The deeply religious should not read this post (Long)

[Jimbo]

On my way home this evening I had a yearning for a steak dinner. After securing my slab of red meat I was searching for some additional tasty accouterments to satisfy my palate. During this time a young man (18 to 20 years old) approached me and sought my permission to ask me a question. Considering his polite demeanor and conservative appearance I naturally replied in the affirmative.

His question was "Do you know God loves you?" Needless to say he caught me quite off guard! As I gathered my thoughts all I could say was "Yes, but shouldn't you be asking me a different question if you are truly interested?" It was now his turn to appear momentarily confused. I took this opportunity to offer a more relevant question for his future querries. It was "Do you care that God loves you?"

Now normally these Jesus Freaks are well trained on how to handle opposition. Perhaps I found one on a practice run who was not fully trained. At any rate he began backing away from me like I was the Devil incarnate. This was much too juicy an opportunity for me to resist so I followed, all the while asking him relevant questions such as: "Are you going to discuss my question with the leaders next Sunday? and Isn't that a more sensible question with real value? and my favorite Who trained you anyway? coupled with Ask for your money back you are failing Jesus Freaking 101."

At that he turned the corner in reverse faster than I could travel forward losing me between sundries and fresh bread. I believe I saw him out of the corner of my eye a bit later but my lust for blood had been quenched and I proceeded to the checkout line.

Do you think I have either:
1) irreparably harmed this young freak?
2) perhaps caused him to reconsider public freaking with strangers?
3) or will his freaking elders take the time to better prepare him for his next outing?



Jimbo

[John Cole]

Jimbo,

One day I received a knock on the door. A man with a stack of papers began to pour out his life story: "I been a drug addict, an alcoholic, a homeless bum" and other such stuff. "But," he said, "Jesus saved me, and he can save you, too."

I asked, "From what?" and continued, "I spend my time reading books and going to movies. Do I really need saving from this?"

No, I don't think you've done irreparable harm. You'll probably steel his resolve, and he'll become a better proselytizer thanks to your efforts.

John

[M2d]

all this world needs is another polished evangelist.
Back in my undergrad days, my friends and I were approached by a street evangelist who wanted to know if we knew (third level evangelical thinking?) that God loved us. My friend, sporting a jade buddah pendant (more as a fashion statement than as a religious one) responded: "do you know that Buddah didn't believe in God?"
First time I've seen a street evangelist speechless/

[BruceZ]

I've heard all my life that Jesus saves. He must be very rich by now.

y'all are some cynical cats.

just to let you know, we're not all like that. some of us are actually intelligent people, who have a well-rounded life, and people skills.

don't take it out on jesus just because these guys are clueless, though. i mean, if i walked up to you and told you that poker was a great game and you should play it, and i didn't let up and i followed you around, you'd be annoyed. even though you thought i was right. (im assuming you would all agree that poker is a good game...)

anyways, these people mean well, they really do. unfortunately, some of them have no clue.

[scalf]

/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif the guy had a sex change operation and joined a convent.....cool down big guy,,,gl /forums/images/icons/grin.gif

[HDPM]

LMAO. Do you care? LOL /forums/images/icons/cool.gif

[IrishHand]

"1) irreparably harmed this young freak?"
Probably not, but hope springs eternal.

"2) perhaps caused him to reconsider public freaking with strangers?"
Sadly, failure tends to have a more profound effect on the intelligent and well-informed, of which this lad and his ilk are neither.

"3) or will his freaking elders take the time to better prepare him for his next outing? "
Do you "better prepare your kids" if they come back from trick or treating without your favorite candies? No - you send them out like clockwork the next year and hope for the best.

[whiskeytown]

yeah...as a deeply Christian person, it bugs me sometimes that the Church puts a big emphasis on cold-calling evangelism.

And they do it in funny ways too..I was sitting by a lake one day when 3 local college students (probably on assignment from the local bible college) came up and asked me if I wanted to answer a survey...it starts innocently enough (what are the biggest problems facing youth today) - etc etc, but slides into "Do you think a deeper faith in God will help" followed by "Would you like to know more about God"

kinda like a bait and switch....but they mean well. Christianity doesn't require saving a quota of souls to get into heaven (cults like Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormans do, which is why you see them EVERYWHERE) -

Most new Christians come into the fold cause of family or friends ... people who are just happy and living the faith for everyone to see instead of pestering total strangers -

but then again...you know how kids are...everything is black and white...one or the other... - could be worse...he could be doing drugs or playing poker...LOL

RB

Who cares ! But why do you consider Christians to be such an easy target If someone started a thread about Jews, Blacks, Indians, women, etc all you perverts w/o moral value would be the first to stand up and yell. If you're going to post please make it interesting. Why don't you start with Should women be allowed in Augusta

[Jimbo]

Jerry please crawl back into your hole.

Many Thanks,

Jimbo

[bernie]

once i saw your title, i had to read it...

LOLOL oh man....that was good...

ya shoulda followed him around the store saying 'you' could 'save' him. hahahaha

a question though...what would you've said if he answered your 1st question with, 'yes, i care.' ? just curious...

if you love slamming the church a little, there's a site that does telemarketer revenge calls...

a telemarketer calls and he puts on an act...

one was him acting like a priest. it was under..

www.jimflorentine.com (http://www.jimflorentine.com)

the title was horny priests....off the 3rd cd i think

it's pretty damn good...

as a recovered catholic, i thouroughly enjoyed it.

they wont let him put his home abortion call on there. the telemarketer actually called the police on him. the tm called and he had his girlfriend there. he told her to scream while he turned on a vaccuum. the tm freaked out.

thanks for the laugh...

b

[Jimbo]

Hi Bernie,

Actually my first question was more of a suggestion as to how to improve his methodology. I would expect him to answer that he personally cares. Now if he had asked me the question in return I would have answered honestly, not in the slightest degree.

Jimbo

What an intelligent response Crawl back in your hole. You liberals simply don't understand how shallow your thought process really is.