What is Evangelism?

This pretty much sums up my attitude about those things:

Luke 9:59-62 KJV
[59] And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. [60] Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. [61] And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. [62] And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

JC was an uncompromising hard ass. I admire that in him and try my best to follow his example. It doesn’t win you any popularity contests, if you care for that sort of thing.

His father died of natural causes, most likely, old age...

Not a preventable disease.

Here you have used the scriptures to justify neglect and to negate what the scriptures refer to as, "duty to family".

Jesus made sure that Peter's brothers took care of his father before Peter left fishing to follow him. Peter's father was alive, not dead.

The prodigal son was an adult who had committed many wrongs but his father still fulfilled his duty to family to forgive and see to his care.

You use scriptures to justify neglect and when the agape of God is not in you,
"you are nothing".

Mark 8:33
But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.

Comment:
You have used this same haphazard twisting of the scriptures to prop up a criminal as president [Trump] while using lies to defame those who oppose his corruption.

Then you belittle the error of your disobedience to the duty to country and society.

If you cannot love your family, your country and society how is your claim that you love God believable?

1 John 4:20
If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

Comment
You have twisted the scriptures to magnify and justify error above truth and hate above love...

I haven’t said anything about hating anyone.
You brought up Trump and Covid. This is not a thread about politics or pandemics, and I do not care to talk about them in the context of 'Evangelism' or anything theological.
And I am sorry to hear a fellow believer make such charges against another so easily.

You should be sorry for supporting Trump.

Trump is backed by evangelicals who menace the word just as you do.

Since when did the Bible exempt the "rulers of this world"?

You justify neglecting your duty to family with an egregiously interpreted scripture...

Pulling the believer card does not exempt you from your duties as a human being.

I have only so much pity I can bestow in my life and children in cages and people dead from Covid take up most of it.

If you think you deserve some of this pity you need to get in line...

Maybe you can get in line behind the black people trying to vote.

You are sadly mistaken about my support for Trump. I could care less about which of the two clowns running got elected.
I do expect a lot of entertainment value from Biden however.

And when the **** did I ask for your pity.

Let me know if you ever want to talk theology.

The first lesson of theology is, "pity"...

You are disingenuous. It is apparent your theology is too.

What is pity?

Evangelism is much complexive itself. Basically, It is the winning or revival of personal commitments to Christ.

Evangelism is about persuading the feeble minded to part with their money in order to enrich yourself. It’s a scam, and a legal one at that.

It’s got **** all to do with Jesus.

Disingenuous? The guy who drags politics into a discussion about theology and in a previous post proudly posted the following:



A sentiment that I strongly agree with btw.
When did you change your mind?
And if you wonder if my theology is disingenuous, feel free to question me on it (before condemning it).

Your comment about 'pity' - I will have to take a moment to consider that and get back to you.

Regarding 'pity'.

I usually go to the Bible when I’m not sure about a theological matter.

Here is the first reference. The book does not seem to recognize that as always the thing to do. There is a time for everything.

Deuteronomy 7:16 KJV
[16] And thou shalt consume all the people which the Lord thy God shall deliver thee; thine eye shall have no pity upon them: neither shalt thou serve their gods; for that will be a snare unto thee.

That said, the commentaries I read say that the English word most closely matching the Hebrew word used in the Bible is 'kindness', not 'pity'. That feels right to me. The word 'Pity' always leaves a nasty taste in my mouth. I don’t want to have to pity anyone.

CDC purges Trump era junk guidance in quest to restore reputation
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/cdc-purges-trump-era-junk-guidance-in-quest-to-restore-reputation-107673157718

Deuteronomy, one of the most pitiful books in the Bible directs people to not have pity?

Pity is used when you encounter a bad situation where there is nothing in your own power that you can do to change it.

Some situations are far beyond our own ability to change.

"The serenity to accept the things I cannot change" That is pity.

But a bad situation that we do have the power within ourselves to change, then that requires "compassion" not pity.

And the wisdom to know the difference...

This wisdom part it seems you often have a verse ready to excuse you from your duty to compassion.

It seem you are unwilling to change from twisting scriptures to justify hate and "unkindness". This is pitiful...

Scriptures used to justify violence, today's Christian evangelicals differ very little from their jihadist Islamic counterparts.

Do violent extremists deserve compassion or pity?

Do Christians who shut themselves off (for whatever stupid reasons) from demonstrating love, do they deserve compassion or pity?

They certainly do not deserve to be normalized, taken seriously or respected.

hallelujah...

Language can be so subtle that it's hard to nail down what each of us means exactly. I assume in your example you mean that you pity the person in a bad situation, not the situation itself.

Here is the possible difference in our views. I feel compassion for the person in that situation, not pity.

I only pity someone when there is nothing I can do to help, but the person themselves COULD help themselves, but chooses not to. That is pitiful.

There is nothing you can do to help a person who worships a false god, so my compassion would be wasted, even pity is a waste. So I still think the book has a point.

If pity is used when compassion is required then who really deserves pity? A pitiless person is also pitiful.

And to judge someone's behavior because it does not meet your standards or the standards of a book written by extremists, then you are sinfully throwing stones.

And a person becomes more egregious than those they judge by their harsh judgment itself.

To pity someone and say, "It is in their power to change their situation". Well, how do you know it is in their power? You again have judged and reduced the severity of their affliction to excuse yourself from having to help, accept or tolerate them.

Agape is not a power trip, it is humbling oneself. Those who deem themselves "superior" fall beneath those they judge.

Once again it takes wisdom to know the difference, love is the guiding force in judgement. Love is love...



Pray Don't Find Fault

Pray don't find fault with the man who limps
or stumbles along the road,
unless you have worn the shoes he wears
or struggled beneath his load.
There may be tacks in his shoes that hurt,
though hidden away from view,
or the burden he bears, placed on your back
might cause you to stumble too.
Don't sneer at the man who's down today
unless you have felt the blow
that caused his fall or felt the shame
that only the fallen know.
You may be strong, but still the blows
that were his if dealt to you,
in the selfsame way, at the selfsame time,
might cause you to stagger too.
Don't be too harsh with the man who sins
or pelt him with word or stone,
unless you are sure, yea, doubly sure,
that you have no sins of your own
for you know perhaps if the tempter's voice
should whisper as softly to you
as it did to him when he went astray,
it might cause you to stumble too.

Rama Muthukrishnan

Cobbler, We are talking about the meaning of a word applied to a hypothetical person. Who is it you think I’m judging?

You tell others that the first lesson in theology is pity.
(Though what you actually mean is "empathy", the ability to understand and feel sad for others. To feel "pity" is to be smugly sad for others you see as beneath you)
Yet you also behave like this.



You should actually bother to read up on what is really happening with these so -called deaths from COVID.

COVID is used to justify criminal neglect of the elderly.
It is used to justify taking a drug that has serious side-effects, from allergy, to sterility, to seizures, to blood clots, to death.
For the record, a quick search of the fertility thing, which I clearly found weeks ago, will yield pages after pages of "fact checks" dismissing and denying this. But unlike some people here, I use my brain. COVID vaccine is not actually a vaccine. Vaccines operate on use of antibodies or dead viral material. But this "vaccine" uses mRNA to reprogram the body. Disrupting mRNA naturally can sabotage the very fragile bodily mechanisms required for fertility. If you don't know, thalidomide was given to mothers during pregnancy years ago. They wound up having babies born without arms or legs. How much worse if we alter the genes of people?

Merck is on record saying that in terms of disease, you would be better off developing natural resistance.

Further, on television, they have various drugs. Lately, all of them have been saying "Do not take if you've had a vaccine or are planning to use a vaccine." Almost as if they know that vaccines can have nasty cross-effects with medicine and they don't want to be sued...

But here, we have not only news media and the medical industry, but even those who run search engines behaving as though everyone who has concerns is crazy or stupid, sweeping any real worries under the rug while they declare fact checks. Yeah, twenty years ago, if they pulled this stuff, people would still be eating food loaded with trans fats and corn syrup. Sometimes crappy food really is crappy, and sometimes crappy medicine really is crappy. And sometimes you actually do need to say, "The emperor has no clothes! Look! The emperor has no clothes!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReAAKjXRVaM
(Even if, like Usopp, you risk people calling you a liar and distancing themselves from you)

Nevermind Leadfoot's hard stance against caring for the elderly (that is out of line) , the point is that part of being an evangelist is having a stake in the state of the world, actually being worried about human trafficking, pollution, corruption of our food and our medicine, and about politicians cashing in to evil. An evangelist does not simply preach the religion they concern themselves with. They preach to a world that is all too easily wallowing in evil.

It is a shame that some people seem no different from extremists.

But it is also a shame that you have missed the point of the Gospel.

As for Leadfoot, you need to read what Jesus says carefully. He says alot that seems overly cruel as a sort of test.

https://www.gotquestions.org/Canaanite-woman-dog.html

Likewise, in Matthew, just shortly before his crucifixion, we have number of dark parables.

The Parable of the Bridesmaids in Waiting
Parable of the Talents
Parable of Sheep and Goats

The context of all of this though, is that it's Jesus speaking against the Pharisees and their apocalyptic mindset. They are so fixated on doing right, and measuring up that they see God as this guy who is absent for months and will punish people for their perceived wickedness. But this "God" Jesus shows is not the real God. This is more like Allah, who "deceives who he wills and leads astray who he wills" (14:4, 6:39, 16:93) yet expects those who disbelieve to carry other burdens as well as their own (29:12-13). The Muslims are basically like the Jews at their most Pharisaic, with the added issue of condemning others. But be careful that you don't likewise act as they do.

* Didn't have enough oil, and had to run? "Depart from me, I never knew you."
* Only had one talent and hated the way your master expected double out of you? Touch luck chump, everything you have will be taken.

The last one is a bit different. Because it brings the story to its point. The Pharisees deserve to be punished. Their neglect of the poor, the hungry, the thirsty, the imprisoned. If God was as bad and as arbitrary as they thought, judging others as sinners, they were at the top of the list.

But the NT is not about judgement. It's about grace.


(Christianity from Tolkien)

The atheists and the Muslims (and some of the Jews) think in terms of what people deserve. But God is not like this.

Those whom you have judged are a matter between you and God.

It seems clearly evident that your twisting of the scripture facilitates you with an excuse to not show pity whenever you damned well please.

So much for the Bible giving people morality...

That slippery slope also allows for racism, gender discrimination, misogyny and a whole slew of other hateful judgments to be used against anyone you hate.

Using the Bible to justify hate is pitiful, yes.

You are talking about not eating corn syrup and junk foods while you have fed your mind on republican fostered, Russian propaganda.

Have you seen what Covid does to your lungs and heart even if you survive?

While 1 in 10,000 may have mild interactions with medications they are on while taking the vaccine, 1 in 100 will die of Covid.

It seems the Russian propaganda has thrown a monkey wrench into your common sense.

And you use that same brain to discern scriptures?

Compassion and pity are both elements of empathy.

As for using Jesus to hate on people, well, you are using republican/Russian propaganda to kill yourself and others so why not? (cynical)

If an evangelist was more than a mouthpiece spouting out scriptures and getting people into the church so they can get rich then there would be no need for pastors, teachers, apostles and prophets.

An evangelist can also be a teacher but rarely is that the case. Most S Baptist evangelists are anti-science...

An intelligent flock is less likely to part with their $.