what is your personal approach when talking to christians?

mishra

is there a particular thing you say or do...and what is your frame of mind?

abhiram

Once a fanatic one who believes that Jesus is God asked me:
So...do you believe Jesus is God or not? Do you believe it or not?
I just tried to dodge it with: well, what do you believe?

What can you say to fanatics?

ekendra

When I deal with Christians I just try to see where they are at in their faith. If they are condemning of other faiths then I don't really open up and talk freely with them. If they are receptive then I just talk about universal religious principles that they can relate to and let them ask questions if they want more specific details. This makes it easy to avoid arguments and 'preaching to the faithless'.

caballero_vaishnava

There are nice Srila Prabhupada conversations that show the technique: You try make them agree that meat eating is sinful, otherwise you do not waste time going further on philosophy. Period.

meme

I use this line: The only difference between us is that I accept you, but you do not accept me.

Servant Krsna

They always ask me: ' Do you believe in God?"
Then I reply: " Yes, but do you?"

ekendra

Srila Prabhupada speaks to Cardinal Danielou 1975:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw0c9Lz5m2k

abhiram

Jean Cardinal Daniélou
"His unexpected death in 1974, in the home of a prostitute, was very diversely interpreted."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Dani%C3%A9lou

Hari Bhakta dasa

"ekendra CommentTime 2 days ago
When I deal with Christians I just try to see where they are at in their faith. If they are condemning of other faiths then I don't really open up and talk freely with them. If they are receptive then I just talk about universal religious principles that they can relate to and let them ask questions if they want more specific details. This makes it easy to avoid arguments and 'preaching to the faithless'. "

I have also found that this approach is the best.

mishra

I, like caballero_vasihnav find it losing time, you can know, when you feel bad after talking for 1 hour, and nothing permeated.

Hari Bhakta dasa

Meat eating seems to be the biggest sticking point in discussions with christians. Could it be underlying guilt on their part? They feel subconciously guilty for killing but have some need to justify it?

K.C sena

I like them to know when they are leaving that the Hare Krsna's love J.C more than anyone!!!
AND we follow his instruction AND Krsna's NOT CRUEL!!!!!! read: GOD, Because there is Karma and Reincarnation because Krsna not cruel right??? we should really tell them that......

K.C sena

I like this one there is another Pic of J.C himself with Vainava (Guadya Sampradya) Tilaka on. Jaya!!!!

VEDA

Once I was busy distributing books in Croydon, south of London. Another devotee was on the other side of the street. It was quite tough out there because the pavement was narrow and people could easily see us giving out books, so they were avoiding us like the plague.

Suddenly I heard a woman's voice bellowing out to me, 'Hey boy, have you been saved?'

A fat black mama was right in my face with an intent look. Since I have been saved by Patita Pavana, Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, I didn't think that I was deceiving her in any way when I quickly replied, 'Yes, I've been saved!'

She replied in a satisfied tone, 'Praise the Lord!'

She then asked whether I'd read the good book (Bible).

I quickly responded, 'Oh, yes, I've read the very good book and guess what?'

She looked at me with anticipation.

'The good Lord has chosen you to do something very special today.'

She said 'No!'

I said 'Yes! I've got these good books that I'm giving out with the message of our Lord.'

She looked at the books: The Perfection of Yoga and Beyond Birth and Death. I said, 'These are the words of the Lord and He has chosen you to help me deliver the fallen souls today. Glory hallelujah, sister!'

I handed her a few books and said, 'Give these out to everyone and ask for a small donation and the good Lord will bless you'.

She took the books from my hand and enthusiastically proceeded to distribute Lord Chaitanya's message. After a short time, she came back and said, 'These books are very special, I can feel the Lord's presence when I'm given them out'.

I was very, very happy to see this sincere soul get Lord Gauranga's mercy in such a nice way. She asked me for more books, and I gave her five more. I was amazed to see the Lord engage this soul in the highest welfare work (para upakar). Finally, when she said she had to go, she gave me the laxmi and a couple of remaining books.

I said, 'Today you've done a great thing and the Lord will bless you and your family. Jesus will be so pleased with your work today!'

She said goodbye and and thanked me for letting her give out those books, and then she disappeared in the crowd. Jesus will be very pleased with her for distributing Srila Prabhupada's transcendental books.

Srila Prabhupada's transcendental book distribution, ki jay!

Your servant,

Sakhyarasa Prema Dasa

mishra

On Jehovah Witnesses.

I can share this sankirtan secret, cause by now they will be widely taught how to avoid it... :)

When you find a Jehovah witness you say, "I know Jehovah witnesses how you are so commited. Are you a preacher"? Of course they are. All of them. They say, "Yes".

"Oh, then it is alright to give you this book cause it can help you to know more about yoga, vegetarians, etc. so you can preach better. Other brithers of yours told me that." Which is true for the first one I met and gave me the idea.

Many of them took the book. I wonder what happened to them once they reported to the community. hehe

phani

vasu murti prabhu, a devotee from US, just started a blog at our (cong.dev.ministry's) blog site. one of his articles contains a whole lot of quotes from christian scriptures, showing that the actual christian beliefs and practices were very close to our's. if you're dealing with christians, you might want to look at http://namahatta.org/blogs/index.php/vasu/2007/08/28/no_quarrel_with_christianaity.

sitapati

I just came here to share that too phani. :-)

Being a Christian myself I usually just talk to people within our shared faith.

I think a very important point is that the mood of our Lord Jesus Christ is not one of self-liberation, but one of self-sacrifice. He did not come to save himself, but to save others. So we should also have that mood.

The epistles of Paul are also filled with many wonderful realizations and instructions. If we could have the same dedication as Paul, then Krishna Consciousness will spread like Christianity.

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