider evangelism to be particularly objectionable in the context of the belief system.

That said, I'm still a staunch atheist, so my understanding doesn't extend to acceptance. :P

[Halibut]

what is evangelism. do you have a website about it?

[Atonement]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evangelism

Itdoes often seem like the extremism of Christianity. Yes, we should be extreme in the fact that we do have a faith, but the miracle healings, the excorcisms, the testimonies can seem false to even me.

[Zephyr]

I inherently don't like people trying to actively convert me. However, I can see exactly how the beliefs work that lead to it. Think about it: if you were convinced you held a belief that would entitle you to the greatest reward imaginable, and all you had to do was let everyone else in on this belief, wouldn't you evangelize to as many people as possible? That's what a lot of these Christians believe (not the fake televangelists and their ilk, who are just in it for money), and as a result I don't consider evangelism to be particularly objectionable in the context of the belief system.

That said, I'm still a staunch atheist, so my understanding doesn't extend to acceptance. :P

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[Gumleaf]

i am a lover of evangelism if its done right. from a christian perspective, i love it. i think that spreading the word is fantastic. i think the right way to do evangelism is to display things simply and with a purpose, but doing it in a way that its not overwhelming for those who are there. i don't think there is anything worse then when its done wrong. when people start ramming things down peoples throats and they don't but i also believe that it can be over the top and rub off badly on people when it isn't done correctly. but yeah, on the whole i love it!

[ThatCanadianGuy]

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I don't have a problem with religion in general, but I feel evangelists are brain washing people who are looking for answers, making them fearful. Religion should not be a fearful thing, so why are they making it that way?

Well as a wonderfully militant atheist and anti-theist I'd have to say that all of them, not just evangelism, is brainwashing. I rather like evangelism for one reason though; its so crazy that it can even help the people that already believe start to see how wrong it is.

As a second point, I'd have to say that religion in general thrives on fear; nobody would follow the tenets of Christianity as faithfully if they were not afraid of going to hell. All denominations make religion a fearful thing, but evangelism does it much more than others.

Once again though I gotta emphasize that evangelism may have the positive quality of turning people off of religion. I mean, imaging going to a pentecostal worship service and seeing a bunch of crazy shit like that... no one who was there for their first time would buy it.

[Hyper]

I've found that evangelists are generally very nice people.. However for me they personally cross a line that goes from very nice to fanatical