Converting the unfaithful: a primer
Once upon a time when I was an undergraduate, I wrote a series of articles for the school paper (I, II, III, IV) about the Boston Church of Christ (BCC), a religious cult that had spread like dandelions across local campuses. Two key points of their doctrine were that the only real Christians were the ones baptized into their network of churches, and that the quality of a Christian’s relationship with God is directly proportional to his or her success at making converts. Motivated by those beliefs, organized in an Amway-style pyramid system, and using some high-pressure sales tactics, the church racked up exponential growth for about ten years, until attrition caught up with them.
One of the folks I interviewed for the series was a dean and a Christian pastor, who said that the BCC’s approach to making converts was all wrong. The early Christians, he said, attracted people by example. Flavius would see that Marcellus was good to his family, honest in business, etc., etc., and also hear that Marcellus worshipped some strange new god called “Jesus”; thus, Flavius became interested in Christianity. Imagine that—converting other people to your religion by your own exemplary behavior. What a tedious chore! You can’t just spend a few hours a week lecturing the heathen about how you are right and they are wrong, rattling off the talking points that you have carefully memorized in response to their well-meaning but ignorant questions. You have to earn respect from the people around you, and hope that respect for you as a person will lead to respect for your faith.
But, friends and neighbors, I am here to testify that the dean’s strategy actually works. I am an Orthodox Jew today, in part, because of some of the Orthodox and frum-Conservative folks I met: people I liked, people I respected, people whom I identified with. And none of those folks were stumping for Chabad, Aish ha-Torah, or any other “bring non-Orthodox Jews to frumkeit” organization.
By contrast, let me present a case study in how not to proselytize:
U.S. Navy veteran David Miller said that when he checked into the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Iowa City, he didn’t realize he would get a hard sell for Christian fundamentalism along with treatment for his kidney stones.
Miller, 46, an Orthodox Jew, said he was repeatedly proselytized by hospital chaplains and staff in attempts to convert him to Christianity during three hospitalizations over the past two years.
He said he went hungry each time because the hospital wouldn’t serve him kosher food, and the staff refused to contact his rabbi, who could have brought him something to eat.
...
Over the past two years, Miller said, he has been asked over and over by the Iowa City VA medical center’s staff within its offices, clinics and wards, “You mean you don’t believe that Jesus is the Messiah?” and “Is it just Orthodox Jews who deny Jesus?” He said one staffer told him, “I don’t understand; how can you not believe in Jesus; he’s the Messiah of the Jews, too, you know.”
If any of the Christians who made these comments think they were bringing Miller closer to their religion, they are deluding themselves. At best, they were annoying busybodies, like folks who lecture overweight strangers about what to eat. At worst, they were showing one another their loyalty to the “Christian” tribe by harrassing someone who was not a member. (And if Miller’s case ever turns into a lawsuit, we are sure to hear other members of this tribe wail and gnash their teeth about how they are being “persecuted”.)
It is not my place, of course, to tell those Christians how to interpret the tenets of their own religion. I’d just like to encourage my fellow frummies to hold themselves to a higher standard. If it’s too much work to act in a way that conspicuously brings credit to your religion, at least try not to make it look bad, OK?
via .common sense
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Selling little plastic shovels to the Gold Rush prospectors Who is this God person anyway?
Seth. Sorry but I disagree with your point of view.
Here’s why:
You said:
“One of the folks I interviewed for the series was a dean and a Christian pastor, who said that the BCC’s approach to making converts was all wrong. The early Christians, he said, attracted people by example.”
Seth, this is the first place where you went wrong. If you want to find out how to make a hamburger you don’t consult a cook you consult a cookbok. Similarly if you want to find out how to evangelize, or more specifically whether the BCC ’s approach was right or wrong, you dont approach a “Christian” pastor you approach Christ. How do you approach him since Christ is long dead in his earthly form? Through his words. Where are those words found? In the Bible.
You said:
“Flavius would see that Marcellus was good to his family, honest in business, etc., etc., and also hear that Marcellus worshipped some strange new god called “Jesusâ€?; thus, Flavius became interested in Christianity.
Well I don’t know who Flavius and Marcellus were. However I do know who, Philemon, Cornelius, Apollos, Simon the Sorcerer the Ethiopian Eunuch, the twelve apostles, the unnamed 3000 who were preached to on the Day of Pentacost among countless others were. These were those who were “preached” to and shown the truth, the way and the life not by life only but by speech as well. Furthermore the existance of the parties I mentioned above are recorded by the holy scriptures, unlike the example of Flavius and Marcellus brought by your so-called Christian pastor. By the way I am not being beligerant just being honest and telling the truth. If you don’t believe me I can provide biblical referances to everthing I mentioned above.
You said:
“Imagine that—converting other people to your religion by your own exemplary behavior. What a tedious chore! You can’t just spend a few hours a week lecturing the heathen about how you are right and they are wrong,”
No member of the church in the BCC or elsewhere has ever had this attitude. That would be unchristian like and the attitude of the Pharisees the very people Jesus criticised the most. We talk the talk and walk the walk. We follow 1st Timothy 4:16. Read it if you don’t get where I’m coming from.
You continue:
rattling off the talking points that you have carefully memorized in response to their well-meaning but ignorant questions. You have to earn respect from the people around you, and hope that respect for you as a person will lead to respect for your faith. But, friends and neighbors, I am here to testify that the dean’s strategy actually works. I am an Orthodox Jew today, in part, because of some of the Orthodox and frum-Conservative folks I met: people I liked, people I respected, people whom I identified with. And none of those folks were stumping for Chabad, Aish ha-Torah, or any other “bring non-Orthodox Jews to frumkeit� organization.
Hey I am sure example works for a lot of differant groups. I’m sure that’s the way a lot of hate groups gain membership as they cannot exactly publish their views publicly in most cases. But Jesus empowers Christians to “teach others to obey him” and to do this “among the nations” and spread the message not only with words but by action. So please consult the Bible next time. By the way I am a member of the ICOC but first and foremost I am a member of the Church on earth, the body of Jesus Christ.
Troy, thank you for taking the time to put such a long response in the itty bitty comment box that Textile put on this page. (Note to self: fix comment box.)
As I said in my posting:
Since I am not a Christian, I do not believe that the Christian scriptures are trustworthy sources of information about the life of Jesus, and I certainly don’t believe that they are a trustworthy guide to what is right or wrong. I think you could have picked up this fact from a careful reading of my posting or a more casual reading of the other stuff I’ve written in this blog. Instead, you responded to my posting by—dare I say it?—rattling off talking points.
FYI, there are a number of evangelical Christians who are far more familiar with the Christian scriptures than myself, and who have written and spoken extensively about how, in their judgement, the BCC/ICOC approach is not in accordance with those scriptures. I referred to those arguments in part 2 of my series.
A little comment to Troy, above: I understand what you’re saying, you think that you’re following your Bible’s instructions by preaching to unbelievers. However, I doubt that even Jesus would be interested in having a devout Jew harassed, as happened to David Miller at the hospital. After all, Jesus gives very clear instructions in Matthew 10:14: (paraphrasing) If they don’t want to listen to you, leave, and shake the dust of the house off your feet. Yeah, he goes on to place a curse on such a house or town, but he doesn’t say to keep going after them like staff at Miller’s hospital did to him.
I gave birth to three children, thank G-d, at a Catholic hospital near me. Every time I was there, they provided kosher food, took the crucifix off the wall of the room where I was, and were respectful of my sabbath needs. When I was there for a bout of pneumonia over Passover one year, they provided kosher food that was not kosher-for-Passover. When a staff member discovered that I was not eating the food (except for the fruit) and I explained why, she was upset: not at me, but at the hospital. An hour later, the food services director was in my room apologising, saying that it was archdiocese policy to accomodate the religious needs of patients and is now working with a local rabbi to make sure that patients in the future can get properly kosher-for-passover food. The Catholics are very, very high in my estimation, enough that I would consider donating money to their causes (though I would not betray the G-d who rescued me from Egypt by worshiping any member of their trinity). I had a similar positive experience with an evangelical Christian with whom I worked while in grad school. She read her Bible, she was moral, she was respectful of my religion, and any attempts she made to discuss Jesus were respectful, thoughtful, and not of a sales nature. OTOH, another evangelical (he attended Park St. Church in Boston, and his wife was ex-BCC, and his sister-in-law was current BCC), even after I told him flat out that I was not interested in Jesus, gave me a hard-sell pitch from a number of angles (hell to heaven, how can you not believe, etc.) weekly until he finally graduated. I do not remember him with any respect. This is the sort of difference Seth is talking about, I think. For Christians to harass a man in need of medical care, to the extent that he has to fast to follow his religion, because they consider their religion to be the only way…not only is it evil, but it’s just bad salesmanship.