scombrid

I was down in Orlando for a job interview and stopped in the local Bally's for a workout.

This one group training together included a hindu and three black americans. Off and on I heard them discussing religion. Then it happened. The three evangelicals went into full fundy attack and started brow-beating the Hindu "Just one prayer and you're saved". "Jesus said, I am the way the truth, blah blah blah,". "You need Jesus in your life in a personnal relationship." "God wants you to ask him into your life" etc...etc... They were next to some equipment I was using so I got an earfull. The Hindu was trying to have an academic sort of comparative religions discussion and the Christians were just hammering away to try and convert him. Then a fourth Christian joined in. No matter what question he asked, they just hammered away with the typical evangelical speel.

They had him cornered for the 25minutes that remained of my workout and still had him cornered when I left. He was too nice to tell them off.

My question: If christ is so gung-ho to have a relationship with this poor hindu, why is it necessary for four guys to convert him by peer pressure?

You should have seen their body language. Very aggressive, almost looming over their target. Glowering at him with that weird fundy stare. It looked like pushers trying to get a gradeschool kid to try some drugs.

Also, when he would try to talk of his religion and culture, they'd hear none of it, very disrespectively cut him off, tell him he's wrong, and launch back into their pitch. Why do they feel that's an acceptible method for spreading their belief?

King Rat

"One of us, one of us, one of us, one of us..."

ex-preacher

That reminds me of an incident I witnessed in junior high. A crowd of Bible wielding Christians had cornered a fellow student and were screaming Bible verses at her. This was in Austin, Texas in 1976. The girl was Robin O'Hair, granddaughter of Madalyn.

Postcard73

That's very similar to how I got saved. I was stuck in a chair in the corner of a hotel room with four fundy's sitting around me so I couldn't escape (not that I tried to). They each had their NIV Study Bibles in front of 'em, and they tore me apart. No matter what question I asked, they had an answer. Of course, I was naive and ignorant- I wasn't exactly bringing up the toughest stuff. A few years later, these were some of the same people who couldn't satisfactorily answer my questions when I was beginning to doubt. By then, I'd spent a little time familiarizng myself with the subject...

sharon45

Because they really don't pay enough attention to their NT. Jesus himself says to "shake the dust from your feet and leave" when the message is unwanted. If they were in a debate, fine, but easily by your description, that was not only an attack, it really was abuse.

Starboy

Onward Christian thugs!

Starboy

Valdemar

Part of me wants to feel sorry for the Hindu, but the other part says that religious people deserve each other.

If the situations had been reversed, and this were in India, would the xtian feel this much heat?

I could just hear the argument degrade to this:

"I have more faith."
"No, I have more faith."
"No, I have more faith."
"No, I....

scombrid

I don't know. What I gathered from hearing bits of the discussion while doing my sets was that he was trying to compare their experience of Christianity to what he'd been taught in comparative religion courses at UCF. All they wanted to do was convert.

I heard him state (paraphrased):

"You have to realize that I was raised in a different culture."

"I am just interested in your perspective and experience of religion. They didn't teach that in class. They just cover history and doctrine in class."

Never once did I hear him assert that Hinduism was "the way the truth and the light".

I was supersetting so I'd only get to here 30seconds or so of the exchange each time before scurrying off to another movement so I didn't get the full dialogue. However, I never heard more than "join the borg" from the evangelists.

stupiddrummer

Reminds me of when we had some fundies kindly come along to our college to teach us the way of Christ one day. They came in, sat down and proceeded to rant at a group of my gay friends, telling them that they were going to burn in eternal hellfire.

"Wow! I'm converted(sarcasm)! Now go away. And thanks for coming! Drive safely..."

The case in the OP sounds like an old case of "My God can beat up your God!", "Nu-uh!", "Uh-huh!", etc. Only in this case, the fundies were acting like their God was a champion boxer, and the poor Hindu's God was a weedy, mild mannered insurance salesman (please don't take this to mean that I think that the Hindu God is any less powerful than the Abrahamic God!-it's a metaphor about this particular case).

Krosis

Time for some Carlin..

"Do you believe in god?"
"no"
"(BANG!) "dead...."

"Do you believe in god?"
"yes"
"Do you believe in my god?"
"no"
"(BANG!) "dead...."

"MY god has a bigger dick than your god!"

-cheers