Is it right to preach to people?

Hi,I sincerely believe that it is wrong to preach.If someone is interested in a faith, or anything else for that matter, they can go and find out about it. But I feel that street preachers, or evangelists that go out and cold call at people's houses, should be stopped.I see groups of Christians in Glasgow on a regular basis, and with studying in a faculty of divinity, I probably come into contact with more Christians than the average person does.There have been many occasions when a Christian has started to tell me about Christianity and how wonderful Christ is, but they usually go away with a bewildered look on their face!What is even more horrific is the way that some people spread the Word of God. They invariably exploit situations where they have a 'captive' audience. It is appalling.These preachers really need to leave people alone and mind their own business.Brian.

Hi, It isn't always as simple as saying 'sorry, not interested' as it is usually polite to hear what they have to say first.I have had a few at my door of different flavours of Xianity, the latest was an American baptist who asked 'Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ?' I thnk it was the hardest shift that guy has put in for a long time.I do feel strongly about this, in my opinion these people are keeping alive a fairytale that has no basis in fact, it is a severly flawed belief system that would have died out centuries ago if certain people didn't see how powerful a control mechanism it is. Generation after generation of children have been indoctrinated, psychologically abused by people forcing THEIR beliefs onto their children. Children are being suffocated with this nonsense before they have the capacity to make an informed choice, it is child abuse.Do you think that Kent Hovind's kids would come across Jesus by accident, no chance. These poor kids had NO say in their choice of faith.Brian.

Hi,Do the colleges that try to recruit you:Comdemn you to hell if you do not join them?
Blame most of societies decline on homosexuals?
Condemn you for having sex if you are not married?
Do they say that all other colleges are evil?
Do they refuse your application if you don't take a 2000 year old myth seriously?
Do they present you with a prospectus full of contradictions and ask you to ignore them?
Have these colleges sytematically tried to eradicate an entire nation from the face of the Earth?
Have these colleges committed some of the most atrcocious crimes against humanity?
Do these colleges say you are not automatically allowed to register because a very very distant ancestor of yours broke a basic college rule, even though thet were unaware that they were doing anything wrong?
Do these colleges dictate to you what you can and cannot do with your own body?
Do these colleges ask you to attack and possibly even kill some medical practioners?
Do these colleges tell you that some children's books are evil?
Do these colleges condemn single parents?
Do they tell you that certain types of music and the people who perform it are evil?
Do these colleges ask you to believe in something that is ludicrous to any free thinking person?
Do these colleges promote sexual inequality?
Do they promote racism?Brian.

Hi, The demon child avatar is a joke. I began using it after we had laugh on another thread when we were discussing a Xian who called me the 'Son of Stan (sic)'. It is no big deal, I will probably stop using it soon, just like I stopped using the Humphrey Bogart avatar that I used when Percy suggested that Humphrey Bogart would play my part in an upcoming EVC movie! But surely I need to know what the person at my door is wanting, they need to actually inform me why they are at my door. I cannot open the door and think to myself that this person looks like a Xian, I better shut the door.Fair enough, they may just say, 'I am here to ask you if you have herad the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ', but they have still disturbed me, I have still had to stop doing what I was doing and go and answer the door. Then it may take me a little while to relax again and, especially if I was typing up some notes, I would need to regain my train of thought. With respect, you are hardly representative of all of Xianity. Do you really think that this applies across the board, surely one example is more than enough to call it child abuse? Did Hovind's kids find Jesus accidently?Yes Xianity is a novelty, it is a fantasy, yet how many people think that it is reality, how many think that we are all sinners and God killed himself so we can be saved? I know it is ludicrous, but many people think it is true and they are keeping this joke going by indoctrinating others, and often through exploitation. You have been indoctrinated with facts! I think you need to redefine your idea of indoctrination. I would agree if what you were taught was contradictory to the massive amount of evidence available, but it wasn't. You were not asked to blindly accept evolutionary by your teachers. Xians do not encourage a critical approach to their faith by their children, that is indoctrination. There is only so much time allocated on a school curriculum to each subject. Each department has to present what they believe is the most important areas to be covered in order to give their students a good background knowledge of their subject. I teach Religious Education and it is not possible to teach every single concept of every single religion, you have to teach what you believe will give your students a good background knowledge. The student is perfectly entitled to question what is being taught, as a teacher I welcome any feedback from my students, and I am sure your science teachers would have welcomed questions about evolution from you. And make myself out to be as rude as these Xians?Brian.

It doesnt matter if it is 4 times a year, 4 times a day or 4 times every ten years, once is too much. It isn't just a case of them say 'hello, do you have Jesus in your life' and then me closing the door. Anyone who has studied xianity knows exactly what they would say next if given the chance, so two words is the same as ten thousand.I have a church less than 20 yards from my front door, if I wanted to know anything about Jesus I would go there and ask. What gives these people the right ot come to my door, asking me if I believe in their fairytale and they get upset when I tell them that Jesus was little more than a con man/ failed messiah? WHat makes it worse is that the majority know next to mothing about xianity, it is embarrassing. Of course this rejection helps to bond the congregation, it fulfills prophecy doesnt it? Maybe there is method in the madness after all.I have tried the 'not interested line', I have even been asked if I know what the alternative to not accepting the Lord is! LOL it is intensley aggravating, these sad, desparate individuals clammering about trying to save everyone from their self deluded fantasy, then they get upset LOL. Thats what you get for not having a welfare state, complain to Bush. Use of lies is always a xian tactic, it is in their nature. We know how many times so-called creation scientists have been caught out lying. I suppose when the person that your faith is founded on is a pathalogical liar then it comes as second nature. Yes, but don't you know anything about child psychology? The most inmportant years for learning are between about 3-6 years old, what you learn at this age from trusted adults, such as your parents,is difficult to let go off. Children usually believe that what their parents say is true, obviously it depends on the intensity of the forcing of the parent beliefs on to the child, but you can rest assured there are many xians who suffocate their kids with THEIR beliefs, it isnt even the kids belief. I know literally hundred of kids aged from 11-16 who believe that every word of xianity is true, so what's your point? The thing is LOL your parents dont see Santa Clause as the saviour of the universe, they do see that other fairytale character Jesus as a saviour though, and they want their kids to be saved. What if Islam is True, these xian parents have condemned their kids to hell! If you are good you go to heaven with Jesus, if you are bad you go to Hell. How many kids have been terrifed into believeing that xianity is true? It took me 20 years to stop believing the Jesus myth. The exploitation of third wrold populations by Xian missionaries. The exploitation of the hungry in the USA and UK at Xian soup kitchens. Yes it is their choice, however forcing them to sit through a sermon before you feed them is exploitation. Building a school solely with the purpose of learning someone to speak English so they can read the Bible is exploitation. This isn't what evolution is about, maybe you should have listened to your science teachers. I am very familiar with a wide range of creation myths. Yes, it is child abuse to force your faith onto your children. Every faith has their martyrs so what? Tell the kids about the thousands of Jews slaughtered by Torquemada, or the thousands of Jews slaughtered by the Crusaders. Xians love to pick and choose the 'nice' things about their faith. Xianity has an awful lot of skeletons in the cupboard. LOL good grief not another 'Evolution if a theory not a fact' preacher! You obviously didn't listen in science classes then did you?Evolution is arguably the most authenticated and documented fact in the history of mankind. Let me put the broken record back on 'There are theories of Evolution to explain the observable fact that life evolves'. Do you think that someone just dreamt this up, or do you think that someone observed something and then tried to present a theory about how this something happened?Evolution is easily falsified, no one has manged ot do it, you seem well-informed about it, go win yourself a Nobel Prize!I dont think there is a highschool student in Scotland who thinks that evolution is 'just' a theory. Maybe you need to go back to school. Yes, because to deny the mountains of proof for it is perverse. You may as well say 'Gravity is a given.' Since I dont have any kids I cannot tell them anything. LOL when was the last time you met an evangelical atheist! Why would it make a difference? What about a lecture on the facts against gravity or a lecture on the scientific absurdities in the Bible. Alecture on the facts against a 6000 year old universe, a lecture against all varieties of beetles evolving from one pair in 4500 years, the fact that they would be evolving quicker than they reproduced, would lectures highlighting the absurdity of the Bible not have made a difference to your education? It is rude to disturb me and renmind me that this fantasy is still being circulated around the world. It reminds me how pathetic a belief system xianity is, it reminds me of 20 wasted years, it reminds me of the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Jews, it reminds me of how embarrassingly naive humans can be......Don't even get me started on the Jehovah's LOLBrian.Phew, what a wee rant!

LOL, Once now is yes. Because I am no longer a Xian, logic isnot your strong point is it? I thnk it has affected you a lot, there's one fantasy figure you still believe in. And I teach religious studies! Which brings me into the most contact with Xians. Yup, at least now I am mature enough to realise that I was a fool, some people never learn this LOL. Yes, this is an established fact. I dont know how many 3-6 years olds go to church, I bet a fair proportion of 'saved' xian parents will be dragging their 3-6 year olds along to church. How many infants rush down to the church to get baptised before they can walk or talk? (child abuse) I actually quite fancy doing a science degree, but I don't have the time. I seriously thught that I was very ignorant about science, but now I realise I actually know a great deal more than I first thought. LOL I'm not going to spell it out again, try studying what evolutionists claim for a minute and keep away from ICR or AiG. You are assuming that I would tell them that there is no God, why would I do that, that would make me as evil as the xians who do that. Again, your ignorance of evolution is apparent, evolution does not attempt to explain the origin of life, go look up what evolution claims to explain. The ancestors of the people that Xians tried to wipe off the face of the Earth you mean?[q]If it's so disgustingly annoyed by it, why do you spend half your time on a forum discussing Creation and Christianity [/qs]I choose to come here, that's the difference. I do not spend that much time here, and any discussions I get involved in is more than likely related to archaeology, although I do put my tuppence worth in now and then at other threads.Why do you come here to discuss evolution when, despite your scientific background, you know absolutely nothing about it?Brian[This message has been edited by Brian, 11-17-2003][This message has been edited by Brian, 11-17-2003]

LOL, What on earth is 'evolution man'! To 'have' been a fool is more accurate, some of us can escape the delusion I don't have to think about it, you are a typical Xian, you only see what you want to see. If you are unaware of missionaries exploiting situations then you need to get your head out of the sand. Jeezus, I even qualified my statement, in my statement! LOL but it is not the study of the origins of life, this is like complaining because potato farmers do not tell you how to grow oranges. Well I was being sarcastic, however: You conveniently forgot to mention how ' a lot of research on evolution' made you rethink your position. I think maybe you should go back to being an evolutionist because you are rejecting it without knowing exaclty what it is.Maybe you can tell us a defintion of evolution from your intensive research?Since we are drifting off topic here, I will open a new thread entitled, 'a creationists definition of evolution', you can inform everyone there of what your definition of evolution is. You should be able to tie me in knots as I have had no scoentific traning at all, not even a subscription to New Scientist!Brian.

Oh you haven't disappointed me in the least, in fact you have made my day.A good days evangelising on your part, you have just confirmed an outcome that probably every atheist reading this thread would have predicted, nice one! Take care of yourself.Brian.[This message has been edited by Brian, 11-18-2003]

I had mentioned to the Zelote that I had opened another thread, but he chose to keep the conversation here.Anyway, I have had my wee rant, which ought to keep me going for a while.Brian.To all the xians out there I really do not believe that all xians are liars, I was just having some fun with the Zealot.

So it is a free country, would be happy for a Klan memeber to preach and scream their garbage in your streets?Brian.

There is a slight difference Mike, I don't scream like an idiot in the street about it and I certainly don't come to your door with it, well I might if I knew where you lived !! Brian.