The Sincerity

I'm really surprised at how unwilling people are to convince others to convert to their religions. Let's only talk about the religions with a notion of eternal afterlife. Now think of a person who believes in a set of rules and the idea that if you don't live your life according to those rules you would be punished for eternity. Won't you agree that this person would try very hard to obey those rules and make as much people around him as possible to obey them too? Otherwise he or those people would go to hell, the worst thing that could happen.

I think, if a person like this doesn't warn other people when they do things against the set of rules that he believes in, there can only be two explanations:

First, he himself doesn't really care about his religion. He's not sincere in his belief. Maybe he's doing the rituals out of habit or out of fear of his environment, the social pressure etc.

Second, he doesn't really care much about the person to get into the trouble to warn him/her. Because, you know, it's not an easy thing to do. It's a sensitive issue and people quickly get offended and react!

Of course, everyone should be free to believe what they want and we can't force anyone into believing in anything. And it's very tempting to say that we should respect others' privacy and let them be. But if there's privacy in one hand and eternal punishment in the other, which one would you choose?

It doesn't have to be a religion really. Let's call it the thing you believe in. It's very important to you. And there a person is, doing something against it and you're just fine with it. I don't understand it.

I respect people who try to convince me to believe as they do. Of course, how they do it is important. But, I don't get offended by the idea. In fact, I think it's very natural and that it's what it should be.

Lastly, I think it very wise to appreciate people who value us enough to get into the trouble of trying to convince us into or out of doing something that they think is right/wrong.

PS: In exactly 24 hours I'll be in a plane, flying towards Japan. Let's note it for the records as my first journey to this mysterious island. Of course, I could just die and never make it to the plane. A million things could go wrong. But, it's easier not to think about such unpleasant things, like they would never happen. However, I find it useful to ask myself this: Who would I want by my side, if I knew that I had 24 hours left? Then try to really appreciate those whose names were the answer to the question.