M
I'm not picking on you here, Mit, but you ask the questions a lot of people want answered, so I picked up on your post to do so. Thanks in advance.
"Repent or go to hell!" isn't convincing them they are sinners, it is antagonizing them beyond belief.
You can't call anyone to account for their sins by accusing them. You can only call someone to account for their sins by getting to know them, relating to them, even sympathizing with them. Or have we forgotten that we were once in their shoes, particularly those of us who came to Christ late in life?
How can you confront the most arrogant of sinners -- those participating in a "gay pride" march -- with a sin making a direct accusation against them that you know they reject? It isn't "presenting the Gospel." In fact, its about as unloving and uncaring as you can get. Was Jesus unloving and uncaring in presenting the Gospel? And please don't requote "brood of vipers" to us, Mit. That wasn't a Gospel presentation. Jesus knew that brood of vipers was never going to repent! It was a condemnation.
Is that how someone brought you to Christ, "Repent or go to hell"? I remember hearing words like that, not even directed at me, and having those words raise my ire and my blood pressure. It is an approach that does not work!
They can't. But that sign and those words didn't "tell them" anything. They heard the words, they saw the sign, and all they got was angry.
Really? how many of them converted that day?
Not with an obnoxious sign and shouted five-word "gospel messages," it doesn't.
I think people here need to examine how Jesus actually did present the Gospel. Yes, He told people things like this:
How long had He known the disciples before He got that specific with them? A year? Two? Maybe three? I'm not saying He didn't warn people He didn't know to repent or perish. Obviously there are several examples of Him doing so.
Did He carry signs? Did He shout "five-word-'gospels' " at them? Show me those passages.
We aren't Jesus. Do we even pay attention to how He started His ministry?
Where's the shouting? Where's the signage? Wow, look at that: There wasn't any.
Jesus established His credentials alongside His message. We have to do the same. Wading into a crowd of "gay pride" marchers with a sign and a five-word "gospel" isn't establishing anything, in their minds, other than more of what they come to expect from Christians -- rejection, condemnation, anger. Stirring up those feelings in someone you intend to preach the Gospel to isn't going to get them to listen to a single word you say, or read a single word of Scripture you put before them.
This is a lousy approach, and while they didn't deserve to be treated that way, they got exactly what anyone with any sense could have predicted would happen to them.
"Repent or go to hell!" isn't convincing them they are sinners, it is antagonizing them beyond belief.
You can't call anyone to account for their sins by accusing them. You can only call someone to account for their sins by getting to know them, relating to them, even sympathizing with them. Or have we forgotten that we were once in their shoes, particularly those of us who came to Christ late in life?
How can you confront the most arrogant of sinners -- those participating in a "gay pride" march -- with a sin making a direct accusation against them that you know they reject? It isn't "presenting the Gospel." In fact, its about as unloving and uncaring as you can get. Was Jesus unloving and uncaring in presenting the Gospel? And please don't requote "brood of vipers" to us, Mit. That wasn't a Gospel presentation. Jesus knew that brood of vipers was never going to repent! It was a condemnation.
Is that how someone brought you to Christ, "Repent or go to hell"? I remember hearing words like that, not even directed at me, and having those words raise my ire and my blood pressure. It is an approach that does not work!
They can't. But that sign and those words didn't "tell them" anything. They heard the words, they saw the sign, and all they got was angry.
Really? how many of them converted that day?
Not with an obnoxious sign and shouted five-word "gospel messages," it doesn't.
I think people here need to examine how Jesus actually did present the Gospel. Yes, He told people things like this:
Luke 13, NASB
2 And Jesus said to them, "Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate?
3 "I tell you, no, but unless * you repent, you will all likewise perish.
4 "Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem?
5 "I tell you, no, but unless * you repent, you will all likewise perish."
2 And Jesus said to them, "Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate?
3 "I tell you, no, but unless * you repent, you will all likewise perish.
4 "Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem?
5 "I tell you, no, but unless * you repent, you will all likewise perish."
How long had He known the disciples before He got that specific with them? A year? Two? Maybe three? I'm not saying He didn't warn people He didn't know to repent or perish. Obviously there are several examples of Him doing so.
Did He carry signs? Did He shout "five-word-'gospels' " at them? Show me those passages.
We aren't Jesus. Do we even pay attention to how He started His ministry?
Matthew 4
23 Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.
24 The news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill *, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them.
25 Large crowds followed Him from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan.
23 Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.
24 The news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill *, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them.
25 Large crowds followed Him from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan.
Where's the shouting? Where's the signage? Wow, look at that: There wasn't any.
Jesus established His credentials alongside His message. We have to do the same. Wading into a crowd of "gay pride" marchers with a sign and a five-word "gospel" isn't establishing anything, in their minds, other than more of what they come to expect from Christians -- rejection, condemnation, anger. Stirring up those feelings in someone you intend to preach the Gospel to isn't going to get them to listen to a single word you say, or read a single word of Scripture you put before them.
This is a lousy approach, and while they didn't deserve to be treated that way, they got exactly what anyone with any sense could have predicted would happen to them.
And the point that Jesus didn't carry a sign is just a silly point to me? These guys had every right under God and the legal code of our nation to hold those signs...period!