Doesn’t Jesus teach that people must convert to Christianity?
Actually this notion is no where to be found in the Bible. There are some English translations of the Bible that have chosen to use the word “convert,” but these are not the most accurate translations of the idea being expressed in these few examples. (There are only 7 verses in different translations that use this word, but the actual context of those verses along with the range of meaning for the actual Greek word does not give room for our modern notion of “conversion”.) Rather, if we look at the example of Jesus he never asks anyone to change what they already are. He never asks any Jew to be anything other than a Jew. He doesn’t ask the Samaritan woman to cease being a Samaritan. He doesn’t ask the Roman centurian or the Syro-Pheonecian woman or even Pilate to change their ethnic/religious identity. Jesus always focused on people and their grasp of who he was. For instance, when dealing with the Samaritan woman she tried to make the conversation about religion, “should we worship
