In Tony Jones’ blog on BeliefNet, he posted a video of famous atheist Penn Gillette talking about being given a bible by a Christian man. Penn says the guy was really nice, and twice mentions that he looked him “right in the eyes.” He has a lot of respect for the guy, because if you believe in heaven and hell, he says,

“How could you not proselytize? … How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible, and not tell them? … If I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that a truck was coming at you … there’s a certain point where I tackle you, and this is more important than that.”

And I can totally see his point. The thing is, this idea is based on a very simple view of the gospel.

I know a lot of people like Penn Gillette, and Christians too, I suppose, who think that being Christian means you believe in this “bargain” theory of God: “Affirm that Jesus died in payment for your sins, and you won’t burn for all eternity in the flames of hell.” But I don’t think the gospel can be reduced that way. And I don’t think that we can turn our beliefs on and off for pragmatic reasons. Belief arises from our experiences.

This is an interesting topic for me because I’ve been puzzled about how to talk about my experience with Jesus Christ. It’s a very personal, internal thing. On the other hand, it’s exciting, and I want to talk about it. And it eases my sufferering, so I want to share with other people who suffer.

I’ve been thinking lately that it’s a gradual thing. If somebody’s hurting, and they *can’t see* God’s loving hands reaching for them (that is, they’ve bought into what I call the cold universe theory, that we’re “nothing but” molecules) then we have to do what’s necessary to help them have eyes to see and ears to hear.

I’m thinking it looks like this: we experience–through people–a decent imitation of infinite compassion and unconditional love. Only then does it begins to seem plausible. One person surrenders to God’s love, and God’s love shines through them, on to people who take it in, and find it just a little easier to believe in love.

What do you think? Do you “proselytize”? How do you share God’s love?