Competitive street “evangelism”
Clayboy recounts this interesting event:
This morning I passed a group of street preachers in Birmingham. The snatch of message I heard as I hastened by was along these lines. “You know as well as us that there is life after death because the Bible says God has put eternity into man’s heart. How will you spend that eternity?”
Round the corner there was a table of books set out, some Arab music playing, and a man behind the table. The sign on the table said: ‘Free Quran and books for non-Muslims”.
And then poses a very poignant question:
Which would you find more attractive?
What do you reckon?
Tags: Religion Society
April 20th, 2010 at 12:59 pm
By following Jesus,thats why we had to die on the cross also to follow a better life – our faith with God
April 20th, 2010 at 3:27 pm
In the ummah (muslim nations) the free choice would not be yours in the near future if the OIC has its way the only choice in Birmingham will be submission or dhimmitude.
My advice take that ‘free quran‘ and read it as a dreadful warning of things to come if we are not alert.
April 20th, 2010 at 3:51 pm
I find any sort of street evangelism annoying. I see a group of Muslims in my town occasionally with a little table, trying to attract converts. I expect they give books out too, but a free copy of a book you don’t want is just one more thing to carry.
The first example, however, is particularly annoying and, I’d guess, doomed from the start. To tell passers by “You know as well as us that there is life after death because the Bible says… ” anything assumes that listeners believe in the Bible, which they almost certainly don’t. This sort of arrogance is bound to put people’s backs up.
April 20th, 2010 at 3:55 pm
Sophie said:
To tell passers by “You know as well as us that there is life after death because the Bible says… ” anything assumes that listeners believe in the Bible
Yep.
Before I was a Christian, I found street preachers cringy and now I’m a Christian, nothing has changed…..
April 20th, 2010 at 4:09 pm
@ Webmaster: Me too! The worst ones are those who tell everyone passing but that they’re damned. Makes me wonder how they start conversations at parties….
April 20th, 2010 at 4:55 pm
I guess you may not be surprised to hear from me the response: “neither of the above…” What I find hard to stomach is the attitude that we non-believers are what we are simply for lack of knowledge.
There are some very bright and erudite Christians around, who are brilliant communicators. Why is it always the 3rd Eleven who go out evangelising. I honestly think I could do a better recruiting job – and I’m not even a Christian!
Joking aside though, I am often struck by the apparent inability of believers to envisage what it is like to be someone who does not believe. Surely, only by putting oneself in the mind of the “opposition” is one able to communicate in terms understandable to them.
April 20th, 2010 at 10:11 pm
@Jim
What I find hard to stomach is the attitude that we non-believers are what we are simply for lack of knowledge.
Well there might be one or two left
Surely, only by putting oneself in the mind of the “opposition” is one able to communicate in terms understandable to them.
Yes, the best detective has the criminal mind.
Many church goers have been church goers for a long time and have become ensconced within the church community. Before they realise it, they practically only socialise with other Christians and form every opinion based on this self-replicating interaction.
From this vantage, it is near to impossible to make the leap into the “unbelievers” culture / world view.
Communication and mutual understanding sadly break down.
That was all a generalisation of course.
I thank God that I didn’t become a Christian until my early 20′s and had absolutely no religion in my upbringing.
In fact I was something of an anti-god evangelist at one stage