Tactics

I have never been to the Grand Canyon.  However, I used to envision it a lot when I would think about how far my sin had separated me from God.  I remember being 12 and praying a prayer at a conference and "accepting Jesus" and then being shown this diagram of a canyon.  God was on one side, and "I" was on the other (represented by a rather plain stick figure).  In the middle was "SIN."  As I flipped through the book, a cross appeared as the bridge over the canyon.  Now I had a way to get to God.

The problem was, I wasn't even sure I wanted to get to God.

Don't get me wrong, I liked God.  I didn't have anything against him at all.  I believed He was real, had created the world, and I think I even believed he loved me (as much as a twelve year old brain can understand "love").  But, the little booklet seemed primarily concerned with being with God after I died, so I didn't think I needed to be in any hurry.

Now, I believe that our sin jacks up our relationship with God, no doubt.  It also screws up the whole created order.  However, my issue with the canyon diagram is that it makes it seem like Jesus saves us from God.  God made the mess and Jesus comes to clean it up.  It also makes it seem like God is distant. It's tough to make a strong case for the canyon imagery using scripture (where it repeatedly talks about just how near God is to every one of us).  The greatest irony, though, is how urgently people will use booklets or tactics like this one to get people "saved" into a life that consists of a surprisingly low level of urgency for living out the life God desires for us.  They have to get us saved now!  But once that happens...then what?

This is the problem (one of the many) with "witnessing" using tactics.  First off, most of the stuff Christians come up with is outdated ("The Four Spiritual Laws"), corny (too many Christian T-shirts to list here), deceptive (free food...if you listen to me talk), or even obnoxious (bullhorns and sandwich board signs).  In a world where we just saw a very misguided man spend millions of dollars convincing people that the Rapture was going to take place this past weekend (it didn't, just fyi), it is time for Christians to take a long hard look in the stained glass mirror and evaluate our "tactics" for "spreading the Good News."

So, let's move on to a little exercise called, "Would that have worked on you?"

Fire Insurance:
Insurance.  Most people have it and would agree it is a good idea.  You can get insurance for everything from your house to your life to your pet's RV.  For many people, getting on board with Jesus is glorified eternal fire insurance.  "Don't want to burn in Hell for all eternity? (cue James Earl Jones with an evil laugh: "mwah hah hah") Then pray this prayer, join our club, etc."  And if people don't take you seriously enough, then you have to make the fire even more terrifying.  I went to a summer camp once where I am convinced the goal was to scare the hell out of everyone...literally.  I think one of the speakers may have even said that.  Each night, different scare tactics were used to transform a basketball arena full of teenagers into sniveling, weeping, terrified new followers of Jesus.  I remember the first night the speaker said, "I'd rather be saved twice than lost once."  (I have no idea where in the Bible he got that from).  Then the second night, a pastor man would talk about Hell for 45 minutes and it was as though he thought Jesus never used a metaphor.  I have never heard so many references to maggots in a sermon.  If you hadn't run down for the altar-call the night before, you definitely did this night.  And if you had the night before, you did it again.  Because I'd rather be saved twice...just saying.

The thing is, most people don't think about insurance on a daily basis.  So, if you scare people into accepting Jesus so they won't burn and then tell them they have to live that out daily, you're going to wind up with a very strange breed of religious person.  Jesus never scared anyone into following him.  God is not in the intimidation business.  And seriously, are you involved in a loving, awesome, life-giving relationship with God right now because someone "scared the heaven into you"?!?  Would that have worked on you?

Sandwich-board man
This kind of goes along the same vein as the scare tactics, but due to personal experience this one holds a special place in my heart.  The same place a recurring nightmare holds.  Basically, when I was in college a man would come wearing a sandwich board sign (he had clothes on underneath) that would say something about sin or hell or repentance on it, set up shop in the center of campus and begin calling down judgment on everyone else.  One tactic was to belittle anyone who asked him questions (just like Jesus, no?).  Another tactic--my personal favorite--was to yell out various sins while pointing at random passersby.  Once I was pegged as a "fornicator"--which couldn't have been further from the truth...trust me, you could check with every man and woman on campus (or the planet for that matter) to verify my innocence.  I wonder if that had worked on him; if he was a Christian because a man with a sandwich board once unfairly accused him of fornication.  Would that have worked on you?

Fake Money Tracts
Have you ever seen these?  Folded in half, they look like someone has misplaced some serious cash and you are lucky enough to find it!  I mean, who doesn't love finding money?  Then there's the ensuing ethical debate: Do you keep it?  Do you give it away?  Do you take it to the front and see if anyone has reported losing money? (who hasn't?!?)  How much of that do you tithe?  Then, as you pick it up, you realize it isn't a 1 million dollar bill after all (I know, should have been my first clue).  It's a piece of paper which on the inside goes on to tell you, "You know what's better than a million dollars?!?"  The answer is, of course, Jesus.  And I know, I mean I really know that Jesus is better than a million dollars, but this tactic drives me crazy.  It's trickery.  It's passive aggressive evangelism.  What if the person picks up the fake money and--instead of punching the closest person in the face when they realize it's fake--decide they want to know Jesus.  Who are they gonna talk to?  The fake money evangelist is probably long gone.  Did this work on you?  Is this what Jesus was referring to when he said he would make Peter a  "fisher of men?"  Did Peter and the other disciples use giant fake fish?  You'd find it on the beach, take it home to cook it, and as soon as you cut it open, it would say, "[Something in Aramaic that roughly translates, "You know what's better than a great big fish?"]"  Would this have worked on you?

YouTube/Amazon comments
If I want to weep over the state of the American church all I have to do is read the comments posted on youTube videos or on Amazon.com reviews.  Anything that even remotely pertains to church or Christianity will have a slew of comments from people bashing Christians, bashing nonChristians, expressing racism, debating theology.  People who probably have a genuine heart to follow the Lord just come across looking like total, holier-than-thou, morons.  I really doubt anyone has ever come to Christ because someone replied to their youtube comment with a loving, "Well, you think it's hot here?  Get ready for Hell!"  Let's make a pact as Jesus-followers, ok?  No posting comments on youtube, period.  And if you don't have anything nice to say, don't type!  Would this have worked on you?

I could go on, I am sure we have all seen some bad tactics in our time.  I have even used some--much to my everlasting shame.  But they didn't work on me, and I know that they won't work on anyone else.

So what did work?

Watching people witness to the resurrection of Christ with their lives.  Watching my parents live out their faith.  Watching one of my youth leaders guide me through the book of 1 Timothy and pour into me.  Or a guy named Johnny who never gave up on me in college when I was not living full-out for Christ.  Because of him, I am doing what I do.  Because of his witness, and others, I wanted to know Jesus.  The real Jesus.  And then, when I met Him, when I encountered Him, it changed everything.  I realized the way I was living broke His heart and I didn't want to do that anymore.  I repented, I was baptized, and I started living for the first time.  I didn't give myself to God because I didn't want to go to Hell, I did it because I couldn't live without Him...right now.

Maybe that's what worked for you too.

If you want to save people and introduce them to some lesser jesus, some god in your own image, then get out the sandwich boards, run off more fake money, and tell everyone about it with a youtube comment.  But if you want to introduce people to the Truth, to the Jesus who gave his life for humanity, then just do what He asked:  Be a witness.  [See Jesus and the Book of Acts for more on what this looks like.]