I lived in the dormitory while attending Bible College. The school would make extra rooms available to students from a local vocational college too. This provided a great opportunity to share my faith with those who believed in a different way than I did. Of course that was received in a variety of ways.
On one occasion the gentleman I was talking to became very angry with me, even hostile. He didn't want to hear about a "judgemental" God who was going to hold all men accountable on the day of judgement. He wanted to know why I was so persistent in "forcing my beliefs" on him.
This does appear, after all, to be one of the least tolerated "sins" of christianity among unbelieving Americans. "It is fine for you to believe what you believe," we are told, "but keep it to yourself. Don't try to jam religion down my throat."
Eze 33:1-9 The word of the LORD came to me: (2) "Son of man, speak to your people and say to them, If I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and make him their watchman, (3) and if he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows the trumpet and warns the people, (4) then if anyone who hears the sound of the trumpet does not take warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. (5) He heard the sound of the trumpet and did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But if he had taken warning, he would have saved his life. (6) But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any one of them, that person is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand. (7) "So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. (8) If I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. (9) But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.
As you can see, the LORD has made the christian responsible for his fellow man. He has ruled out a life of finding salvation for ones self and living comfortably and uncaring as God's judgement approaches. It is because the christian cares about another that he shares his faith. How hateful would it be to believe what I believe about eternity and not tell you about it; not try earnestly to convince you of its truth. It is not hate for the sinner that compels the christian. It is love.
I do not hate homosexuals, I want them to be saved from the wrath of God. I do not hate athiests, I want them to be saved. I do not hate the muslim, budhist, mormon... I want them to be saved from the coming wrath of God.
I shared this reasoning with the vocational student in my college days. I warned him that God's judgement was coming upon us like an army invading a sleeping city. I was saddened by his response. He took the defensive posture of an ostrich and said "Well, I am in a different city."
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