“Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others…” 2 Corinthians 5:11
I hate that.
Persuade.
I absolutely hate that.
I know that this is scripture. I know that some really intense Jesus lovers wrote the letters and song lyrics and accounts that are in the Bible but sometimes I just really don’t like what they say and I don’t know if I can make myself be okay with it.
“Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others…”
Persuade? So we are going to persuade people to love God and not show them what that love is? We are going to use our words to make people agree with our way of life? We are going to try to convince people of God’s glory instead of letting him show them by using us as a vessel?
Yea I don’t think I can be that kind of a disciple. I really hate that. A lot. I feel like they are telling me to sell God. To advertise for Him. God needs no advertisement. God needs no introduction. He needs no back up.
That’s why I don’t like street evangelism. I mean, kudos for the enthusiasm but for real man, that’s ridiculous. Nobody is going to decide to love Jesus because you annoyed them enough. Nobody is going to see the light because you used pretty words and showy phrases to dazzle them.
People see right through that.
What about just living life? What about just loving with the love of God?
Really? What about just loving people? I mean, isn’t that powerful enough? When someone shows you this absurd compassion that you have never seen before, you are intrigued. You want to know what that person has going for them that you don’t. You want to know life like they do. You want to know why things always seem more beautiful then they are around. You want to know why they have nothing by gentle words to share. And you know where all that comes from? It comes from God.
The same God people think they need to persuade people to believe in. Pretty sure He can do that himself if you let him.
So that whole “persuade others” thing…i’m not down with that. And I may be completely off and out of line but I just can’t get on board with that. I really can’t. That just doesn’t match up with the Jesus I know.
-j.
The Patio 
Well the Jesus you know IS the Word. Truthfully.
The legal definition of persuade is “to cause someone to believe something” which is EXACTLY what we do. Yes, we do it through our daily actions or love, but we have to proclaim that we are like that because of Jesus which is using our words to open up Jesus to them…
What’s our mission on earth? To bring people to Jesus. “Persuading” them doesn’t mean giving them lies or false advertisment to believe in Jesus. It means telling them the truth and what Jesus is all about, hoping that in the end, they will turn their own lives over to Jesus.
I think that you are just applying a wrong connotation to the word “persuade”
But that’s just my thoughts, hopefully this didn’t come off as offensive
Nikki said exactly what I was gonna say before I got to write it!
Julia, you raise good questions that I know you are going to continue to wrestle with for some time as you follow Jesus. If you ever need someone to bounce big questions off of, let me know. I’ve had some big ones and there’s not much that surprises me.
Keep wrestling with the Word. It worked out for Jacob even though he walked with a limp afterwards. A lot of people limping together trying to follow him — that’s what I call “church.”
Josh
I don’t think “persuade” is just about using words. It’s about using your life, your actions, your LOVE to convince others there’s something different about you. And that difference is Jesus. 🙂
Well when people are dying and going to hell for all of eternity and in 10,000 billion years their still going to be saying I want to die, and comes down to persuading, it doesn’t seem like its that bad of a thing. especially when the fear of the Lord is that we are going to be judged for our actions and the fact we didn’t go and reach the street people, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. v 10”. just saying! 😀
I wonder what the Greek word is that’s used there. What translation are you using?
Goombs, you been persuading people to love Jesus your whole journey! Who says that persuasion is only done with words?