Brute Force

Mia Sorella sent this to me yesterday, and it was a reminder of why I am more about reformation than most forms of evangelism. While I don't necessarily agree with every single word (most of it, but let's face it, who always agrees with her sister?) I thought this was something you, my faithful and somewhat-faithful readers could contemplate.

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Yesterday when we did the field study (nine hours in the car going in circles) we got harassed by a pastor. You know me, so you'll understand why this pisses me off. The guy came up to one of my partners when we were walking back to the car. Then he proceeded to "ask" if he could talk to us, but he didn't give us a chance to respond and began to tell us about God. Now, there are plenty of nice ways to try to "save" people, but I wouldn't recommend starting with "If you died today, do you know for a fact that you'll get to Heaven?"

I know that's a pretty typical opener. I hate it. First of all, I don't like saying "yes I do" to something like that. Because no one does FOR SURE. I know what they say about after accepting God you go to Heaven (rather than through good works), and I knew where he was coming from. But you still don't know for sure because what if you didn't TRULY repent? What if you were just the slightest bit uncertain? Second of all, I'm not comfortable telling a total stranger about the fate of my soul. Third, [youth pastor] asked us that at youth group when I was in high school, and he forced us all to answer. I hated it. It's so presumptuous to say yes. It's even more presumptuous to "know" and force others to answer.

Okay, so that made me a little angry. So I refused to answer. Now remember that I was with three other people who I don't know very well ([A], who is very similar to me, [B] who refused to meet earlier than one because she didn't want to miss church ... and [C], who is from Hong Kong and doesn't speak English fluently.). We sat and stared at him and [B] said "yes." And then he asked her how she knew, and she said because she accepted Christ. Fine. Well, that didn't take the wind out of his sails at all. He said, "Okay for the rest of you, do you know. . . ." And he started spouting scriptures about being saved not through works but through Christ.

Now, this is awful and cynical, but I couldn't help critique his words in my head, because I'm by no means unfamiliar with this whole scene. He had an obviously rehearsed schpiel and he didn't even take a decent look at the audience. He was literally preaching to the converted. [B] sitting there, eyes wide, nodding at him, [A] and I are looking at him and occasionally back at each other, and [C], well [C] was just confused. Now, I'm all for spreading the word. But you can't just force people in without even listening to them. It's just wrong.

Now we get to the part that made me mad. After he was finished, he said, "Now we'll pray together. Repeat after me. . ." He forced us to repeat the whole "I'm a sinner, I repent, and I accept you" prayer that people give when there's an alter call or something like it. He didn't say, "Now I'd like to pray for you," or "If you feel moved to do so, pray with me." No, he said "Repeat after me."

After forcing us into that, he smiled at us and told us he looks forward to seeing us in Heaven. I honestly wanted to smack him. It was so. . . wrong. Jesus, who actually knew who he was and his future fate, would never talk to people like that. If I had been alone, I would have given him a piece of my mind. He wouldn't have gotten anywhere in the first place, because I would have told him I already had religion and he could focus elsewhere. I know it's hard to be rude to strangers (for me anyway), and it's even more difficult when they want to help you, but that is a case where you have a responsibility to tell the believer that they need to amend. You are not going to be saved because you repeated a prayer after a pastor because he made you and you were too polite to tell him to take a hike. I'm sorry, that's not how it works. That's what makes people dislike Christians. It's off-putting, it's incorrect, and it's not helping.

I'm sorry, but it's a case of "bad Christians happening to good people" and I was pissed.

I almost forgot to mention this, but after that whole bit, when we got into the car, [C] asked "Was that man a Christian?"

My response was, "Of sorts."