"Proselytizing Should Be Illegal!"

This week going door to door evangelizing, I was talking to an about thirty year old young man, and he wasn't interested, he said, because of "science," something I've written about here a few times.  I wanted him to understand the Bible was science, history, and a true story.  I related fulfilled prophecy and mathematical probability, because God does that in Isaiah 40-48, and that no other book does that, containing thirty percent prophecy, because the Bible is the Word of God.  He needed the gospel and he was in trouble if he didn't receive it.  While I had that brief conversation, someone behind me was shouting at me, another about thirty year old young man with what are called "stretched earlobes."

The man yelled, "Proselytizing should be illegal!  You should be arrested for proselytizing!"  I felt right at home.  This might be something I got in the San Francisco Bay Area, although it was also something new to hear.  He kept coming at me, and the first man ended that talk, so I stepped back and asked the second man, the one yelling, if he was against the first amendment, that he didn't think I should have freedom of speech or freedom of religion?

The man went off on a long jeremiad of how that Christians were coming with certainty when there was no proof and then taking advantage of people, especially mentioning that Billy Graham -- he said his name -- was stealing money from suffering elderly women.  He also said that Christianity had been disproved numerous times, vociferating that there were numerous claims of virgin births in Egypt and many other places.  He was most troubled, he said, by the certainty of proselytizing Christians.  Then he finally let me talk.  The man stood there about thirty feet away, stopping on his way to his car.

I knew that I didn't have much time to defend all of Christianity with the man, but I thought the best approach was to ask him, "Are you sure, are you certain, that I'm wrong?  Do you know that I'm wrong?"  He wouldn't say.  He looked confused.  I said, "You have a problem with certainty, you're extolling doubt, so do you know that you're right and that I'm wrong?  Aren't you being certain yourself?"  He still couldn't answer.  "So," I asked, "why not just say that you don't like what I'm doing?  Or, it's just your opinion?  Then it wouldn't be illegal, since it's just an opinion."

I was working from presuppositionalism with the man. He wasn't neutral.  He was presupposing his own knowledge, his own certainty.  He just didn't like what I was saying.  I said, "You should admit that you're wrong too, because even though you speak like you have certainty about how wrong I am, you don't know that Billy Graham has already been dead for a few years."  He also was confusing Billy Graham with Charismatic televangelists.  Billy Graham may have had his problems, but his work didn't take advantage of elderly women to get into their savings accounts.  Billy Graham didn't promote prosperity theology.

The young man told me he had to go to give a ride to his girlfriend, but he liked the way that I had come back at him.  He stated that he liked that I didn't attempt to run away from him.  He began to tell me his story, how that his life was messed up, that he grew up Roman Catholic, but he had to go.  He wanted me to leave a paper on his door.  I left my email address.  He hasn't written me, but I also didn't get to his door, so I'm probably going back anyway.

I can't speak with authority if I'm not telling the truth.  There is no authority if there is no truth.  I am not out in the world to bring uncertainty or doubt.  I am there to tell people what I know is the truth.  Biblical Christianity is the truth.  God's Word is Truth.

The young man didn't want elderly women to be taken advantage of.  I told him I didn't want to see that happen either, that I was right with him on that.  He was confused, perhaps because no one has ever given him the gospel.  I think it is likely that he has never heard a true gospel presentation.  Even though this area where we live has a lot of Calvary Chapel style evangelicals, a large majority do not know or understand the gospel.

Let's get out there.