No, there is no compulsion in Christianity. It is fundamentally contrary to Christianity in many ways.
The Bible has this very definitive verse:
God is love.
-- 1 John 4:8
Love is also the greatest commandment in Christianity:
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all
your soul,
and with all your mind,
and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.
The second is like this,
‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
--Mark 12:30-31
Is it possible to force (or use compulsion) to love you? No, absolutely not! That is not love.
Love is contrary to compulsion. It is impossible to force someone to love you, and if love is out of incentive, then is it out of true love?
What is God seeking then?
“But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to be his worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
--John 4:23
To worship in spirit and in truth is the opposite of compulsion.
Therefore Christianity generally does not have prescribed rituals:
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
-- 2 Cor 3:17
Love is a very individual response and cannot be confined to ceremonial actions.
That is the opposite of that fake forced worship that Muslims do.
Question for Muslims:
Is there compulsion in Islam? Are Muslims free to convert to Christianity in majority-Muslim countries without fear of harm?
John 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.
ReplyDelete14And if any one will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town.
ReplyDelete15Truly, I say to you, it shall be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town. (Matt. 10:14-15)
If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. (John 15:6) So Who is the one burning the unbelievers, God or Satan?
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