Hey Andy, why do people feel the need to spread their beliefs? Some religious people (some, not all) are always looking to persuade people to join their religion. Shouldn’t your religion be a choice that you make yourself out of your own beliefs?
Also, I find that I agree with Anabaptists, that you should only be baptized after you are of certain age to decide your religion. What do you think about that way of thinking?
Hi. First off, yeah, you are absolutely right about the need for the religion or faith you belong to to be a choice. That’s actually one of the things many people of the many religions out there don’t realize – that it is absolutely, 100% IMPOSSIBLE to force somebody to convert to Christianity – REAL Christianity, that is. I mean, sure, you could force somebody to go through the motions, but a true Christian is one who has a genuine relationship with God, which is only possible through Jesus Christ. You can’t force somebody into a relationship with God, for such then would not be genuine, would it?
Why Do Christians Persuade Others To Accept Jesus?
As for people of certain religions or faiths persuading others into accepting Jesus Christ, let’s suppose that you’re in a building with a ticking bomb. You may or may not be aware of it, but it is there, and you are trapped in the building. There’s not much time, and if you do not get out now, you’ll perish with everybody else in there. Now, if somebody was to know of a doorway, and it happened to be the only one doorway that led to safety, then wouldn’t you want them to show you that door? I know this may sound a bit extreme, but sin is very deadly, much more so than a ticking bomb in the room. But there is one, and only one doorway that can lead you to safety, and that doorway is Jesus Christ. As REAL Christians, our great concern for those who are stuck in the room with the ticking bomb is the reason many of us are so (pushy?) when it comes to sharing Christ. However, I find it interesting at how much more seriously people react to bomb threats than they do to sin.
Religion of Your Own Beliefs
“Shouldn’t your religion be a choice that you make yourself out of your own beliefs?” No, it really shouldn’t. Look at the world for a moment. The world has chosen to reject God because what He demands from His people is in conflict with what the world wants to do. So in response, such people have created their own ideas of who God is, what He’s like, and what He demands of them. In other words, they’ve created idols and false religions based on their own beliefs.
God demands that His people be holy and represent Him. However, the world’s gods don’t demand anything. Instead, they allow people to do whatever they want, and to alter their lives however’s necessary in order to be happy.
Marriage
God says that when you marry somebody, the 2 become 1 in spirit and flesh. God also says that He hates divorce, and Jesus only gave the green light for divorce if the other person cheats on you. But the world’s gods tell them that if they have to work at it in order to be happy, then they’re with the wrong person and should get out of it. Because in the world’s eyes, marriage shouldn’t be hard work — if you’re meant to be, everything should all fall into place.
Salvation
Jesus said that He alone is the only Way to God (and thus salvation). But the religions that the world’s created out of their own beliefs is that everybody’s religion will get them to heaven, as long as they’re nice people. But the standards of good are set by those people. So whatever you consider as good, is set as the standard for being good enough to go to Heaven. So now you’ve become your own god.
Creating gods
Do you see where I’m going with this? If you choose a religion based on what you want to believe, then you have the tendency of picking and choosing which parts you want to follow, believe, agree and disagree with, and ultimately, creating your own god and your own religion. And that could be extremely dangerous, both for this life and the next. But then, that’s what so many have done.
Along with this, I have to refer to what I said about open-mindedness. When you create a religion that’s based on your own beliefs, then you’re picking and choosing what you believe as Truth. What’s interesting, though, is that people are only willing to believe truth if they agree with it. And this is exactly what you’re doing when you choose a religion based on your pre-determined beliefs.
Ages of Being Baptized
In terms of an age of being baptized and choosing your “religion”, you’d be surprised, but one of the most common ages for people to accept Christ is 8. Crazy, right? I’ve even heard of children at the age of 5! But those who continue in their relationships with Jesus from then on do continue on as solid Christians. However, on that note, the most common age for people to give up their faith (leave what relationships they had with Jesus) is 18-20 (when they move away from home for college). And those who do usually make worse decisions with their lives than 8 year olds. Then, when they begin thinking about God again, they usually only have a young, Sunday School-level understanding about God and what it means to be a Christian.
Understand, I am not saying that I disagree with the Anabaptists, for they do make a good point. Plus, they are correct that baptism does not save you, which is a common misunderstanding by many who baptize their infants. However, I do believe I have found some places in the Bible that support the baptizing of infants (not for salvation, but as baptizing the whole household when the Master of the home accepts Christ and is baptized), as well as sprinkling, such as when submersion was not possible. I’ve also written some posts on the real meaning of Baptism, which I’d encourage you to check out. You may also like to read about my stances on baptism in my profile.
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