The short answer to this is that we stand out on the street with huge blow horns and pamphlets and tell you you’re going to Hell.
That’s pretty annoying, I’d agree. And in my opinion, it’s not exactly the most effective way to get through to people. But that’s besides the point. Why are they doing this? Why does my Christian friend want to talk to me about Jesus randomly? It’s super annoying. There are two reasons. One is the right reason, and one is the wrong reason. Here’s the wrong reason they do it:
Bragging rights
You don’t have to be a Christian to be able to imagine that we feel pretty good about ourselves when we convert someone. It’s like Legolas and Gimli in that scene in Lord of the Rings where they’re competing against each other for who can kill more enemies. It’s all about the pride. And pride, according to Christian teachers, is the worst sin of them all. You may think that doesn’t make sense, which is understandable since there’s also murder, rape and terrible sins like that. But when you consider that pride was the reason for the fall of Satan, and consequently, the fall of man, it becomes more of a big deal. Pride is actually the root of all evil. Again, that’s besides the point. As a general rule of thumb, when you see a Christian doing or saying something that you know would contradict the Bible (sometimes it’s more obvious, and sometimes not), you can immediately stop taking them seriously, and regard them as a bad Christian example. That’s not to say that you should believe that Christianity itself is corrupt. If a coach was to teach a child the proper way to shoot a basketball, and that child continued to use improper technique when practicing, you wouldn’t think the coach’s a bad teacher. You would say that the child’s a bad student.
Here’s the right reason:
Compassion
It’s hard to make sense of that. If I was the one walking down the street and someone was yelling in my ear that I was going to Hell, compassion would not be the first motive that I would attribute them with. But let’s pretend that is their reason. Imagine they’re doing this because they have compassion, even if they are going about it the wrong way. If they have compassion, they’re doing this because they really care about you, and what’s going to happen to you when you die. Try to understand that Christians believe in Heaven and Hell like we believe that 1+1=2. And we know that both places last for eternity. Think about eternity for a bit. It lasts absolutely forever. Not a lifetime, or a thousand years. They really are forever. And speaking from experience, one of the things that causes a Christian the most grief, is the fear that some of our favorite people in the world will go to Hell. Now, this subject is really unpopular and generally just makes people angry, but I’m just trying to help you grasp the way a Christian thinks. If a Christian has good motives, the reason he/she is trying to convert you could very well be because the thought of you going to Hell makes them lose sleep. Here’s an illustration of it that I remember hearing. Imagine you’re driving in a blizzard and you can hardly see anything. All of the sudden, you see a huge car pile-up in the middle of the road and you barely stop in time. So you pull over and right when you’re about to call for help, another car comes crashing into it right before your eyes. You realize you have to try to warn people so you go up the road a bit and start waving madly to get people to stop. Of course, all they do is give you a weird look, or the finger, and keep driving. You can hear car after car hitting the wreck and there’s nothing you can do about it because no one’s stopping. Dang…
So hopefully that gives you an idea of the reasons some Christians insist on irritating everyone with their bad evangelism methods. But, it should also increase your patience with these situations. If you have a Christian friend who ever tries to talk to you about what they believe, please don’t assume they’re doing it for credit. Chances are that if they’re trying tell you about God or Jesus, that you’re one of their favorite people in the world. If you’re not interested in hearing what they have to say, try to break it to them tactfully and tell them you’re not interested. But don’t get super annoyed and blow them off because it probably took a ton of courage to even attempt talking to you about it.
Tags: annoying, Christianity, evangelism, heaven, hell, preach
David! I’m replying, so you should reply to mine, Bahaha.
Ah. With your blog: I am going to contribute and refute.
Contribute: I completely agree with Christians looking at evangelism with the wrong approach. Compassion > Bragging Rights. For example, I was eating in the cafeteria last week at the University and someone came up from the Church on 99th and asked me to do a survey about Christianity/Church. So I did, but the thing that bothered me to the greatest extent was that they were offering to give people $20 to go to a service. To me, this seems like the worst way to attract people to religion. My opinion.
Refute: I disagree with some of the “courage” associated with being evangelical. I know of some people who are able to change from one face to the next and become an insta-evangelist; completely comfortable with all conversations about God and Christianity. Further, once evangelism becomes a routine, chore, or a fact-of-life, it becomes an art: the more practice, the easier and more mindless it is to complete the task. I would much rather have someone be completely nervous and share a personal story rather than throwing scripture down my throat while wearing a business suit demeaningly. Unfortunately, as you pointed out, many people see this as the epitome of evangelical efforts. What a shame.
Hah, thanks man. I really appreciate that comment. I understand what you mean too. I guess if I tried talking to people more often, I would get better at it. But what makes me so nervous is that it’s such a delicate thing to do. If you say something they don’t like, they could run away and your chance is gone. But of course, that’s their decision. No Christian should feel bad if that happens as long as they’re doing their best to be tactful.
The trick is to cut an even deal. When a religious person comes to try to convert me, I agree to listen to their discourse, if they listen to mine first. Listen to me for 2 hours, and I’ll listen to you for 2 hours. I’ll tell them how I’m anti-religious and think their living a lie. When they invite me to a service, I tell them I’ll go if they come with me for a night out first. I’ll bring them to a party, to some gay clubs, to see hookers, etc… Essentially I annoy the hell out of them with their own tactics before they have a chance to annoy me. Usually, they don’t last very long and leave with their tails between their legs.
I labor under the impression that “we” do not convert anyone to Christ. Aren’t we supposed to work in conjunction with the Holy Spirit? I think we should only attempt a conversation about salvation when prompted by the Spirit…anything else could be counter-productive.