Quote :

"The Street Witnessing Team, under its directors, goes forth into the streets of Providence, and its surrounding university commons, to present Christ. The multitudinous objections one often encounters when witnessing helps the students refine his/her testimony and learn how to defend their faith. "

http://www.zbc.edu/index2.html

One thing I definitely DON'T miss from living in the States

2/21/2009 12:07:53 AM

Can they defend their faith from a swift kick in the balls?

2/21/2009 12:08:27 AM

your name has been forwarded to a mod for suspension

2/21/2009 2:08:41 AM

i dont get it

2/21/2009 2:36:51 AM

^

2/21/2009 5:02:57 AM

Quote :

"The multitudinous objections one often encounters when witnessing helps the students refine his/her testimony and learn how to defend their faith"

lol... right
cddweller tried that, (/message_topic.aspx?topic=552365) and left very many unanswered questions. It seems like she was about one inch away from realizing that god, jesus, the spirit, etc. are all just in her head, and not real. But she decided she'd rather be amongst the flock of invisible-sky-daddy followers -- probably because she just wants friends. (Christianity, and most other religions are nothing but social cults.)

Quote :

"One thing I definitely DON'T miss from living in the States"

No doubt.


[Edited on February 21, 2009 at 5:50 AM. Reason : ]

2/21/2009 5:49:46 AM

^ heh I missed that thread. I was gallivanting with commies in Vietnam at the time

2/21/2009 6:09:27 AM

lol....

2/21/2009 6:28:14 AM

[Edited on February 21, 2009 at 8:05 AM. Reason : .]

2/21/2009 8:05:18 AM

I'm surprised to see France on that list of least religious, given the country's historical catholic influence and the current predominance of islamists.

2/21/2009 8:34:06 AM

I see where you're going, but they also played host to perhaps the greatest revolution in history, and revolutionaries are seldom religious

and Napoleon probably didn't help

and the very preponderance of Muslims sort of implies that they're very tolerant of different religions, and that therefore religion isn't a huge part of their culture

2/21/2009 2:45:17 PM

i'd like to see the full list of states

because i'd like to know just how Godless my state is

2/21/2009 3:29:29 PM

Here's the other end of the poll:

2/21/2009 5:42:46 PM

Hmm, looks like there's a correlation between religious importance and percentage of black people (at least in the US).

2/21/2009 6:03:22 PM

that is not necessarily a causal relationship. could just be correlation.


at any rate, i don't understand why some people hate religion/Christianity so much. I mean, you don't believe in God. That's cool. Why do you give a shit if someone else does?

2/21/2009 6:07:57 PM

^

seriously, I think a good percentage of the (many times virulent) atheists and agnostics on here are just bitter because their childhood was "wasted" in an "unenlightened" small town and church

2/21/2009 6:10:28 PM

^Isn't this thread about witnessing -- iow, religious people harassing non religious ones?

2/21/2009 6:11:20 PM

I'd like to see the harassing first before I'd make that claim.

Btw, how is "The multitudinous objections one often encounters when witnessing helps the students refine his/her testimony and learn how to defend their faith" is different than any other result when going out to sell/persuade an idea?

2/21/2009 6:15:00 PM

It isn't.

2/21/2009 6:31:30 PM

connect the dots

2/21/2009 6:40:47 PM

2/21/2009 6:41:36 PM

^^^Exactly.

How do you become a better preacher?

By going out and seeing what works and what doesn't. In a Northern city, you'll find more resistance to Christianity.

Now, if they follow Gary and these guys:




I hope what they're selling doesn't work, cause angry preachers who tell you you're going to Hell is not what Jesus intended.

Hell, the way I look at it, the whole Old Testament is only there to show how imperfect the old way (Judaism) is. The only books necessary to Christianity are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Everything else should flow from that. So when Paul says women should shut up in church, I say, where does Jesus preach against that?

Basically, Christianity is summed up by the Two Commandments that Jesus speaks of:

34 But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. 35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Matthew 22:34-40

2/21/2009 6:43:12 PM

Quote :

"i don't understand why some people hate religion/Christianity so much. I mean, you don't believe in God. That's cool. Why do you give a shit if someone else does?"

Because a lot of those somebodies want to run the world/country/schools/society/what-have-you according to their brand of religion. And yeah, being constantly lied-to growing up didn't help my views of Christianity. I'm not violently anti-Christian, it's the fanatics ^ (not chembob, but the pictures) that annoy me.

Quote :

"cause angry preachers who tell you you're going to Hell is not what Jesus intended."

That's what I told the dude in the second picture, and he replied with Jesus' comment that if you're making people mad at you, you're doing what God wants. That whole persecution = heaven points thing. I'm not sure how he jumped from heckling in the brickyard to persecution, but he was not to be dissuaded. He also told me that trees aren't alive because they don't have blood, and the Bible says that only things with blood are actually alive, so...

2/21/2009 6:54:31 PM

Quote :

"at any rate, i don't understand why some people hate religion/Christianity so much. I mean, you don't believe in God. That's cool. Why do you give a shit if someone else does?"

come on Duke, you know why.
It's because when Religion and religious people get so wrapped up in politics and with the people who make policy decisions for the country and the world, shit gets crazy. When evangelicals or fundamentalists of any religion rise to power in a country, they start running said country on fucked up, backwards theologies, not on reality.

2/21/2009 6:56:30 PM

Quote :

"Why do you give a shit if someone else does?"

because...

Quote :

"The Street Witnessing Team, under its directors, goes forth into the streets of Providence, and its surrounding university commons, to present Christ. The multitudinous objections one often encounters when witnessing helps the students refine his/her testimony and learn how to defend their faith."

I don't try to convert anyone to my faith so don't give me shit about mine I used to work with a guy who on a daily basis tried to witness people in the company. It was so fucking annoying. Eventually he got "laid off" but I think that was just HR's convenient way of firing him.

Quote :

"Because a lot of those somebodies want to run the world/country/schools/society/what-have-you according to their brand of religion"

That too.

Quote :

"He also told me that trees aren't alive because they don't have blood"

[Edited on February 21, 2009 at 9:41 PM. Reason : .]

2/21/2009 9:39:41 PM

Well, to be fair, spreading the Word is kind of part of our faith.

2/21/2009 10:26:57 PM

Please to not be obnoxious about it. Personally, I've found that a LOT of atheists/agnostics are former and dissatisfied Christians who would rather not be talked to about the gloriousness that is Christianity by wandering street witnessing teams.

2/21/2009 10:44:14 PM

yea

even I don't like being ambushed

cause it's usually Mormons.

I like to piss 'em off, say I'm converting to Catholicism (which I am, for my own personal reasons)

2/21/2009 11:13:34 PM

Quote :

"spreading the Word is kind of part of our faith."

There's a big different between spreading the Word and harassing people about their faith or lack thereof. It seems that harassment is the method of choice with most evangelicals. At least in Japan when they try to convert people to Christianity they do it with the promise of free English lessons

2/22/2009 12:10:45 AM

Hmm

Maybe they're doing it to spite the Japanese for what they did to the earlier Christian missionaries.

2/22/2009 12:33:59 AM

Quote :

"come on Duke, you know why. It's because when Religion and religious people get so wrapped up in politics and with the people who make policy decisions for the country and the world, shit gets crazy. When evangelicals or fundamentalists of any religion rise to power in a country, they start running said country on fucked up, backwards theologies, not on reality. "

No, it's not just that. That pisses me off, too.

It's not even the clumsy, obnoxious harrassment approach to evangelizing, which only a very small minority of Christians are guilty of, anyway (and I also find that annoying or just kind of silly. I mean, who possibly thinks that they're going to just walk up to an agnostic person, or someone of a different religion, and talk him into Christianity? You'd have better luck knocking on doors to sell encyclopedias.)

I see people on this website and in day to day life who look down upon religion (and in particular, Christianity, since it's predominant in America) with complete disdain, and act like anyone who possibly believes it is at least borderline retarded. That's not much better than the lunatic fringe we're complaining about here. If someone repeatedly harasses you to convert to Christianity, even after you politely but firmly decline, then sure, get mad at that individual--but for the same reason that you get annoyed with a telemarketer who doesn't accept a "no" answer and leave you alone. Same thing with people who try to impose their religious beliefs on everyone else via political means--that's a legitimate thing to be pissed at, but again, not at Christianity or Christians as a whole...just at instances of people being idiots.

2/22/2009 1:45:57 AM

You don't think that practicing Christianity alone involves the least bit of idiocy? Not even a tiny little bit?


Just sayin'

2/22/2009 1:48:06 AM

Quote :

"Well, to be fair, spreading the Word is kind of part of our faith."

whens the last time you actually shared your faith

as a Christian, if you're going to say "spreading the word" is important, it is an all-or-nothing kind of thing

you either support the idea that people don't need to harass everyone in a public square OR you support the idea that you have the most important secret that everyone in the world needs to know about

you know how there's no such thing as halfway crooks?
there's no such thing as sometimes evangelists

that shit will get you spit out the mouth of the Lord on judgement day

i'm pretty much fine being the worst Christian because i'm like 60% Calvinist

of course, i have the kind of beliefs that would get you stoned if we ran the modern church like they ran it in the first century

2/22/2009 1:51:33 AM

Quote :

"You don't think that practicing Christianity alone involves the least bit of idiocy?"

For real.

Quote :

"I see people on this website and in day to day life who look down upon religion (and in particular, Christianity, since it's predominant in America) with complete disdain, and act like anyone who possibly believes it is at least borderline retarded."

They are.

Quote :

"i'm pretty much fine being the worst Christian"

Why bother, then? Admit it. You don't believe that crap. You don't believe Jebus is the mortal child of a god. You don't believe he walked on water, turned water into wine, rose from the dead, etc. Do you? Fucking admit it.

2/22/2009 2:01:47 AM

yeah i def don't agree with everything in your jpg there

but i def do have faith in a few parts of it

2/22/2009 2:05:01 AM

^
Which parts?

And then, (I ask my family this,) why not distance yourself from those fucking nutjobs?
Why don't you call your faith something other than Christianity?
You know, branding? It's how our society tends to think about stuff.
I mean, guilty by association much?
Seeing as how more than half of all christians are complete nuts (fundie, evang, catholic, etc.,)
Why wouldn't you quit, and start you own group, AND NOT CALL IT THE SAME THING?

I'm sorry, but christians don't get to keep changing their story. If don't believe in what your
religion teaches, then you are not of that religion and you should stop saying you are.

2/22/2009 2:18:04 AM

Quote :

"And then, (I ask my family this,) why not distance yourself from those fucking nutjobs? "

i haven't been to church since 2004

Quote :

"Why don't you call your faith something other than Christianity? "

because that would be giving in to the nutjobs

today's christianity looks nothing like what happened 500 years ago, which looked nothing like what was 700 years before that, or 700 years before that, and i know that the modern church won't look anything like it does in 200 years

perhaps i'll write my thoughts down some day and it will be an element in the shift of the next modern church (essentially I sum it up by saying I have a certainty in my faith, but I do not have faith in a certainty)

2/22/2009 2:25:37 AM

Quote :

"because that would be giving in to the nutjobs"

Small loss.
I mean, so what? They get to keep the name "Christian". That name is as bad as it is good.
If they hadn't renamed Hitlertown, NC to Charlotte.....

I'm telling you. If all the sane christians (who are really likely just deists or something similar,)
stopped associating with "christianity", then the nutjobs would be marginalized.

[Edited on February 22, 2009 at 2:40 AM. Reason : ]

2/22/2009 2:40:49 AM

2/22/2009 2:42:20 AM

to be fair

its not like anyone knows i'm a Christian

and most Christians are pretty sure i'm not

2/22/2009 2:42:34 AM

2/22/2009 2:43:44 AM

Quote :

"whens the last time you actually shared your faith as a Christian, if you're going to say "spreading the word" is important, it is an all-or-nothing kind of thing you either support the idea that people don't need to harass everyone in a public square OR you support the idea that you have the most important secret that everyone in the world needs to know about you know how there's no such thing as halfway crooks? there's no such thing as sometimes evangelists that shit will get you spit out the mouth of the Lord on judgement day i'm pretty much fine being the worst Christian because i'm like 60% Calvinist"

touche. I long ago realized evangelizing isn't one of my gifts. I'm much more happy studying the languages, the history, and the theology

not that i'm anywhere near an expert

sadly, most of the people who feel inclined to evangelize are woefully uniformed and opinionated when it comes to knowing what they are spreading.

Quote :

"of course, i have the kind of beliefs that would get you stoned if we ran the modern church like they ran it in the first century"

Amen, brother. That's the only way it should be run.

[Edited on February 22, 2009 at 10:58 AM. Reason : btw, Willy, I took you for a pretty non-inferential guy in TSB. why the paternalism here?]

2/22/2009 10:45:56 AM

Quote :

" sadly, most of the people who feel inclined to evangelize are woefully uniformed and opinionated when it comes to knowing what they are spreading."

Yeah, that's what is so annoying about it. I find the only way to make such an encounter tolerable is to try and convert them to Scientology

2/22/2009 8:15:29 PM

LOL, Scientology.

2/22/2009 8:22:49 PM

i hate when people push religion on me.

[Edited on February 22, 2009 at 8:25 PM. Reason : .]

2/22/2009 8:25:18 PM

Quote :

"There's a big different between spreading the Word and harassing people about their faith or lack thereof"

But then you'll never make a diference. Christ pretty much called out all the people in power about their twisting of the Jewish faith or no faith at all. He also described the type of people who would be encountered in witness attempts via the parable of the sower.

Granted, there are more effective methods than others when spreading the word, but don't shoot the messenger. Please?

2/22/2009 8:49:25 PM

you heard it here first, folks. maximus wants you to shoot Christ.

2/22/2009 8:53:28 PM

^^ Yes, the only way to convince people that you are correct is through harassment and annoyance.

2/22/2009 8:54:26 PM

JESUS DIED FOR YOUR DUNKIN' DONUTS

2/22/2009 10:12:07 PM

set em up for jesus

2/22/2009 10:12:41 PM