Forewarned is Forearmed

Forewarned is Forearmed

– A Roman Catholic Offers Some Tips on Dealing With Evangelical
Christians Soon to Swarm Over the Muslim World

Here in the US, we’re in our third century of dealing with Evangelical
Christians. All around America, Evangelicals are breathlessly gearing up
to convert you, the Islamic World, to their version of Christianity.
Yeah? They’ve tried it with us too! Much like their current beliefs on
Islam now, Roman Catholicism, the Pope, and the Mass are all considered
“enemies” of God (though they won’t say it to your face). Go to any
Evangelical bookstore and you can find row upon row of diatribes against
the Roman Catholic faith. But move quickly, those shelves are now
filling with diatribes against Islam.

Over the years, we Roman Catholics have dealt with ‘em by the dozen, and
they usually go away mumbling to themselves and shaking their head in an
erroneous belief that we “RCs” are bound and determined to burn forever
because we reject their ways. But contrary to their expectations, we do
not passively roll over and do what they tell us, much to their chagrin.

I thought I’d share a few of the topics we discuss and responses we have
(up-dated) whenever they try to convert us:

1. Remember always that to them, you are God-less, mindless beings who
are, just as their pastors tell them, waiting for the moment for
Evangelicals to save you. Evangelicals do not consider your ways, your
beliefs, and your customs of any value. Do not bother trying to have an
open discussion or an “eye-to-eye” dialog. Their view is, “do it our way
or burn in Hell!”

2. They will try to sell you a little formula on “how to get saved.” It
is always some variation of the following: (a) repent of your sins, (b)
accept Jesus into your heart as your personal savior, (c) go to a
Bible-believing [and usually war-supporting] church, and (d) begin
telling others to do the same. That is it. That is their message. At
this point remind them that Jesus spoke nothing like that. Instead he
spoke to the poor, of loving our enemies and the folly of riches.

3. Bring up the current war with Iraq. Ask them about the “Christian”
response. Did Jesus tell us to bomb our enemies, starve them, blow them
to pieces, destroy their homes and hospitals and kill their women and
children? Or were his instructions to “love our enemies” and “do good to
those who hate you?” Make them give you a definitive answer; there is no
middle ground.

4. Do they support war as a tool for good? After all, George W. Bush is
an Evangelical Christian. Are there any contradictions between the ways
of Jesus and the ways of George W. Bush? Remind them that the Rev. Billy
Graham, the father of all modern Evangelicals, urged President Richard
Nixon to bomb the dikes used for rice production in North Vietnam in
1969 or that Revs. Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson have been some of the
staunchest war supporters. Is that what a Christian does? Or does a
Christian say, “If your enemy hungers give him something to eat, if he
is thirsty give him something to drink?” Make them commit! Remind them,
if necessary that it is a sin to add to or take away from Scripture!

5. While they are on the subject of saving us from Hell, ask them to
name the one place in the New Testament where Jesus does talk about
Judgment Day. For your reference, it is found in Matthew Chapter 25: 31
ff: “When I was hungry you gave me something to eat, when I was thirsty
you gave me something to drink,” he says to the righteous, “whenever you
did this to the least of these [i.e., the poor] you did it unto me.”

“When I was sick you comforted me, and when I was in prison you visited
me.” As with Islam, Jesus taught that your eternal destination rests on
what you do, not what you say.

6. They will try to tell you about John 3 “For God so loved the
world…” They will attempt to correlate that verse with their formula.
Remind them that they are editing Scripture. And by the way, who
elevated this verse above all others? Jesus didn’t. The Apostles didn’t.
No one in the first 1500 years of Christianity did. Ask them, for
example, why 1 John 3:17, “Someone who has worldly means and sees a
brother in need and refuses him compassion, how can the love of God be
in him?” is not of similar importance?

7. Always make them answer you with a concrete “yes” or “no,” don’t let
them wiggle out of any corner.

8. Ask them to suppose, for the moment, that you are a convert. Should
you then oppose war, oppression of the poor, governments who bomb or
starve people, lie, and political leaders who advocate those tactics –
as Jesus did? Use Tony Blair and George W. Bush as examples.

Soon, they will decide they are wasting their time with you; you are
clearly not going to see their version of truth.

And they will avoid you in the future, for they know you are ready.

John
Houston, TX