I know about Christianity's Great Commission to spread Jesus's teachings to the world. I also get that people who find something new, exciting, or life-changingly positive will enthusiastically talk to anyone about it with anyone they see. And I get that some people fear for the souls of non-Christian friends and family. In what is likely going to be a multi-part entry, I'd like to leave some constructive criticisms about the approaches and tactics that some Christians use online and in person. If you find this interesting or useful, I'd be more than happy to respectfully critique your ideas and provide a non-Christian point of view if you'd like to contact me personally through the site's messaging system. Or if you just like to practice, that's cool with me, too.
Remember, if your attempt to witness ends on a negative note, it's going to leave a bad impression of Christians and Christianity and you'll end up having the opposite results of what you were striving for. When you approach your mark, fairly or not, every past negative experience is going to get projected onto you.
Things not to do when proselytizing: The Online Edition.
1. Don't be a drive-by proselytizer. If you create accounts on various message boards just to post a message explaining that people need to adopt your personal religious beliefs (especially when it's unrelated to the topic), then you're going to be seen as a spammer. Don't be surprised when your post or your account is deleted. Chances are, it's going to put a ding in Christianity's reputation if you feel as if you can flaunt the forum rules. If it is related to the topic at hand, as it often is in the Christianity & World Religions (C&WR) forum here on ChristianForums, then don't forget to check back and read the responses. Engage with us.
2. English, grammar, and format is important. Please don't copy/paste a giant wall of text because we're not going to read it. AVOID randomly changing the text's font/color/size, and using underline/bold/italics ON AND OFF throughout your post. You don't need to randomly capitalize words either. It's just DISTRACTING from your message and we're less likely to take you seriously.
Somewhat related, you're going to want to avoid using Christian lingo and catchphrases. Chances are we either won't be familiar with them, or we've already heard multiple explanations of what they mean which can lead to a lot of assumptions about what you're talking about and can unnecessarily derail the conversation. In other words, say what you mean.
3. Chances are your posts will cite the Bible. The important thing to keep in mind is that if we non-Christians accepted the Bible as established truth, we would already be Christian. Your non-Christian mark isn't going to see the Bible as authoritive much the same way a Christian isn't going to see the Koran, the Vedas, or the Five Invasions of Ireland as truth. That doesn't mean you shouldn't cite the Bible, but if you do, it would be most useful when explaining where your belief originited and not as a directive for non-Christians. For example, perhaps you've used something like, "What will you say when you confront Jesus at the gates of heaven?" We don't believe that's something that will actually happen.
Don't quote mine scripture. In other words, don't rapid-fire throw out seemingly random one-liners from various books without a good explanation of the context for each of those lines. Chances are we won't be so familiar those passages so tell us who is talking to whom and why? Provide a time and place and a description of what's happening. Anyone can pull a one liner to back up whatever belief they want to have but if you provide some context, it shows you really understand it and explain why it's important.
4. Don't make up stories. On many occasions in the C&WR forum, I hear a Christian's testimony that goes something like this:
I used to be of your religion and I believed the same things as you and I thought everything was awesome.
But then bad things started to happen.
Then really bad things started to happen.
Then impossibly bad, horror movie level, life-ruiningly bad things started to happen.
Then I converted to Christianity and everything worked out great so you should convert before you're life falls apart, too.
Since the story sounded so implausible, I would probe the person's prior beliefs and found they were wildly different from anything the religion actually was about. They couldn't answer 101-level questions and they lost all credibility when they were exposed.
I have time for one more?
5. Maintain a positive high ground. You're probably going to want to avoid using phrases and themes that are going to taken negatively. Don't refer to non-Christians as "lost souls in need of saving" to their faces. At best, that's going to be taken as off-putting. Avoid declaring your mark's non-Christian beliefs as evil or Satanic, even if you truly believe they are because you're one step away from saying that your mark is evil. This is likely to be insulting and make your mark defensive to the point that they are no longer even listening to your message. I suggest avoiding the topic of hell until after your mark has warmed up to your beliefs. Threatening your marks won't scare them into belief, it just suggests that your God doesn't care about sincerity.
Even if someone is snarky and troll like, stay polite and pleasant and feel free to simply say you no longer wish to engage in the conversation with them if it gets too much. Anyone following the conversation will walk away seeing you in the more positive light.
So these are all based on things that happen every now and then in the C&WR forum. Again, if you have questions, want to practice, or would like a non-Christian opinion, feel free to send a message through the site. I promise I won't bite.
Bye for now.
Remember, if your attempt to witness ends on a negative note, it's going to leave a bad impression of Christians and Christianity and you'll end up having the opposite results of what you were striving for. When you approach your mark, fairly or not, every past negative experience is going to get projected onto you.
Things not to do when proselytizing: The Online Edition.
1. Don't be a drive-by proselytizer. If you create accounts on various message boards just to post a message explaining that people need to adopt your personal religious beliefs (especially when it's unrelated to the topic), then you're going to be seen as a spammer. Don't be surprised when your post or your account is deleted. Chances are, it's going to put a ding in Christianity's reputation if you feel as if you can flaunt the forum rules. If it is related to the topic at hand, as it often is in the Christianity & World Religions (C&WR) forum here on ChristianForums, then don't forget to check back and read the responses. Engage with us.
2. English, grammar, and format is important. Please don't copy/paste a giant wall of text because we're not going to read it. AVOID randomly changing the text's font/color/size, and using underline/bold/italics ON AND OFF throughout your post. You don't need to randomly capitalize words either. It's just DISTRACTING from your message and we're less likely to take you seriously.
Somewhat related, you're going to want to avoid using Christian lingo and catchphrases. Chances are we either won't be familiar with them, or we've already heard multiple explanations of what they mean which can lead to a lot of assumptions about what you're talking about and can unnecessarily derail the conversation. In other words, say what you mean.
3. Chances are your posts will cite the Bible. The important thing to keep in mind is that if we non-Christians accepted the Bible as established truth, we would already be Christian. Your non-Christian mark isn't going to see the Bible as authoritive much the same way a Christian isn't going to see the Koran, the Vedas, or the Five Invasions of Ireland as truth. That doesn't mean you shouldn't cite the Bible, but if you do, it would be most useful when explaining where your belief originited and not as a directive for non-Christians. For example, perhaps you've used something like, "What will you say when you confront Jesus at the gates of heaven?" We don't believe that's something that will actually happen.
Don't quote mine scripture. In other words, don't rapid-fire throw out seemingly random one-liners from various books without a good explanation of the context for each of those lines. Chances are we won't be so familiar those passages so tell us who is talking to whom and why? Provide a time and place and a description of what's happening. Anyone can pull a one liner to back up whatever belief they want to have but if you provide some context, it shows you really understand it and explain why it's important.
4. Don't make up stories. On many occasions in the C&WR forum, I hear a Christian's testimony that goes something like this:
I used to be of your religion and I believed the same things as you and I thought everything was awesome.
But then bad things started to happen.
Then really bad things started to happen.
Then impossibly bad, horror movie level, life-ruiningly bad things started to happen.
Then I converted to Christianity and everything worked out great so you should convert before you're life falls apart, too.
Since the story sounded so implausible, I would probe the person's prior beliefs and found they were wildly different from anything the religion actually was about. They couldn't answer 101-level questions and they lost all credibility when they were exposed.
I have time for one more?
5. Maintain a positive high ground. You're probably going to want to avoid using phrases and themes that are going to taken negatively. Don't refer to non-Christians as "lost souls in need of saving" to their faces. At best, that's going to be taken as off-putting. Avoid declaring your mark's non-Christian beliefs as evil or Satanic, even if you truly believe they are because you're one step away from saying that your mark is evil. This is likely to be insulting and make your mark defensive to the point that they are no longer even listening to your message. I suggest avoiding the topic of hell until after your mark has warmed up to your beliefs. Threatening your marks won't scare them into belief, it just suggests that your God doesn't care about sincerity.
Even if someone is snarky and troll like, stay polite and pleasant and feel free to simply say you no longer wish to engage in the conversation with them if it gets too much. Anyone following the conversation will walk away seeing you in the more positive light.
So these are all based on things that happen every now and then in the C&WR forum. Again, if you have questions, want to practice, or would like a non-Christian opinion, feel free to send a message through the site. I promise I won't bite.
Bye for now.
