Thursday, October 27, 2005

urban loud-mouths

I have always held street preachers, or urban loud-mouths as I like to call them, in disdain. But it has never really affected me until I moved out here. In the city, they are everywhere; bus stops, subways, in front of restaurants. As a follower of Christ, I can't stand to see or hear them spew hatred and condemnation from their mouths. And if I can't tolerate it, I can't imagine those who don't believe being able to either. Can they not see that they are causing more harm than good? That thru the bullying and scare tactics, they are turning people off from any inkling they may have towards God? On top of that, they are making it even easier for people to castigate the efforts and motivation for the rest of us "normal" folks who only want to reflect God's love in a powerful yet non-judgemental manner.
This one guy yesterday was totally getting in people's face telling them that they deserve "righteous condemnation" for their sins. I had half a mind to walk over and speak with him. I would have but I figured that it wouldn't do any good at all. Nothing I could say would change his mind or his belief that his manner of proclamation was justifiable. I have always subscribed to St.Francis of Assisi's line of thought; "Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary, use words" and "It is no use in walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching". My personal mode of "evangelism" ( I don't like using that word but thats a whole other subject) is predicated on those two principles. I could never bring myself to force my faith upon another verbally or otherwise. I just don't see the logic in doing so; even worse, I don't see the love in it either.

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