<\/p>\n
Not to long ago, I had a pretty lengthy conversation with a Christian that I had met. The conversation was going pretty well and we were both enjoying the discussion. I had thought that I had finally gotten him to understand that he really shouldn\u2019t be trying to convert everyone he meets. It is intolerant and rude. So here we were at the end of this conversation and as he was walking away, he turned to me and said, \u201cI\u2019ll pray for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
With those four words, he just reversed all the progress that I though he had made. While I understand that he meant that was a good bye greeting, it actually is a pretty intolerant and rude statement. Did it \u201coffend\u201d me?\u00a0 No, it disappointed me. Even though he could not convince me of his supernatural world using the tools of reason and logic, he wishes to take an \u201caction\u201d that he believes will force me to agree with him. While I don\u2019t think God exists and I don\u2019t think his prayer will do anything at all, he desire is still there.<\/p>\n
To him, prayer is an action even though in reality the action doesn\u2019t actually do anything except convince the person praying that they are doing something. Nevertheless, he believed that he was taking an action to force me to believe.<\/p>\n
At the beginning of our discussion, he expressed the opinion that beliefs can and will be forced upon the unbeliever. He quoted Romans 14:11 \u201cFor it is written, [As] I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.\u201d I had thought that our discussion had made him more tolerant, but I was wrong. I still don\u2019t know what to say as a response to the \u201cI\u2019ll pray for you,\u201d attack. A simple \u201cno thanks,\u201d doesn\u2019t quite work and \u201cI\u2019ll reason for you,\u201d only conveys what is and not what ought to be. So I am open to suggestions.<\/p>\n