Why I'm Not a (Soap-Box) Street Preacher

[Eaquae Legit]

Your average Christian might never read the New Testament at all. He or she likely doesn’t even know the names of the 27 writings that comprise our canon of scripture. These people show up at church now and again. They listen to what the minister behind the pulpit is saying and take that as gospel truth without asking any significant questions. Ironically, these are the people who are often the most dogmatic and outspoken about Christianity. Oftentimes it is these people you see waving Bibles around, shouting and screaming about how every blessed word of the Bible sprang straight from the lips of the Almighty.

Anyone who has actually slugged it out with the New Testament, reading it carefully and trying to piece together the truth about God, Jesus, and how we should live, will be so filled with humility and grace that they will probably never yell at anyone about anything, much less the Bible.

-- Real Live Preacher (the whole post is worth reading)

I was just going to post this in the Quotes thread, but I realised I might want to comment on it. Or others might.

When I was 17, I was part of a Pentecostal youth group. We had outreach services once a month, and we were very enthusiastic about them. We'd hand out flyers and invite everyone we could to come.

I can't do that now. I still could, at 18, but I was less comfortable. By 19, I was quite uncomfortable. At 24, I dislike debating and will only really get into what I believe if someone's asking what and why. I have read the New Testament, and I've spent too much time putting myself in other believers' shoes to pretend I have all the answers. I know what works for me, and what I believe is true, but it is my own small attempt to make sense of a world bigger than my comprehension.

I am who I am, and I believe what I believe, and it's far more interesting to sit quietly and listen than it is to shout.

[Luet]

I'm not sure why being a preacher is synonymous in your eyes with shouting. Do you think that Jesus was a preacher? Do you picture him yelling at people on the street? I think that some people give public evangalizing a bad name but it's not fair to categorize all public preachers as loud and obnoxious.

[Eaquae Legit]

Because I've never run across a street preacher that wasn't shouting, I guess. I was shouted at twice in a walk, by people with megaphones, a couple weeks ago. "Street Preacher" always conjures up the same soap-box imagery for me. If someone's out on the street witnessing publicly, and not shouting, it's like they're a preacher who happens to be on the street, not a "Street Preacher." My mind plays weird semantic games sometimes. (For the record, I freely admit we were pretty obnoxious in my youth group, though we didn't see it as such at the time.)

Also, I wanted a catchy thread-title.

Really, I was trying to get at something more than soapbox street preachers (does the clarification help?). On a grander scale, it's the us-versus-them mentality that bothers me, and it's something I try not to participate in. It's been implied to me in the past that my discomfort for loud, vocal, in-your-face evangelism makes me a Bad Christian. It's hard to deal with that, because evangelism is a key part of Christianity. I just can't do it the shouting way.

[eriador]

Okay, do you mind if I ask you a clarification question on this:

I know what works for me, and what I believe is true, but it is my own small attempt to make sense of a world bigger than my comprehension.

I am who I am, and I believe what I believe, and it's far more interesting to sit quietly and listen than it is to shout.

[Luet]

I totally agree with you and I don't think that makes you a bad Christian. I think that the type of preaching that any Christian should strive to accomplish is in accord with what Jesus did. And as I think we would agree, the only people he had an us-versus-them mentality about was the pharisees...who were the group back then who most closely fit your description of obnoxious preachers.

[eriador]

I think that the type of preaching that any Christian should strive to accomplish is in accord with what Jesus did.

Do you feel the same about other realms of your life? That you should strive to follow Jesus in everything? Or is it just preaching?

(Sorry about all the questions. This conversation is raising several for me and I'm asking them in an attempt to learn, not to attack any person or idea.)

[Luet]

Yes, I do. Any specific areas that you want to ask about?

[Eaquae Legit]

Okay, do you mind if I ask you a clarification question on this:

I know what works for me, and what I believe is true, but it is my own small attempt to make sense of a world bigger than my comprehension.

I am who I am, and I believe what I believe, and it's far more interesting to sit quietly and listen than it is to shout.

I'm not entirely sure what you want clarified. I'll try, though.

I have come to a set of conclusions about the world and existence in general that I believe best fits what I have observed. Yet I can't pretend to know everything, or that my conclusions are exactly right. There's a sense of humbleness that I get when I think about how much I don't know, and never will. No matter how much I study physics, or chem, or history, or language, or geology, or astronomy, I'll never know the Whole Picture. So I learn everything I can, and make what conclusions I can, but always remember that I might be wrong.

Because of that awareness, I find much more benefit in listening to other people explain what and why they believe. It adds to my understanding of the Whole Picture. I learn things. In the best cases, the ones I enjoy the most of all, it's a true dialogue, a back-and-forth, with both sides asking questions for the purpose of learning. I don't want to shout them down. If they find merit in what I say, so much the good, but it's not the main goal of the dialogue. I don't pretend that I don't believe what I believe (I think I got the multiple negatives right there), because I do. I do believe that I am as correct as I can get (otherwise, why bother at all?). Soap-box, sound-bite, "Jesus is the ANSWER!" style preaching isn't for me.

[eriador]

Thanks. That cleared up some questions I had.

I'm gonna reciprocate your generous baring of your soul here and share my thought process.

When I first read that quoted section I thought of the view I hold, that "it's your belief in God makes Him real" but I realized that you weren't exactly saying that, so I asked for clarification. I'm glad I did, because I think that at first I seriously misread you. I think that you're really saying that you recognize you don't know everything, but you know what you believe from your perspective, which is similar, but not the same. You've made the call that you have enough information in your incomplete knowledge to come to a conclusion about the existence of God, which is an objectivist view. I thought (at first) that you were expressing a subjectivist view like my own.

Thanks for clearing that up.

-Seth

[Eaquae Legit]

I think you've got it, yes.

[Slim]

The question is often asked, "What would Jesus Do?" Before I read the Bible, I probably would answer, "He would just use his Godly powers to pwn everyone!!!" After reading the Bible, it's actually a different story. Jesus Christ is so humble about everything he does.

On my mission, obviously people would try and get into arguments with us all the time. I hate it every time. It's Satan that wants us to argue. I have literally thousands of stories of arguments. If that's the sort of thing y'all want to hear about, I could tell you. Sure, I'm a prideful guy, so several times I would fight back. But even if I win the battle, I've lost the war, since the Spirit is gone. So, when an argument was about to break out, I tried to be humble, and say, "please, just read this book and pray about it. It's the Spirit that changes people, not me."

I believe everyone is my brother or sister. I would hope to be the type of person to never say, "See you in Heck!" but to be the type to say, "You will be with me in Paradise!"

WWJD?

[Azarel]

I took the same approach as the original poster some years ago in regard to my Christian faith.

I spent so long sitting there, being quiet about my faith, not mentioning it for fear of getting into debates and upsetting people that I ended up almost completely neglecting it. This is a very real danger one can fall into.

Now that I have reinvigorated my faith I can now say that if you have the opportunity to talk to someone about your faith, or give an opinion (helpfully) from your faith's point of view, you should. That is faith with deed, and as Paul said, Faith without deed is dead.

It might be more peaceful not talking or shouting about your faith, but I can conceive how it could possibly be more interesting. There is a time for listening but to do it all the time will surely allow the things people say to influence your attitudes if you neglect to state your opinion. I speak from personal experience.

Also, Jesus what not 'so' humble in everything he did. If he was and if that was his purpose, then chances are people wouldn't speak of him today. No, Jesus shook the entire world up with his teachings and that has lasted to this day. He wasn't humble when he stormed the merchants and moneylenders out of the Holy Temple. He wasn't being humble when he called corrupt and law bending Pharisees "you brood of vipers!" as they yet again challenged him through their desire to remain in power.

As people have stated already, do not give the adversary a foothold. Do not argue but do not be so silent that Good News is not heard. The spirit of God does change people, but YOU ARE IN A POSITION TO HELP THINGS ALONG!

So, speak out and give testimony. If it is rejected, fine be humble and move on, but do not stop. Rather than asking what Jesus would do, ask or at least remember what Jesus has asked his followers to do. Make disciples of ALL nations. That has to be by their own choice of course, but they can't make that choice they are not give it in the first place.

...Last point, to do this, does not require the use of a soap box.

[Slim]

Also, Jesus what not 'so' humble in everything he did. If he was and if that was his purpose, then chances are people wouldn't speak of him today. No, Jesus shook the entire world up with his teachings and that has lasted to this day. He wasn't humble when he stormed the merchants and moneylenders out of the Holy Temple. He wasn't being humble when he called corrupt and law bending Pharisees "you brood of vipers!" as they yet again challenged him through their desire to remain in power.

There's a difference between having humility and having righteous indignation. Before he kicked the money changers out of the Temple, he actually sat down and made his own whip. Does that describe a humble person, or one loosing their temper? And he didn't say "I'm better than you, you brood of vipers!" He knew that they required strong words if they were to change, if at all.

But, yes, otherwise, I agree with what you had to say.

[Azarel]

Also, Jesus what not 'so' humble in everything he did. If he was and if that was his purpose, then chances are people wouldn't speak of him today. No, Jesus shook the entire world up with his teachings and that has lasted to this day. He wasn't humble when he stormed the merchants and moneylenders out of the Holy Temple. He wasn't being humble when he called corrupt and law bending Pharisees "you brood of vipers!" as they yet again challenged him through their desire to remain in power.

There's a difference between having humility and having righteous indignation. Before he kicked the money changers out of the Temple, he actually sat down and made his own whip. Does that describe a humble person, or one loosing their temper? And he didn't say "I'm better than you, you brood of vipers!" He knew that they required strong words if they were to change, if at all.

But, yes, otherwise, I agree with what you had to say.

Yes, thank you, it was kind of splitting-hairs on my part but you get what I was trying to say...

In short... Jesus wasn't passive in his humility is what I was trying to say.