Attempted Conversion at Bible-Point....

[Malachite]

Thinking about this today, since the Jesus Coach has pulled up in my town again today....Sinners beware, GOD is in town!....

Well...to give it its proper name, its the King's Coach...some enterprising missionary-type has come up with the idea of refitting an old bus to be a mobile office, taking passers-by in off the street, and telling them all about god, Jesus, and the surety of the Bible...for philosophers out there, this is a great place to see just how much of circular argument street-Christianity can be....
Last time the bus was in, i let myself be interviewed as a favour to a very devout friend...The conversation (after brief re-telling of the story of Jesus, and his taking of the sin of manking onto his own shoulders...), ran as follows:
Me: "How do you know God exists?"
Guy: "Because it says so in the Bible!"
Me: "Aha!..How do you know the Bible is telling the truth?"
Guy: "Because it is the Word of God."

...getting the idea?....

Well....Today, the Bus came back (btw, this bus has a snazzy little billboard inside, recounting various unholy things going on in the world today, such as number of starving children, number of child prositutes, number of murders daily, and, for some reason, number of people practising witchcraft....), and while I was walking past up the sidewalk, one of the minders pounced on me, resulting in the following conversation...:
Bloke: "Can I talk to you about the Christ?"
Me: "Can;t help, mate, I'm Pagan"
Bloke: "Really?..Well, there is only one true God, you know."
Me:."Well, you might think so, but I think there are different ones"
Bloke: "Sooner or later, we all meet God."
Me (sensing losing battle: "Well, I'll meet different ones then..." *tactically retreating up sidewalk*

This thread isn't supposed to be a dig at Christianity, but the Bus makes a good example....How fair is it to Proselytise people?...
I mean, this guy (mellow old bloke...probably falls into the *sweet* category...), really thought he was trying to save my soul from the eternal fires of damnation...which is a noble thing to do...
But where should the line be drawn?
And, since the UK is (by legal precedent) a secular country, why do some religions get special treatment?....
Imagine what would happen if I hired a coach and toured the country introducing passers by to the wisdom of Odinn....

 

[Diana]

Malachite, I loved your story. It's always nice to have a good laugh before going to bed.

You know, these people I normally find very touching (I mean, they don't sound too dangerous - they don't sound like some dangerous sect or anything). They really believe that what they are doing is good and that Jesus loves them for doing it. (Maybe he does LOL).

Are you sure that you would get a worse reception than these guys if you went proselytising about the Wisdom of Odinn? I'm not so sure. You may get a pleasant surprise.

But as I suppose it's not in your plans for the next few years, we'll never know

 

[Malachite]

heh....don't tempt me...

lol!

 

[Butterfly]

The last time that converting parties (seventh day adventist, I think?) came to my door to convert me, my waters broke when I opened the door!!!! LOL. They just said "We'd really like to talk to you about Jesus", I said "Now really isn't a good time" and quickly shut the door.
*giggle*

 

[Kiama]

Adam, I sat and listened to you on the phone the first time you told me about the Jesus Coach, and laughed my head off then. I'm laughing even more so than now!

Anyway, to get more serious... Christianity is given special treatment, because legally, we are a Christian country. The Royals are all Christian, and we abide by Christian laws and rules. There's nothing we can do about that. (Unless Wills was to become Pagan, then a big car crash to happen with the Queen AND Charles in it.... But that's not gonna happen.) You may have noticed that all day Sunday is dedicated to Songs Of Praise on the TV, and on the Radio, we hear wonderful little conversations about the love of Jesus Christ for Mankind. (Ugh, on the way to work at 7:30am on a Sunday, this is not the kind of thing I wanna listen to!) The shops are closed on a Sunday, and nearly all businesses stop on Sundays too. Yep, England truly is a Christian country.

Anyway, I must say I'm proud of how you answered that man in the street. Well done! (Wonder if he knows what a Pagan is?!)

BTW: If you do decide to go get yourself a Bus Of The Almighty Odhinn, I'll be glad to help you!

Kiama

PS- Before I forget: I have nothing against Christians at all. What I find annoying is the way our kids are indoctrinated from a very young age to believe that if you believe anything apart from the Christian beliefs, you are going to Hell, and that only Christians have the 'right' religion. I tried to save my little sisters from this sad, sad fate, but alas! I was to late! Even with a sister who has been Pagan for ages, and been a Tarot reader since they were babies, they still have that 'Hell and damnation' attitude that was drummed into them from a very early age. Not by my parents, not by my family, but by their school! Sorry, but when that school gets to cope with all the difficult quesions I get asked, ("Kim, are you going to Hell?" "Kim, I thought Witches just did spells and were evil!") then they can tell the kids what to believe. Until then, they have no say at all what these children believe, but they act as though they do!

 

[Kiama]

Oh, I've got the perfect thing for you to do next time you get hijacked by the Jesus people!

Get down on your knees, put hands in praying position, and shout to the Heavens:

"God! Save me from your followers!!!!!!!!"

Kiama

 

[slinky_jo]

A few years ago, some mormons came to the front door, trying to sell their lil magazine. I had my arm in a sling (I had had a motorbike accident and broken my collar bone). One of the (well-meaning?) young mormon boys asked me how I broke my arm and if it was OK. I told them I broke it in a satanic ritual and slammed the door shut on their gob-smacked faces.

OK, not the smartest thing to do, but I got a little thrill out of it. And hey, I'm sure it brightened their day

PS - disclaimer - "slinky has never participated in a satanic ritual, and does not believe in the devil since she is a pagan. so there."

 

[cricket]

No offense to any religions mentioned, but...

Living in Utah, the Mormons would come around at least once a day. That's a -little- bit overdoing it to my tastes. This continued up until the day I caught them in their own trap. Ask them where they think we are now. (According to them, this is hell.) Not only did they refuse to answer, they decided never to come back to that apartment. hehehe...

Also, living awful close to the bible belt (close enough that the local bingo parlor was shut down - considered too close to gambling) we get soapbox preachers all the time. Not to mention 'invitations' to assorted get-togethers at the neighborhood churches. It does get a bit... ummmm.... tiring after a while.

It IS a thought to start going door to door with a deck, though, and offer to do readings. hehehehehe...

 

[destinyawaitsme]

hehe...this all reminds me of an experience I had with a "bible toter." When I was 16 I was in my driveway washing my car and this man comes walking up to me with his Bible in hand. Immediately I thought...oh no..not one of these....but yes...it was one of them...and it was too late to run. I was Methodist at the time and had no interest in Tarot yet. But I still found this man all the funnier. He started criticizing my church for allowing women to preach...wow, it's really smart to say women shouldn't be religious leaders in front of a woman. I found this the opportune time to start a friendly debate. After about 30 minutes of discussion...my mom rescued me with our dog and scared the man away...only after he handed me some educational and humorous pamphlets. I know..I should have just used the water hose on him. But it was an interesting conversation...and at least I got the laugh for the day. All in all, Christians (not all by the way), mean well, but are extremely misguided. One of the things I liked about my old church was that instead of condemning the members for what they did wrong, they were encouraged to do what was right. Face it, we all screw up...it's inevitable...so let's focus on what good we can do. Okay my spiel is over.

L&L.
Destiny

 

[kayne]

For some reason, here in Australia, all the religious people that come to my door are young, incredably good looking, american men! It is so odd And they never say, "How do you feel about the bible?" They have much more clever tactics... Last time they saw a bag of potting mix at by my front door step (don't ask what it was doing there...) When I said, before they even had a chance to speak, that I wasn't interested, they said, "We've come to help you shift the potting mix!" I told them, "No thanks" and shut the door...

Perhaps there is some Aussie / American exchange program for young, good looking male followers of Christ that just want to shift potting mix!

Next time I will have to invite them in and see if I can convert them Paganism...