How do I talk to my Buddhist grandmother about Christ?
Question:
My grandma has been a Buddhist for a long time, if not all her life. I see her follow her traditions once in a while. Recently I have been scared about her salvation and I want her to know about Jesus before her time comes. She speaks in my native language, which makes it harder for me to talk about the Bible to her since I only have an English translation of the Bible -- some phrases I just have no idea how to translate. I have asked her what she felt about Christ several times before, but obviously every time she just said that she believed in Buddhism. That's the problem though. I really don't know how to approach her, and how I can make her believe. It's not like I have seen a lot of miracles myself, and I have doubts a lot of times too, so I don't know what to say. If you have any ideas about how I could convince her, such as how to bring up the topic, and what I should say, that would be really great. Also, thank you for all your previous replies. They were really awesome and they helped me a lot in following God!
Answer:
Let's start with a hard reality: You and I can't make anyone be a Christian. We can teach, persuade, encourage, and exhort them to follow Christ, but we can't make them do it. Following God is something you volunteer to do. " Your people shall be volunteers in the day of Your power; in the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning, you have the dew of Your youth" (Psalms 110:3).
Interestingly, I just finished a lesson this morning about converting people. You might want to take a look at the lesson outline: "Converting a Soul." The thing to strive for is to help another person understand that it is to their best interest to be a follower of Christ. In order to do that, you need to understand the person and what that person believes. Do you know what Buddhism teaches? Do you know why it doesn't make sense? Do you know why your grandmother follows this way of belief? As you learn, you can make small points, "Grandma, that doesn't make sense. The Bible says, ... and that matches what I've seen in the world." Or, "Grandma, that is interesting. It comes close to what the Bible says, ..." By the way, a big flaw in Buddhism is the emphasis on saving one's self totally by one's own effort. There is no concept in Buddhism that a person needs outside help. There is no idea that there is a higher being or a god. One of the things that make talking with a Buddhist difficult is that while they are interested in the concept of belief, they really don't care what a person actually believes. One writer noted that it is the ultimate religion for the skeptic and the atheist as it elevates philosophy and seeks to tear down beliefs without any replacement.
Finally, you need to realize that you are at a disadvantage when teaching older generations of your family. They cannot help but see you as the child you once were who depended on them to tell you how the world works. The fact that you can think on your own is a tough mental concept for parents and grandparents to reach.
