Conversation Point

Gorilla Evangelism

A headline in my local paper caught my attention: Italy Indicts CIA Agents in Abduction. Come to find out, our U.S. government has established a habit of seizing suspected terrorists from European countries, then interrogating and sometimes torturing them in secret locations. The case referenced in the article was of an Egyptian cleric who disappeared near his mosque in Milan on February 17, 2003. He says he was kidnaped, and was freed from an Egyptian jail only two weeks ago. The CIA term for such circumstances is "extraordinary renditions." The European response is anger, anger at the blatant disregard for their countries' laws and rights afforded its citizens. If circumstances were reversed, there would be an outcry from the American public heard around the world.

Sometimes we get so caught up in our own world view that we forget how our actions affect other people. Our country's leadership seeks to impress us and the world by being tough on terror, forgetting that there are designated limits to our power and authority. And sometimes the only way we understand that reality is to turn the tables on ourselves, to look at our behavior through someone else's eyes.

Take, for instance, the basic tenet of the Christian faith known as the Great Commission. Matthew shares Jesus' words to his disciples as he sends them into the world to continue the work they began together: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matthew 28: 16-20)." What many people assume is that we are to Christianize the entire population of the planet with no regard for anyone's existing faith perspective. As a general rule, this hasn't worked very well Consider the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, and the attempted destruction of North American Aboriginal cultures, all based in the belief that everybody must be Christian because the Bible tells us so.

This persistent perspective ignores one simple truth: the Great Commission never even implies that we are to force people to believe or become disciples of Jesus Christ against their will. The Great Commission is directed squarely at those who are already disciples. We are to make new disciples throughout the world through baptism and teaching, and God will be with us in that process. But there is no way to force faith onto people, ever. To assume otherwise means we are questioning one of God's great gifts, that of free will, and disrespecting each person's right and responsibility to choose and work out their own salvation.

Consider your own beliefs, how you came to them and have incorporated them into your life over the years of your faith journey. What may be different now if some well-meaning soul had come along, attempting an ambush of the seedling faith you were nurturing with judgments that confused you or sent you spiritually adrift? How would you feel now if another person, someone who may hold a completely different faith perspective believed it was their responsibility to baptize, teach and convert you to their beliefs? How would you come to terms with their message to you regarding your own faith?

Another point to be made about the Great Commission is that we don't do the converting, even if we are present when someone welcomes faith into their life for the first time. Conversion is God's business. We are merely the instruments of God's loving grace in action. We are called to be disciples, baptize and teach others about God's love and leave plenty of room for the Holy Spirit to work.

Nothing more and nothing less.

posted by Cory L. Kemp @ 2:00 PM