I don't know what it's like where you live, but where I live, lately I have seen an influx of people walking the streets in dark suits with cards and pamphlets who arrogantly stop me on the street to ask me if know how to receive eternal life. I had one experience a few months ago where two teenage boys in suits and ties with briefcases approached me and asked me if I had found Jesus, to which I replied, "I didn't know he was lost." I then suggested they notify Homeland Security...They then walked away. Really now, is it any of their business who I find? I just had another such experience this morning on my way home from work...
I don't know what is really sparking this influx in arrogant preaching ( well, yeah I do), and this morning on my way home from work another man approached me and asked me if I went to church, to which I replied, no. He then told me my soul was damned if I didn't. Imagine that, just because I don't stand in a building for an hour a week and place ten percent of my hard earned money in a gold plate, I don't rate to go to heaven (whatever that is, because through my life experiences and having been brought up in such an atmosphere, I now believe we all make our own heaven or hell.) Who would have thunk it?
I mean, I live a good life, do good deeds, work hard, obey the law, and I believe in Christ and his grace and mercy and pray regularly in my heart, but I don't stand in a church so I am damned. Just where is this country headed with BS ideas like this? And truly, the people who spout this that I have met look totally brainwashed.
Well, anyway, my answer just brought him into full proselytizing mode. He proceeded to pull out his pamplet and handed it to me regarding how I can attain eternal life, and live a "moral" life. I was waiting for that word "moral" to spring up, because it was exactly the in I needed to prove how full of shit he was. I then proceeded to ask him if he was for the war in Iraq, to which he honestly replied, "Yes, because we need to bring as many people to Christ as we can." I then asked him if shocking and awing innocent civilians was his preferred method of bringing them to Christ, and if he thought that was moral, because if he did think so, his pamphlet was then not worth the paper it was printed on.
He gave me a look of total bewilderment, I suppose because he just didn't know what to say, and then said, "You don't have to attend our church if you don't want to." I then replied,
"Glad you finally see the light" as I handed him back his pamphlet.
Now, why am I sharing this story? Well, because I am a Christian who believes in the saving grace of my savior but doesn't feel the need to shove it down everyone's throat, especially since I am also not a hypocrite and I actually practice what I preach.
Jesus Christ was a man of peace, not war. He would not bomb little children, he said, "Suffer the little children to come unto me." He would not lie to people. He would not steal from people. He would not be intolerant. He would not work to deceive them by using the love they have for God as a means to deceive them. He would not shed blood in the name of God, and he surely wouldn't call for anyone's assassination.
Yet, the preaching proselytizers walking the streets with their little booklets dare to think that because they use God as their shield that they have the right to preach to me about eternal life and salvation. My conscience is clear. So may I suggest to them, especially those who support this illegal IMMORAL war in Iraq, that I am fine. However, I believe they need to take a real good, hard, long look in the mirror if they want to see someone who needs "salvation" and stop preaching to me.
Hmm, I know what I will do. I will make sure to carry some pictures of the true horror of Iraq from now on wherever I go, and the next time one of them stops me on the street (and believe me, I know they will stop me) I will make sure to show them what their "morality" really looks like.