My husband and I had the privilege of going to a Houston Texans play-off game. Despite the freezing weather, we had a great time! However, there is one memorable scene that I just couldn’t stop thinking about. As we were entering the game, there was a man standing on the corner with a megaphone and huge sign consistently and loudly telling people as they walked into the game that they were going to hell. Everything in my being wanted to say, NO I AM NOT like some kid but I smiled and walked by. The crazy thing was that he was still there after the game. Really??? Four hours of shouting that! This man was loud, dedicated and persistent! I wondered how many people repented of their sins. I wondered how many seeds were planted. I wondered if any lives were changed. Sadly, I think the answer is NONE!
I hate to say this but perhaps there might have been a slight truth in what this crazy man was saying; however, his delivery was far from proper. I can’t help but think of the verse in Proverbs 15:1 “A gentle answer turns away wrath but a harsh words stirs up anger.” I think the part that was the most disturbing was the selective choosing of scripture to share the message. Now as I write, I will try to take what Jesus said in Matthew 7:3 (“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?”) into practice. As harsh as I want to be toward this man, the premise of his goal (although executed poorly) is to win people to Christ. I am going to remove the plank from my eye. What have I done to share Christ with others? God has called us to be the Salt of the Earth and the Light of the World. I have to confess I want to be those things without being “too salty” or “too blinding.” I want people to say there is something different about this person (in a good way) because they see the work of Christ. Not……there is something different about this person and I just need to stay away like salesman knocking at your door at 8:00 pm or a highly contagious disease. I want to be the right seasoning to bring out the greatest flavor. I want to be the perfect lighting needed for a dark room. Sadly, I don’t think loud mouth Christian took these things into consideration.
Great post! I also find it annoying to be told by someone (with or without a megaphone) that I will go to hell. Now, I support this man's first amendment right to tell everybody whatever he wants to say, even if it's something as absurd as the idea of people going to hell. My response, however, if I were to talk to this gentleman, would be not that he would be more effective in bringing people to Jesus if he just used different tactics. I would simply address him with a bunch of questions, first of which would be, "how do you know that, sir?; how do you know that there is such a thing as hell?; what evidence do you have that suggests the existence of such a place?; and, of course, how do you know who is going into hell and who isn't." There is something dishonest and immoral about claiming knowledge that there is such a place as hell, and that one knows who will be in it and who will escape it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading. It is always good to answer people's questions with questions. It brings about a good spirited debate and really makes people think. As a Christian, I believe there is a hell and the only way to escape it is by believing in Christ because.... the bible says so. I know, know....sounds so cliche but it is the truth. As a Christian, I believe the bible is 100 percent accurate although unfortunately people do not interpret correctly 100 percent of the time. The error falls on man and not on the book and therefore we get people like megaphone man. We really and truly do not know who is going to be in heaven and who is going to be in hell because only God can judge our hearts and look internally but we use the actions of flesh as an indicator because we can't see the heart. I think I am going to be surprised when I get to heaven and see who is there and who is not! Once again, thanks for reading.
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