"witnessing"--why i don't

Anyone who has broached the subject of Christianity with me knows that I am four-square against "witnessing". For those of you who haven't let me explain.

Witnessing is when a Christian goes up to a person and tries to convert them to Christianity. Some of the techniques include "Is Jesus in charge of your life?" or the more hands-on scare-tactic "Have you ever told a lie?". In the second approach, employed by the likes of Kirk Cameron and his partner Ray Comfort, an evangelical (a Christian who wants to convert others to Christianity is my loose definition) approaches a person and argues that if you ever told a simple white lie that you are going to burn in hell for eternity unless you turn to Jesus. This is the evangelicalism with which I have a major problem.

On the one hand, a simple white lie is not prohibited by the commandments and you won't go to hell for telling your wife that she looks great in that dress. The commandment is Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour not the misinterpreted Thou shalt not lie. The commandment prohibits a specific, limited, and despicable sort of lie--a lie told in court. But there is no Biblical rule forbidding simple untruth. So evangelists who use this approach would be better off telling the people that if they had committed murder and not asked for forgiveness they would go to hell which would probably make evangelism a lot more dangerous!

The second problem I have has to do with the above as well--scare tactics! Don't go up to a person and say that they are going to hell because they are horrible people--it doesn't work. People don't believe in Hell anymore (more about this later). You have to show them the positive sides of being a Christian, such as involvement in social justice. (Note: Don't use the aphorism: God is Love. This is too sentimental for atheists and the like.) I have come across this passage that I would like to share: "The most I could possibly do would be to urge her to seek salvation. But I would have to do it most carefully. One does not persuade a butterfly to light on one's hand by brandishing a sword". That is an amazing epigram for what I'm trying to say here.

One thing that I think some Christians can't grasp is that atheists do not believe in the Bible. That is why they laugh at you and tear you to shreds if you draw all your proof from the Bible.
This really bothers me when I watch a debate between atheists and Christians and the Christian debater argues that it is so because it says so in the Bible. I know what it is like to be an atheist. The Bible is just another piece of fiction to atheists. They don't believe in it and therefore attempting to argue from it is pointless! POINTLESS!!!!! When you are trying to argue for the existence of God do not look to the Bible! (Blasphemy you say! Nay say I!) St. Augustine did not philosophize just for something to do (okay maybe he did or maybe he didn't, either way we can benefit from his work). He created something called the Five Proofs of God found in his Summa Theologica Part I. These are incredible and are one part of the reason for my conversion. I won't detail them here as they are quite lengthy (another post, another day) but you can find the full version here or the wikipedia version here. Another great logical conversion is that of C.S. Lewis. He argued this: Men (all humans) crave things and those cravings are satisfied. If a man is thirsty, his craving is satisfied with water. If a man is hungry, his craving is satisfied with food. If a pregnant woman craves, she can be satisfied with pickles and ice cream! If man craves for a higher spiritual being, the logical conclusion is that there must be one. Tada!

Lastly, the reason why I don't evangelize is found in the Bible itself. First let me clarify that I do not believe in any of the books following the Gospel of John, including all letters, the book of Acts, and Revelations because (and I won't get into detail, another day, another post) they basically contradict what Jesus says in the Gospels. The passage I refer to when arguing about evangilism is Luke 6:41-42. It reads: "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." I do not have the arrogance nor the audacity to assume that I am cleansed enough to tell others that they are going to go to Hell. No one can be certain about Heaven or Hell, Jesus said so. No one knows except God (and in that I include the Holy Ghost and Jesus) what it is like and who will go where so don't be so arrogant as to assume that you are going to Heaven because you don't know!

Well, that's enough out of me for one day. I have an essay to finish. I just wanted to clarify a few things out there.

And just in case you didn't catch it, I am Christian. I believe in the Bible but I also know what it is like to be a non-believer.

-C.S. (Lewis?? lol, jk)