Unwitnessing
Ever since I was in college I have had evangelical Christians coming to my door to “witness” to me. Many of these evangelicals like to tell me about how they became “saved,” “Born again,” or whatever other cult-term they come up with. I like when they tell me about their story. It is a perfect tool for me to use to unwitness to them.
Almost always, there is an emotional element to their conversion. Sometimes it has to do with physical body issues and feelings of insecurity. In these cases, society judges them or they feel like society judges them. Then along comes someone to tell them about Jesus who doesn’t care what they look like, but knows who they really are on the inside. This makes them feel all tingly inside and puff, the Holy Spirit touched them in that “special way.”
Sometimes, the evangelical had to come to grips with the emotionally powerful subject of death. Sometimes it is the death of a loved one or perhaps they themselves had almost died. This is where some one told them about how Jesus got beaten, crucified, and died for three measly days so that some how they can go to magic happyland forever. They might also be told that if they don’t accept the bribe of magic happyland, the evil boogieman will torture them for all eternity in Hell.
They may be other stories too, but the one thing in common with all of these stories is that the person is overly emotional at the time and not thinking rationally. So when the evangelical comes to my door and tells me their emotionally charged “born again” sob story, I ask them to think about their story rationally. I ask them if they would still be born again if they were not in an overly emotional state of mind at the time and if they could think rationally about the Christian story.
Why did Jesus have to die for their sins to be forgiven? Why does God “need” a blood sacrifice? Since Jesus is alleged to have come back to life after three days before spending eternity in Heavenly bliss, is that even a sacrifice at all? Why does God “need” to work through flawed humans? Can’t he do his own dirty work? Etc.
It is rare if an evangelical were to turn to me and say, “Golly gee, you’re right. This Christianity stuff is crap.” But what usually happens is that they will try to argue the point and then go home and think about it for awhile.
It is easy for people to fall prey to emotional trickery. It takes no time at all to feel like you are feeling of seeing something you are not. But thinking takes time. People need to have time to ponder, consider, and contemplate for there minds to overcome their emotions. This is how atheists unwitness.
Filed under: conversation, de-conversion, delusion, discussion, missionaries, Preaching, Religion, Religious Manipulation
