Would you have considered yourself a Christian at that time?
Has happened numerous times here on aM, the last being possibly a week ago.
In real life, the last time would have been while I was caring for Mum - a couple of JW's used to visit once a fortnight for a few hours over a period of 18 months.
Prior to that, just reading the Bible myself (and other religious holy books).
And way back in teenage years, at boarding school.
Have never considered myself a Christian.
Have in some phases considered myself a Buddhist.
Have always been consistently atheist with minor variations in degree.
This morning on this video about Jesus coming very soon. God saved me when I was a child.
No one gets to do that because I am not listening to anyone sharing the Gospel with me. If I want that to happen all I have to do is click on Silver Wings or someone like that and hear all the Gospel I need.
I can do my own Gospel, thank you very much and the biggest gift of all is that I won't share it.
Unless you ask me to.
I love meeting Christians and sharing prayer and witnessing Gods miracles together anywhere. However I love videos from born again Christians. The videos are never impersonal if it is by the Holy Spirit. It is very personal. God moves in this world in a personal way to each individual in miraculous ways. God is using You tube, this site and face book, and other websites to get the gospel out before the end, before he comes back. It is prophesy coming true before our very eyes.
People share the Gospel with me all the time and in various forms. The Gospel is as much LIVED as spoken or read, so you'll have to be a bit more specific. :-)
Anyone who extends or sacrifices a bit of him/herself for the benefit of another person's wellbeing (i.e., loves) shares the Gospel. Soldiers share the Gospel. Firefighters and EMT's share the Gospel. Sometimes even cops share the Gospel. People who work in homeless shelters or who rescue others in distress share the Gospel.
Likewise, anyone who reads or preaches the Gospel aloud shares the Gospel. The last/latest example would be my wife who reads a nightly devotion.
This is why I suggested greater specificity. :-)
I think it waswhen the RE teacher hit me on the head with my school bible lol
I don't think anyone can completely fulfill the Great Commission. That level of perfection/transcendence is impossible for human beings to attain without the intervening Grace of God--and that's the point. Without God, ALL of us fall, have fallen and/or will fall short. NONE of us are in a position to judge another person's fulfillment let alone 'win' salvation on the basis of our own merits.. All we can do--perhaps the best we can do--is judge behaviors beginning with our own, and even then we're prone (if not doomed) to make errors.
So I hope you'll understand if I'm ill-equipped to satisfactorily answer your question. In this regard I've long since ceased thinking in terms of who's better at what or who's walking the walk with perfect consistency.
Romans 3:23
1974
People don't share the gospel, they preach their church. In 1979 I decided to do a year of missionary work for The Way Biblical Research And Teaching Ministry. In the five years since I took the class in biblical research, the ministry was taken over by a bunch of nuts who wanted to turn it into Boot Camp For God's Army. The official goal of the missionary project was to give me a chance to get blessed, but the coordinator made it plain that our first goal was to run a class and our second goal was to run a second class, and it was our responsibility to ACT as if we had been blessed. At the end of my year I took my souvenir tee shirt and got lost. A short time later the main man died and the ministry broke up. In some ways it was a demonstration of what the ministry was teaching. The early church met in people's homes, with no central authority. That's the way it is again.
I have watched a few tv preachers, but I would not want to get chummy with any of those jerks. I get the impression they don't even read the bible.
It happens every day assuming you are talking about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Good News of other forms are not shared very often, so I am always happy to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ from people who truly love one another. If we do not love one another, we do not love God.
What inspired your question?
What's your own experience with sharing the gospel?
In what ways has it affected you?
But you only meet and share with those that are already Christian? (I doubt that very many non-believers on their own are going to seek out the videos you speak of.)
In other threads you said that you only witness to people that approach you first. Is that the way Jesus and His disciples did it as recorded in the Bible?
(Acts 10:42) Also, he ordered us to preach to the people and to give a thorough witness that this is the one decreed by God to be judge of the living and the dead.
(Matthew 28:19, 20) Go, therefore, and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you. And look! I am with you all the days until the conclusion of the system of things.”
(Acts 1:8) But you will receive power when the holy spirit comes upon you, and you will be witnesses of me in Jerusalem, in all Ju·deʹa and Sa·marʹi·a, and to the most distant part of the earth.”
I believe that they did have a central authority or governing body.
(Acts 8:14) When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Sa·marʹi·a had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them;
(Acts 8:1) Saul, for his part, approved of his murder. On that day great persecution arose against the congregation that was in Jerusalem; all except the apostles were scattered throughout the regions of Ju·deʹa and Sa·marʹi·a.
(Acts 15:2-4) But after quite a bit of dissension and disputing by Paul and Barʹna·bas with them, it was arranged for Paul, Barʹna·bas, and some of the others to go up to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem regarding this issue. 3 So after being escorted partway by the congregation, these men continued on through both Phoe·niʹcia and Sa·marʹi·a, relating in detail the conversion of people of the nations and bringing great joy to all the brothers. 4 On arriving in Jerusalem, they were kindly received by the congregation and the apostles and the elders, and they related the many things God had done by means of them.
(Acts 15:22-29) Then the apostles and the elders, together with the whole congregation, decided to send chosen men from among them to Antioch, along with Paul and Barʹna·bas; they sent Judas who was called Barʹsab·bas and Silas, who were leading men among the brothers. 23 They wrote this and sent it through them: “The apostles and the elders, your brothers, to those brothers in Antioch, Syria, and Ci·liʹcia who are from the nations: Greetings! 24 Since we have heard that some went out from among us and caused you trouble with what they have said, trying to subvert you, although we did not give them any instructions, 25 we have come to a unanimous decision to choose men to send to you together with our beloved Barʹna·bas and Paul, 26 men who have given up their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 We are therefore sending Judas and Silas, so that they also may report the same things by word of mouth. 28 For the holy spirit and we ourselves have favored adding no further burden to you except these necessary things: 29 to keep abstaining from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from what is strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you carefully keep yourselves from these things, you will prosper. Good health to you!”
(Acts 16:4) As they traveled on through the cities, they would deliver to them for observance the decrees that had been decided on by the apostles and the elders who were in Jerusalem.
(1 Corinthians 1:10) Now I urge you, brothers, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you should all speak in agreement and that there should be no divisions among you, but that you may be completely united in the same mind and in the same line of thought.
(Ephesians 4:11-13) And he gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelizers, some as shepherds and teachers, 12 with a view to the readjustment of the holy ones, for ministerial work, to build up the body of the Christ, 13 until we all attain to the oneness of the faith and of the accurate knowledge of the Son of God, to being a full-grown man, attaining the measure of stature that belongs to the fullness of the Christ.
[From the beginning, Jesus’ anointed followers were organized. As the number of disciples multiplied, local congregations were established and elders were appointed. (Titus 1:5) After 33 C.E., the 12 apostles acted as an authoritative central governing body. As such, they took a fearless lead in the witness work. (Acts 4:33, 35, 37; 5:18, 29) They organized the distribution of food to needy ones, and they sent Peter and John to Samaria to follow up on reports of interest there. (Acts 6:1-6; 8:6-8, 14-17) Barnabas took Paul to them to have it confirmed that this former persecutor was now a follower of Jesus. (Acts 9:27; Galatians 1:18, 19) And after Peter had preached to Cornelius and his household, he returned to Jerusalem and explained to the apostles and other Judean brothers how holy spirit had indicated God’s will in this case.—Acts 11:1-18.]
If by "shared the Gospel" you mean quoting verses from the Bible then it happens every time I discuss beliefs and practices with Christians. I find the JWs to be the most proactive in wanting to "share the Gospel". Many consider them too proactive, but I don't mind discussing socio-religious issues with people whenever I have time.
