A Curious Girl: Helen has a think about evangelists and stuff

I turned away some carol singers. I couldn't open the door as it was stuck as it usually is over winter, asked if it was important, and ended up saying no thank you. I feel like a bit of a miser now. What kind of money do you give carol singers anyway? Never found out - never done it or indeed seen it done... *sigh*.

Which leads me on to another thought... two Mormons accosted me last week in the high street, wanted to give me six presentations at home (I politely turned them down) and they eventually gave me a little card to get a video from them, which I promptly got rid of. For some reason it actually angered me - maybe it was the six presentations at home, I would have been perfectly willing to listen to a short explanation right there in the high street and maybe an invitation to their church. I wouldn't have gone, but it would have been a nice thought. But more than that - something that worried me was the way they didn't back down when I said I was a church member (OK, not officially true in the officially official sense, but they knew what I meant). One of them said, 'So you already have that belief in God there...' in a way that suggested that I had stuff only they could give me still to learn, it was just the next stepping stone. I didn't like that at all.

I did some thinking. (Especially after a mini-debate with Ricci and Rory today on free-speech, opinions and religion etc) Is this me being hypocritical? How can I expect people to listen if I want to do all the talking? I reasoned that truth is truth, and whilst it may seem arrogant to assume I have it, it appears true to me in all ways, how could I not believe it? But if you're a pluralistic open-minded agnostic liberal (I'm a liberal and I'm a bit open minded, but the others don't apply), you probably wouldn't see it that way. At least, working from the assumption that all faith is pure faith and not based on experience/evidence, all faiths are equally valid, and if you have faith you should either keep it private or get ready for the mud wrestling match. You can't demand that you opponent stay still whilst you throw mud - if the fight is yours, either fight fair or make peace.

OK, I just likened evangelism to mud wrestling. Hmm. So then I thought, what's the right way to do it? And how can we justify bringing our 'dogmatic' message out to people when many people assume the above assumption (which by the way I don't believe)? So here are my thoughts.

I figured, in the interest of free speech, free opinions etc, let's not intimidate people. I mean... six presentations in your house! What are you selling, Kirby vacuum cleaners? It turned me right off because it sounded like a hard sell rather than an invitation. Gradual commitment, is what they called it in psychology - once you've said, 'Yes come to my house' you might as well say 'Yes, baptise me'. It starts with some small-ish request (heh) which we convince ourselves we can back out of, and then ends up that we don't back out because we've agreed to so much and backing out would make us look silly. And that's no way to come to faith, having been pushed into it by clever salespeople. Mum wouldn't buy a Kirby again, she'd much rather have her Dyson and there was no one pushing her to buy that.

We just have to tell people, persuading them is God's job (I read something like that in ABC's diary a while back... so true). If they believe, it's because they seek and experience God - we're just there to point them in the right direction. We can't experience God for them, just show the way. Faith isn't so much about philosophy or intellect as it's about knowing the person, and whilst you can learn a lot about someone by rumours and hearsay, you can learn a lot more just by talking with them.

And as for that weird mudwrestling metaphor earlier, I believe in listening - but we make our own minds up. We should hear what other people believe - and if we think they're wrong, say so, but nicely. Pressurising people to convert will never work, *sigh*. Just get your view out too, and then time will tell.

As for the old pluralist, open-minded, agnostic liberal viewpoint - why should we go around telling people what we believe so that hopefully they will too - if an evangelist has the right motives, the answer should be easy. It won't be 'to increase my conversion statistics' or 'to fill in the pews'. It'll be 'We've got something good to share, and we're going to freely offer it to anyone who wants it'. That should be enough for anyone.

So that's the product of my thinkings... don't intimidate (which reminds me, I really hate the YOU'RE GOING TO HELL!!!! approach too... is there nothing better to say about Jesus than he's an alternative to Hell?), be willing to listen to other viewpoints, allow freedom of choice, and most of all, go out in love to give (the message and the salvation) and not to gain (converts). Oh, and act like Jesus. In fact, forget that whole entry, and read 'act like Jesus' for my advice to myself, any budding evangelists, or anyone else really.

So there's my set of standards. Now I just have to go about following them... *sigh*. I'd say to slap me if I go wrong, but then I'd probably be dead within a year.

Well darlings, I'll try and get them all right. If you catch me Bible-bashing, thump me with a Torah and I may be OK :)

Random word for today:

<< last entry ... next entry >>
top of page

Give food for free.