"Believe in Jesus, then you will be saved. If not, you are going to hell!"
I turned around and saw this gentleman, standing at the corner of the market square in Cambridge, shouting at the top of his voice and holding what looks like a Bible in his hands.
I wonder whether such preaching still works in this present time and age. Would this encourage people to embrace the gospel or would this simply put people off?
7 comments:
Kar
While at SBL in New Orleans, the place where I ate lunch a couple of days, had a street preacher outside its window, he used a 'bull-horn' it was most frustrating to try to eat while hearing the muffled 'repent' etc. I thought through similar issues as I ate my lunch and 'changed my mind' (sorry for the pun) about my SBL paper.
Hi Brian,
One can tell from the body language and reaction of the shoppers passing by the gentleman that they were, at the least, irritated and perhaps offended by this going-to-hell kind of preching being push down their throat.
I might also 'change my mind' about the essay that I am currently working on!
I tried once accompanying a Chinese student who is preaching in a market in Melbourne. I was distributing tracts and the Chinese student was preaching ..along those line you mentioned. Just happened couple of "Ahmo" with a baby passed by and stuck his middle finger to us and responded "So be it!"
Chee Keat,
How did you feel after doing street preaching
Our outreach worker in Oxford sometimes does street preaching. I have to admit, I used to be completely biased against street preaching, thinking it will never work, but he's caused me to revise my opinion. He usually preaches 10 minutes on some passage of the Bible, like the rich young man or parable of the banquet, and often ends up having at least one or two interesting conversations afterwards. Maybe slightly more nuanced than "you're going to hell!", although he isn't afraid at all to talk about hell too.
Admittedly, this probably has a lot to do with the type of person he is - bold, unafraid of ridicule, and the ability to treat everybody - drug addict, retired person etc. - the same.
Thanks, BK, for sharing. I thk what puts people off is the "you will go to hell" kind of statement. I guess it also depends on the manner of delivery.
Interestingly, street preaching builds my boldness in sharing the gospel of Christ to people and become more thick skinned when they reject or ridicule me.
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