The Gideon "Bibles"

I was walking through school early this morning heading to class, and I passed some Gideons handing out copies of the New Testament to people. I didn't take one, simply for the fact that I have about a dozen at home from past years. So I got to the auditorium and a few people I knew were in there. I was talking about how I "dodged the Gideons" and avoided getting a New Testament. My remark was met with astonishment. "How could you?" I explained, as above. "Well, you should have taken another one and given it to somebody." I responded, "The guys handing them out are at the entrances; if somebody wanted one, they could have gotten it." So then somebody else says, "Why wouldn't you take the opportunity to spread the Word of God?" I don't feel that's my job, I told them. "Don't you want to save people from going to Hell?!?" Whoa, slow down. Who says that because you don't believe in a certain book or "accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior" that you're going to Hell? It would be awfully hypocritical. I don't think God would do that. When I die, I hope that I'm not judged on whether I was baptized or what book I believed in, but whether or not the life I lived was good and true.
Who am I to tell people how to live their life? In this day and age, everyone has the opportunity to be exposed to what they choose. If somebody wants to become a Christian or read the Bible, then they would do that, regardless of anything that I told them. Consider this:As Christians we believe that "our way" is the correct way. Paulo Coelho said that the great fault of religions was when they claimed to know the ultimate truth. How would it be received in our community if a person of another faith, for example, a Muslim, started passing out Korans in an attempt to convert people. Well, of course, many people would be outraged, because they are in fact, insecure about their own ideas, blinding following those who share their beliefs "because Pastor says so". Just a side note, the faith of Islam is actually more similar to Christianity than a lot of people realize. So, just as we have a right to practice our own faith, we should also allow others to believe what they want to, an not try necessarily to change their ways so that they conform to ours.
Please understand, I'm not trying to pick a fight with anyone. It's just that I consider my self a person who wants to know more. More about other religions, more about other cultures. After all, we're all pretty ignorant. So the more we know, the better understanding we have of each other, and through that, ourselves. I will always be a person who is opposed to limits, opposed to boundaries, and opposed to closed-mindedness, because I believe it is what is detrimental to our world today.