July 31, 2023

How Do I Tell Someone of Another Religion They’re Wrong?

13 minutes

This week, Pastor J.D. answers the question, “How do I tell someone of another religion they’re wrong?”

Show Notes:

Great question. This can be one of the hardest parts of evangelism. If someone doesn’t have a religion, it can seem easier to tell them about Christianity and why it’s the only way to heaven. …But if someone is a devout follower of another religion, that can be more difficult.

Well, first of all, there was a season in my life when every conversation I had was with a believer of another religion — that’s when I spent two years as a missionary in South East Asia which is a very heavily Muslim country.

The role of relationship: You earn the right to be heard.

Being a missionary is like paying down a mortgage.

The longer you do it, you’re watching that balance shift from mainly interest to when you’re starting to pay down principle.

You have to be willing to put in the time.

You have to tell them the truth:

Paul reasoned with people often proving to them that Jesus had to be the Christ so there is a role for truth telling even without the context of relationship.

In Acts 20, Paul told Ephesians elders he was free from their blood because he had fully represented the word of God.

The third thought is something I learned as a missionary: Look for the places in their religion that points to Jesus and show that.

There was a very popular book that came out in the 70s called Peace Child. It’s about a missionary family, the Richardsons, who were going to minister to an unreached tribe that was pretty brutal…

They idealized treachery, they were murderers, even cannibals.

The Richardsons were living there and having real trouble communicating the gospel, until one day, right before a war, reps from the other tribe came and offered a “peace child” (one from each grows up in the other)

And the Richardsons realized that this “peace child” concept was a redemptive analogy that they could use to communicate the gospel to the Sawi people.

Finally, this goes without saying, but prayer.

Never talk to people about God more than you talk to God about them.

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By J.D. Greear

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