A response on proselytisation from John Longlois

Dear Mr Benjamin
Thank you for the article you have circulated to the participants of the consultation in Toulouse entitled: "Proselytisation: An Indian Christian Perspective". I did not realise that after the consultation we would be receiving proselytising articles from you to convert us to your point of view!
My comments are as follow:
1. You have to decide whether Jesus Christ was (1) mad or (2) correct in his claims. He was either one or the other. There is no middle way. You write: "I do value and cherish the teachings of Jesus". However, his claims in the Christian scriptures are so clear that it is not possible just to accept him as a good, albeit mistaken, teacher. He is either the Son of God, as he claimed to be, or he is a mad imposter. You cannot have it both ways. It is for you to decide - without any compulsion on my part.
2. If Jesus Christ is correct in his claims it is the duty of the Christian church to spread his message, as he commanded his disciples to do.
3. I very much doubt whether at the present time the impetus for Christian evangelism in India emanates from Western Christian Church groups and missions. From my understanding it appears that it is indigenous Indian Christians who are spreading the Christian message.
4. You refer to people's "obsession" for promoting religious conversions. One person's obsession is another person's duty to obey what God has commanded.
5. You quote a Hindu as saying: "Let the Church declare that there can be salvation outside the Church also, and the whole atmosphere will undergo a radical change…". That is not an option for the Christian church. Many Christians throughout the past two thousand years have died for that belief. The Christian scriptures are clear. Salvation is found in Christ alone.
6. Christians who are faithful to the teachings of Jesus Christ will not accept the pluralistic tradition of Hindus which is to consider all religions as equal. These people are not "fundamentalist" Christians as you suggest; they are ordinary Christians who believe what the Christian church has believed for the past 2,000 years.
You apologise that you do not see Christ through Western eyes. I hope that you never do. I pray that you see God through His revelation in scriptures through the Indian eyes that He has endowed you with.
Kind regards
John Langlois