A question I think about (OP)

As of late I have been feeling rather odd, mostly because of the world and its inhabitants. I have been thinking a lot about how to share the Love of Christ with everyone. I once heard a comment from a person in passing that bothered me. This person posed the question, “Why is Christianity the only religion that advertises itself?” This was actually several years ago, but this rhetorical question I heard in passing has stuck with me for all that time. I suppose there are a couple of reasons for my being disturbed.

The first being, the question itself lacks understanding of Christianity. Christianity is an active voluntary relationship with God, but the question posed assumes it is a set of rules and regulations that is imposed on believers. I have come to the conclusion that most people do not really understand this about Christianity. Other belief systems try and tell people how they must live in order to obtain salvation, nirvana, oneness with the universe, etc. I can see how people might think that it is same with Christianity, especially because of how it is “advertised” by almost all of the church in the west. However, people who display Christianity in this way miss the point of what Jesus was (and still is) saying, doing, and wanting. He did not want everyone simply to do as He said in order to become worthy of eternal life. He came so that everyone might have life and have it in full. Jesus defined eternal life as knowing God and Himself. I don’t know about others, but to me that doesn’t seem anything like the thoughts in different beliefs. Basically, Jesus meant for people to stop trying to be worthy of eternal life because no one can do this, but simply to come into a relationship with Him for that is eternal life. From the Garden to the Cross to the here and now, true life has always been to know and be with God. Also, one particular point of clarification that I think many people miss is that a person does not need to be or act in a certain way to have a relationship with the Lord. God will meet everyone where they are at, and when He encounters them they will start to become like Him. When a person encounters Christ they want to become like Him, and they seek to be changed by Him. Thus, people do act a certain way when they meet Christ, but this is not through a list of rules. Instead, people realize they cannot change without the help of Christ, and they let His Love change them. This is what happened to me, and I wanted to do this. I wanted to obey what Christ said, but I realized that I could not do such without living with Him everyday, and letting Him change me by showing me Love and Truth. Through this relationship I have realized true life.

The second reason for my frustration with the question came from the negative connotation of the word “advertise.” In a sense, I suppose you could describe the great commission in that way. However, it seems to say that Christians are trying to sell their beliefs. Thinking on this, I have to say that unfortunately many believers think about it in the same perspective. Perhaps this justifies the attitude of the question. However, this is not what was intended. Think about this for a second, if someone knew the greatest bit of news to ever come to the planet and kept it a secret the world would be no better off than before. Usually, if someone finds something that is awesome they go and tell everyone what they found. This is the intent and attitude of the great commission. Christ is the best thing that has ever happened to and for the world. Why would anyone keep that quiet? I mean, the word gospel literally means “good news.” That is why the first four books of the New Testament that tell the story of Christ are called the Gospels.

One final thing that I have thought about in response to that question is a counter question. It was apparent that the person disliked people “advertising” Christianity. Thus my question would be, “Why are you bothered by Christianity being advertised?”