Scenario:

A person tells you they are interested in listening to the word of god by your viewpoint...I.E. they're esentially telling you to try to convert them lol But, you can't use scripture quotes to do it. Their response is: "I have read the book cover to cover several times and while it is an interesting book, I do not believe it is godly words."

Challenge:

So...the person says they are open, but you can't use scriptures to try to convert them. How would you go about it and do you think you would be able to make a convincing enough arguement for them to sway them to your faith and give them a belief in your bible...as, naturally...one couldn't believe in the faith but not the book. How would you go about peeking their interest to open their mind to allowing you to quote scriptures? Or would it be impossible?

I don't do religion

When they are saying listening do not interpret that as invitation to conversion. Get that fixed first.
Listening means respecting you for what you believe and wanting to know your point of view only.
Not having to have it rammed down their throat.
Don't do religion just a point of view.

Is it tacit that they WISH to be converted, or are they just open to listening to me?

The best way to convert or open someone's mind to something new is to live and behave and speak what the scriptures communicate. In my opinion, one doesn't have to quote scriptures to show one is a Christian.

You tell them Doctor

Agreed :D My question was more to those who are opposite of how you feel. :)

in a nutshell??? - no - the whole idea behind christianity is that the word of god convicts a person and the "hole y" - ghost (creepy) - does the changing of mind - and leads one to "salvation" - trying to explain the "christian god outside of scripture - accrding to them - would not work - you may get them interested enough to actually delve back into the book again but without the word's in the book god's power is null and void. Strange concept for an all powerful god to have this inability huh? - Some will probably respond that "he could" just as he did in the old testament - but that is wrong because the NT states that now you have to "hear the word of god in order to be convicted of sin and ask for forgiveness and accept jesus as lord and savior to be his. In other word's you need "faith in the words to do all this - YES FAITH IN THE WORDS - also others will comment that if they "speak the words thats the same - but as you state this cannot be the case in your scenario - so it's a mute point.

If they've already read the book and have decided that it's ungodly words, then why would they still be open to it?

Sounds like they have already decided.

It's basically a futile scenario and misses the point.

The point being that the religion is a belief that the book is the word of God. That's the foundation of the religion. That is what the religion is based on.

To convince someone that the religion is true you must convince them that the book is indeed the word of God and is therefore godly.

Any religion that is based on the idea that a particular book is the word of God has absolutely no meaning outside of that belief.

That IS the belief!

It a belief in a book.

Start by telling them that humans are nothing. They are merely slaves or food for the hungry the angels (the winged draconians).

Tell them that they are extremely lucky that they are being chosen (called) to be a servant of the Lord. (slave) (Humans bred for food just get eaten. )

Now, the rules for the slaves are that they must obey their Lord and Master, who is their creator. They make rules for them and tell them that God, their creator, demands that they obey these rules. Those who do not obey, are disobedient sinners. The penalty for that is death.

This is their master's law. They are lucky to have been chosen to be slaves but they must obey their master's law or die.

"The wages of sin is death."

Tell them that all of them have sinned and all of them are on death row. But they can be saved, because their master sent his son to die in their place, so if they accept that sacrifice and agree to become and remain obedient slaves, they will be pardoned and as an extra bonus, they will be given eternal life as servants of their lord in heaven. Not to worry, they will be well taken care of.

All others, who do not ask for forgiveness and accept the sacrifice and become obedient slaves will be left behind to rot in hell.

I am quite sure you will gain many converts with this approach.

Of course its just a suggestion.

JB

been there - done that i now have a church population of eleventeen trillion and growing - thnx JB - it's all because of you


Anybody want to buy a growing profitable church?? tithes are up 80%

I share my experience in knowing God with them. Look what the Lord has done.

I would also talk to God about them & He will tell me what to pray for them. I do get results that way.

The real arguement is a moot one unless you're a base in a ball park. If you want to know about math you have to LEARN equations. Same with God's word.

I for one get tired of the obtuse responses. The original question was very simple.

If someone was interested in hearing about your religion and what you believe, but you were unable to quote scripture how would you convey those thoughts? What would you say?

I am presuming by the wording that this is meant to be a question for "Christians".

I'd ask them if they had any spiritual beliefs or Christian beliefs. Then I'd ask them what they thought of Christ (is he a teacher, a prophet, the son of God)? I'd ask them where they think that Christ lives and if they believe in Heaven or Hell. I'd also ask them where they'd go if they died tonight and ask them if they were wrong would they want to know? I'd tell them I have a few scriptures I could share with them and ask if they'd mind if I'd do it.

I'd tell him God demonstrated his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us (Rom 10:9)

I'd ask them if they'd ever lied, used the name of God in vain, & etc. Some people say yes, yes I am a lying blasphemer. You could ask them, OK, what do you deserve then? (A technique I've seen on TV, believe it or not).

I'd tell him God will judge us for our sins unless we turn to his Son, Jesus for forgivenss, repent of our sins and let Jesus into our heart.

I'd ask them if they think they're a sinner and if they want forgiveness.

I'd ask them if they thought Jesus died so God could forgive us for our sins and if they belived God raised Christ up from the dead.

I'd ask them if they were ready to turn their life over to God and if they were ready to ask Jesus to come into their heart and then I'd PRAY!

If they answered yes when I asked them if they were ready to have Jesus into their heart, I'd have them pray this prayer:

Confessing to God that I am a sinner and believing that the Lord Jesus Christ died for my sins on the cross and was raised for my justification, I do now receive him and confess him as my personal savior.

I'd ask them how many sins did Jesus forgive and how many does he remember? I'd ask them to pray what they're feeling with me and to call whoever's been praying for them with me. I'd ask them to come to church with me next Sunday and encourage them to read the Bible. That's the word of god and the bread of life and without it, a Christian's gonna starve to death spiritually. You need worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry and mission to grow and flourish as a Christian. The Bible'll teach you discipleship and give you reasons for the other four.

Yes but isn't it already redundant?

The scenario suggests that person who is supposed to be interested has already read the book cover to cover several times and while they found it interesting They don't believe it is godly words.

Why would they still be interested in something that they have already concluded to be "ungodly"?

It seems to me that the whole scenario is amiss.

This would be like someone saying, "The idea of some guy living at the North Pole who single-handedly rides around in a flying sleigh pulled by flying raindeer lands on people's roofs and shimmies down their chimneys never getting sooty looking seems utterly impossible.

But I WANT TO BELIEVE that Santa Claus exists!

PLEASE explain to me how I can believe in Santa Claus without having to believe in the STORY!

That's basically what the person would be asking.

ok the question is intended to make the reader consider (regardless of whether they answer) if they have enough knowledge of what they believe is "God" to convey this belief withought being able to repeat words from a book like a parrot, cut and paste from a scripture debate site meant to help those without any understanding propogate and defend the bible or christian faith, or simply ignore everything said and insert scripture that may or may not have anything to do with the sitiuation or their belief.

The Goal per my personal comprehension of the question is to see if proffessed Christians engaging in these discussions have any thoughts of their own whatsoever, and whether they are capable of sharing those thoughts.

Presuming they do have their own minds and are able to do so, it gives insight on their PERSONAL belief once they stop pasting, playing, and repeating scripture that they may or may not understand.

What's the sense in believing in something or someone if you don't believe the story behind it? Kind of like saying a box would float without a table underneath it. Or a house'd stand without a foundation. Not gonna happen around here too much.

Oh I think the foundation is belief regardless of how one reaches it.

Some think the bible is the word of "God" while others believe it is the word of man inspired by "God".

I think most agree that for their to be belief one must comprehend the concepts in the bible well enough for them to repeat them, or at least state their own understanding of them.

I am curious. Why do you believe the story behind it?

ok wow...I thought this would turn into an interesting debate :D I log out for a bit, and return...and wham! I'll have to go trhough and respond one by one to the posts...please bear with me during this short technical difficulty lmao

And thanks to everyone who's posted so far...this is actually pretty interesting!

Exactly...so the challenge is...how would you go about doing that without quoting scriptures right off the bat?

Exactly :) A testimony of sorts...I'm sure they've come upon this several times before...but in those cases they were probably able to use scriptures. But, if the person doesn't believe in the bible (at the time) scriptures wouldn't really sway their decision. One would think that first, you have to understand everything else...and then delve into the scripture. When they have a better sense of why others value it and belive it. I know me personally (and my sisters and several friends) don't believe in the bible...so bible quotes wouldn't really mean anything to me no matter how many were read to me. Hence the challenge to it...