Do you like it when people come to your door to try and sell you stuff?
I don’t.
I’ve been known to hide when anyone with a clipboard or briefcase shows up on my porch.
I’m not proud of it, but it’s true.
Once, I laid on the floor of my living room waiting for a guy in a suit to quit knocking and move along to the neighbor’s.
Experience has taught me that people rarely knock on my door with solutions to my current problems.
Man on Porch: Hello, sir! I’m selling calendars with pictures of puppies on every month!
Me: I already have a calendar.
Man on Porch: But does it have puppies on every month?
Me: No.
Man on Porch: Then our meeting is most fortunate for you!
While his enthusiasm is admirable, I don’t want his product.
Nothing personal.
I’m out of milk and a new calendar won’t fix that problem.
So I’d be quite annoyed if the dude shoved me aside and entered my house.
He can probably rationalize his behavior.
I don’t know what I’m missing…
I need to open my mind…
I’ll thank him later…
Refusing to take “no” for an answer makes for a great salesman.
There are few things more obnoxious than a great salesman.
And it bothers me when missionaries strive to be great salesmen.
This dude trekked to a remote island to knock on a few doors.
He was trying to sell Jesus to a group of people who weren’t interested in his product.
When he shoved his way into their house – they killed him.
As a Christian myself, I understand what he was trying to do.
They don’t know what they’re missing…
They need to open their minds…
Later on, they’ll be so thankful for what he’s given them…
I get it.
The Gospel is the most important message in the world.
I’m to go into all the world and make disciples.
So…
Does the Great Commission give me license to disregard someone’s desire to be left alone?
Seems to me that the first step toward “making disciples” shouldn’t be desecrating other people’s cultural norms.
I know how it makes me feel when enthusiastic evangelists “won’t take no for an answer”.
It makes me lay on the floor until they go away.
8 Responses
Iâve done that, too, John! Sitting on the floor, with my back braced against the door, as they pound on it and try to look inside my house.
After we moved out into the country, and my husband reassured me we would never need to lock our doors, I had the surprise of my life when a team walked into my house, and right into my bedroom, while I slept after night work. (They were very lucky I didnât have a gun, or arrows…) After that, doors were always locked.
Iâve been amazed at how often theyâll hang around, not leaving, even walking around the house. One irritating (staying for hours) evangelist found me, hiding out in my hidden, fenced garden. One sat on my picnic table and had his lunch, then unzipped and peed on the lawn!
What also amazes me is, even if I assure them that I am âsaved, born again, Godâs Child…â they still need to do their sales pitch, especially for their denomination. Itâs like having to deal with a telemarketer in person. Uggh… I wonder how many people are turned off to God because of the actions of âsalesmenâ.
Iâm sorry the fellow in the article was killed, yet Iâm wondering why the heck he went back after being shot by arrows. What part of âgo awayâ didnât he understand? That is not God-inspired evangelism. God gently knocks – He never barges in. (Iâm thinking unkind thoughts about both his intelligence and training.) I think you bring up an important piece about a personal flaw in this kidâs actions, in your comment about the selfies.
The salesman analogy has some relevance here, but I think our wouldbe missionary made the mistake of putting God to the test. He knew those people killed strangers on sight, and he refused to believe he would be one of those strangers.
Good point. I hadn’t thought of that particular angle.
I’m far from settled on this issue. It’s not my place to judge whether or not someone hears God calling them. However, an excessive amount of selfie photos makes me wonder about the true motives of any endeavor undertaken for “God’s glory”.
As a person who has done door knocking evangelism before, there are people who these days refuse to leave the house and have pretty much everything delivered to them. Furthermore, there are many who have different lifestyles who we would not otherwise encounter, therefore it is definitely a legitimate method of evangelism. We merely need to respect the resident’s wishes if they wish to be left alone.
I’ve had many a fantastic conversation with people and seen many have that “a-ha” moment they may not have otherwise had if we had not knocked on their door. I know it’s a saying that many sinners use to quieten those that call them out when they do wrong, but “Don’t KNOCK it until you’ve tried it!” đ
You must be amazingly good. I was âboy in a bubbleâ isolated for nearly 10 years, until God miraculously, and mercifully, healed me.
Visits from the local Jehovah Witnesses were horrible, pushy; and even though I would have loved a human-to-human connection (I could go months without seeing anyone other than my spouse) they were so focused on their sales pitch that they forgot to see the person in front of them going through a unique form of intense suffering.
They couldnât see where I was, either in my faith walk or distress. They couldnât, nor wouldnât, bother to connect with me as a human being. They went through their sales pitch, left pamphlets and left without any caring or compassion.
I was quiet (due to strokes), polite and gentle, so I know they congratulated themselves on a successful visit. They might have thought they saved me to be one of their 144k.
Iâm not saying youâre like they were. Iâm just saying John wrote something that echoes my awful experiences.
But you have to knock on doors and intrude on their lives, because if you don’t then the only other option is to form an actual relationship with the person. You may even have to start liking them as a person rather than a number to a quota or a target. And we know that these sinners are worthless heathen slime who have nothing good in them, so who would want to get to know that? Or, honor their culture first…or actually act like a normal human being before assaulting them with the Bible? That would take too much time. đ
Carrying a Bible is like carrying a Visa to every village or city in every country. It makes everything I do and say good and noble, no matter how many of “man’s laws” I break in the process.
God’s laws trump man’s laws, and I am doing God’s Work. (See my Bible?) Nothing I do is wrong as long as I’m carrying this Bible.
Ha! I’ve long been fascinated with the Christian disconnect. I mean, we believe this is a matter of life and death, souls are at stake, for all of eternity, right? So it’s kind of important. Then we go…..except I don’t l want to interfere with any cultural norms, or be a nuisance, or risk so much as people’s mild disapproval, let alone our very lives.