Telemarketing, Arguing, and Witnessing

I had a phone call this morning from a telemarketer. He wanted me to hire his company to create, maintain, and advertise a webpage for our “business” (our church, but he kept saying business). He started out on a bad foot with me, asserting things about our website that were not true. I had to ask him twice if he’s ever seen our website before he finally said, “no.”

Well, a long story short, his main attempt to get me to hire him was by arguing with me and almost yelling his points at me to “make” me go with their company. I wonder how many really get treated this way and think, “oh, well this person was so belligerent; I guess I should go for their company”? I doubt any.

This got me thinking about our witnessing. Do we tend to try to argue someone into salvation? Should we argue the gospel with them? Did Jesus argue His points with the lost and dying (apart from the “religious leaders”)?

No. Jesus encountered the woman at the well, who had a few different views/beliefs than Him. He simply shared with her the way of eternal life.

As we go, let us not be argumentative to win the lost. Let’s live like Christians should. As we do, folks will notice and ask why we are different. When that happens, let’s share the reason for our hope. Let’s share what Christ did in our lives. Let’s share the Gospel.

What Your Twitter Says About You

I recently ran across a man on twitter who I decided to follow. In return, he wrote me some direct messages. Here’s our conversation, along with my thoughts.

He wrote: Hi Bill, Thanks for following. I only follow radical Jesus followers. If this is you mention it in your bio and I will follow you. GBU

This seems to say that he will only interact with those who are already saved. We cannot reach the lost by only interacting with others who are already saved. Jesus Himself ate with the tax collectors and other sinners when He was asked to eat with them (Luke 5:29-32).

I replied that though I don't have in my bio that I am a radical Jesus follower, I am one. In case you haven’t seen my bio, I do mention I am a pastor and that I love God.

He also stated that instead of stating in my bio that I love Androids, I should tell about Jesus. Well, the world needs to know that Christians are not one-dimensional. Christians can talk about things other than God and Jesus from time to time, and perhaps in so doing, we can win some to Christ. Isn’t that what Paul was talking about when he said “I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22)?

I do agree with him that we should talk about Jesus on Twitter. If he read my tweets, he would see I do just that and more.

He said that “I also read people's tweets from the point of view from someone who knows nothing about Jesus.” This is a good thing. We cannot assume that everyone knows about Jesus and God and salvation etc. But then he gets absurd. He states that when he reads my bio [“Pastor of Calvary Baptist / Love God, the Bible…”] he asks “What's a pastor? Is that something you eat? Which Bible are you talking about?” The first part can be answered by a dictionary, the second part is just absurd, and the third part is understood as being the Holy Bible. Applying the same mindset of someone who doesn’t know who Jesus is, I read his bio [“Jesus gives sight to the blind…”] and one can similarly absurdly wonder “Jesus who?”

He did apologize for saying that my bio seemed to be all about me. He said he does think that about people on Twitter who say, "I have written this many books, I have preached this many sermons, I have 5000 people in my church. I, I, I, I.” Interestingly, too, he claims Rick Warren as his hero. I agree that Pastor Rick does a good job pointing others to Christ, but his twitter bio is exactly the kind of bio that this gentleman does not like.

I did find it interesting in all of this: He claims to follow only those with Jesus in their bio. Yet, after just a quick search of part of the list of those he follows, I found at least 5 without any mention of Jesus and 1 who mentioned they are a wizard. He also said he accepts bios with the cross symbol, as it is a worldwide symbol for Christianity. I guess he is unaware that other religions use the cross symbol as well, including some Egyptian and Pagan religions.

He also stated that he points atheists to the bios of the people he follows to show the atheists that Jesus can give them inner peace. I would rather engage in a decent conversation over twitter about Jesus. Just pointing folks to bios will not work. That’s like an Atheist trying to convert me by pointing me to bios of other Atheists. It’s simply not going to happen.

Here’s a fitting video clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3YXINEYdnkY

If you have not watched the video, please do so. It’s not perfect, but it makes the point that we need to befriend people and love people even if they are not a Christian. By our love and honest answers, we may win more to Jesus than we would by bashing them over the head with the Bible or ignoring them if they don’t believe.

A friend of mine reminded me, “by saying, ‘I'm only going to engage with people who already agree with me,’ we are cutting ourselves off from the very people Jesus loves.”

If you are a Christian, let me encourage you to:

strive to meet others who are not,

engage in healthy debates/discussions about your beliefs,

learn where they are coming from without jumping to the normal conclusions,

and continue to love them.

Also, let me encourage you to :

share what a difference Christ made in your life,  

share that you still mess up,

share that the difference is that we are forgiven,

and share the difference they too can have in Christ.

Penn Jillette (of Penn and Teller) and Witnessing

Penn Jillette, one half of the magic team of Penn and Teller, is an accomplished magician, a very intelligent man, and an atheist.

In 2008, he was approached after a show by a Christian who had genuinely tried to share Christianity with Penn. This Christian man showed genuine concern for Penn’s soul and even gave him a pocket New Testament.

Sometime later, Penn made a video clip about this experience (which is posted at the bottom) and his views on proselytizing (witnessing). What he says should be convicting to any and all Christians!

“I’ve always said that I don’t respect people that don’t proselytize…I don’t respect that at all. If you believe that there’s a heaven and hell and people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life or whatever…and you think that it’s not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward…how much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize? How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that? If I believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that a truck was bearing down on you and you didn’t believe it, there comes a certain point when I tackle you…and this is more important than that.”

Please do not misunderstand him. He has not converted and he still does not believe in God.

Yet, he believes that if YOU believe in God, Heaven, Hell, eternal life, and that there is a way to have eternal life (through Jesus Christ), then you MUST witness. What a profound truth coming from someone who doesn’t believe in God!

So, how about it, fellow Christians?! Are we going to let “socially awkward” moments prevent us from witnessing? We shouldn’t! Let’s obey the command of Matthew 28:19-20. Let’s go and make disciples!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa9JE_ZVL88&feature=related