Romans 10:13″Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”[f]

14How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

Our lives must bear witness to the Scriptures, but it is not a replacement for preaching the Gospel.

Sidharth

I have heard it quoted since I was a new believer, and I appreciate the heart of it, namely, that we ought to have a character and quality of faith that is itself a witness to the resurrection of Christ.

However, I have always thought the statement was insufficient in light of the apostolic epistles, and the great commission itself. It is true that there are men who preach that are simply an annoyance, or a “noisy gong and a clanging cymbal.” Often men have thought that by many words they were fulfilling the great commission, and just as often have they been mistaken. But that does not negate the call to speak of Him in witness. Many have settled into a mode of life wherein they never speak of Him to others, and this is a stagnant place that He has never intended us to live in.

I feel that many American’s have utilized Assisi’s quote to justify their unwillingness to speak of Christ to those who are lost. “I’ll just be a kind person, with slightly higher morals, and hopefully they’ll notice the difference and deal with it on their own time.” While there is a life of abiding in Christ that is much better than mechanical witnessing, that abiding life will invariably lead to speaking or preaching to those who are bound in sin and darkness.

This idea of witness by character alone is terribly unfortunate, for we have been called to penetrate the darkness with the glorious light of the Gospel, which includes the character of Christ being exhibited in our lives, but it cannot be limited to that. Very simply, Jesus calls us also to speak of Him as well.

As to the idea that “God converts a person if HE WILLS IT,” I would simply turn to Paul’s commissioning from the Lord Himself. He told Paul that He was sending him to the Jews and Gentiles, “to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.” (Acts 26.18)

In my understanding of Scripture, He wills all men to be saved, but all do not receive His kind intentions; hence, in the last analysis, their experience is eternal judgment. It is our calling as the Church, much in alignment with the Spirit of Paul’s commissioning, to live and speak in such a way as to open wide the gate for all who would come to Him.

Any idea of the faith that decreases the reality of that holy occupation militates against the Spirit of NT Christianity. May the Lord have for Himself a people abiding in His life and character by the power of grace, setting Him forth in the earth through all our living and speaking.

However, I must point out Bryan wrote this article, not David

This was an excellent article Bryan! I’m positive that if the Lord tarries and the world carries on for another 150 years, people will have compiled your writings to make a “My Utmost For His Highest” of YOUR writings! You write excellent stuff and I enjoy reading it.

Coming from the hindu faith, I am well aware of what you say here. In Hinduism, there are millions of gods, each devotee has his or her favorite god or gods. The thing about Hinduism is you can believe anything you want, you just need to be part of the religion. However, what really attracts the western world is the mysticism. Meditation in Hinduism is discovering ones “True Self” which is considered divine.

Like every other Hindu I believed in the re-incarnation of the soul. I strongly believed that a crow that came and sat near my window was my deceased Grandfather. I remember how I’d try talking to this crow as I would to my Granddad and thank him for coming to visit me.

Reincarnation and the ‘caste systems’ in India are closely linked to each other. If a person leads a bad life, he is re-born into a lower caste, and those of the higher caste look down on him; however, if the person leads a good life, he is reborn into a higher caste.

According to Hindusim, people are re-incarnated so that those who die can continue to seek pleasure in this world, which is not possible without a body. However, every person at one point of time comes to realize that none of the worldly pleasures are lasting, and true pleasure comes only as a result of one seeking his true self or ‘atman’ which is considered divine. When all worldly desire has vanished, the person is said to have attained ‘moksha’ or salvation.

So here we are put into this seemingly endless cycle of transmigration of the soul…and we are to save ourselves by searching for this divine self that is within us. But come to think about it…what caused man to be “bad” or fall away from the “good”? What caused man-kind to have to seek this true and divine self?

There’s no explanation to it. The Bible gives us the why, and the solution: JESUS, the message!