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No Coercion for Conversion
A totem pole here in Alaska had a surprising depiction – a bearded man with a cross on his cloak carrying a rifle. It was explained to me that totems were historical records. The rifle-wielding man was Russian Orthodox, here in Alaska to convert the Natives.
The irony is, I too am here to evangelize.
False Christianity has too many examples of such coercion. “Coercion” might rhyme with “conversion”, but that is where the similarities end.
But what about Jesus saying,
Matthew 10:34 (CSB) “Don’t assume that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.”
Right after that Jesus also said,
Matthew 10: 35 (CSB) “For I came to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; 36) “and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household.
When Jesus brought a sword, he didn’t bring it to convert, but the sword is used on those converted afterwards.
Here’s my question then – “Who is carrying the sword?” It appears Jesus is, when he says, “I come to bring a sword”. But as pointed out Jesus also said, “I came to turn a man against” his family. Since Jesus does not want our family lost, consider an alternative theory to Jesus using the sword.
Truth separates and divides – but when and why? The sword Jesus brings is wielded by those not converted:
Matthew 10:21 (CSB) “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rise up against parents and have them put to death.
When we accept the truth, and when our family doesn’t, that is when the sword is used. Jesus brings the sword of persecution that is used by those rejecting the truth.
Jesus doesn’t use coercion for conversion. The unconverted use coercion on the converted.
Matthew 10:16-17 (CSB) 16) “Look, I’m sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves. 17) “Beware of them, because they will hand you over to local courts and flog you in their synagogues.
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