I?d like to add something, but not out of a desire to stir up further controversy.
I didn?t come to faith in Christ until I was well into my twenties and I will readily confess that my views toward the Christian faith prior to that time were quite hostile. My own view of Christianity, based on my limited understanding of Scripture, was that it was, in essence, a heavily legalistic code of behavior, designed to hold individuals to a high standard of moral behavior. As has been already stated in this thread, the essence of the Christian belief centers on a faith relationship with Jesus Christ and the acceptance of His divine sacrifice in payment for individual sin. It is a bond with Our Savior, Who offers grace and forgiveness for a fallen mankind who are unable to live up to God?s standard of holiness. Salvation is offered as a free gift to any who would accept it.
I think the problem is that when we, in our humanity, encounter something that gives us meaning or happiness, we often have the desire to share that thing with others. I believe that most believers in Christ have this desire, and the Bible clearly indicates that Christ?s followers are commissioned to share His message. Yet, when I have contemplated the life of Christ that is presented in the New Testament, while Jesus was uncompromising in presenting Himself as the only path to salvation, He didn?t attempt to force or coerce others to accept Him and in fact faced rejection on several occasions, according to the gospel accounts. Christ offered salvation to man, but He allowed individuals the free choice to receive or reject Him.
Throughout history, I think the impetus to share the gospel has often taken forms that Christ, as I understand Him, never intended. Sometimes the desire to share has become twisted into a dark zeal that has historically resulted in some terrible events, most notably (in my mind) the Crusades. As has been elucidated clearly in this thread, there are numerous atrocities committed by the church through the centuries that bluntly, are inexcusable. Even in contemporary America, one only has to look up incidents of violence against abortion clinics to see that some continue to do shameful acts in the name of Jesus. Acts that I believe He clearly does not condone.
But on a lesser scale, I think there are times when followers of Christ can, in the process of trying to share Him, come across as harsh or unyielding. Sometimes, in the desire to share the message it is easy to become insensitive to the individual you?re speaking to. I think that Jesus was always respectful of individuals. He was concerned with meeting the needs of individual people. Each person was special to Him. One of the most striking pictures of Christ from the gospels, for me personally, is Him having dinner with the undesirables of Jewish society. In the Judaic tradition, the taking of a meal together represented an invitation into intimate fellowship. Thus, Christ was inviting the rejected into a close friendship with Him. I think that?s really the spirit that His followers are meant to keep as well.
The problem is, when we who believe are confronted by strong skeptics, it?s easy to become defensive. After all, Jesus means the world to us. By the same token, I?m certain we can come across as brash and judgmental when we fail to show respect to the feelings of others. Granted, the message of Christ is an "all or nothing" proposition which is going to be offensive to some. But we believers can offer it as He did: as a choice. When we attempt to force the message on others, I earnestly believe that we do more harm than good and we don?t honor Christ with our actions.