Paradise Cafe Discussions - A Place For Bible Research And Christian Encouragement

There is a nice quote from St. Francis of Assisi who said,

“Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words”

I dont know about you but i miss witnessing to people in an organized manner and am struggling with how to go about doing it now on my own.

Unfortunately, we dont have a witnessing program at my church.

Do any here go out witnessing? How do you witness or talk to others about your faith?

Is Matt 28:19,20 a big deal in your life now as an ex-JW?

I would love your thoughts on the matter.

By living by life to God and Christ's standards. I love to discuss religion and politics but feel that often witnessing (esp the JWs) is a one-way street. I am not interested in that. I hate being lectured and so lecture no one. With JWs and Mormons, I feel a genuine lack of interest in conversing. Rather they will lecture you and you to listen, nod and go along the scripted plan.

Generally, because my husband and I are from different ethnicities, countries, cultures, etc, people often approach us with their own questions about our journey and faith. That provides us with a good opportunity to witness to them while having a meaningful discussion.

My husband also witnesses to the knockers as I call them, lol. These are the Mormons (we get alot of those in DC metro area!!), Born Agains, and JWs. They usually ask a question and his response leads to them asking about his faith which then provides him with an opportunity. He never tells anyone he was an ex-JW. They immediately shut down.

I also do it indirectly many times through politics. My sister and I used to argue alot. She accused me of having a JW mentality and of being too apathetic with what's going on in world politics. I used to always tell her that the world is in satan's hands and all politicians get dirty to reach where they are. She on the other hand lined up her kids infront of the TV (oldest one was 3 at the time) and cried all thru Obama's inauguration. I am not saying he is evil, he seems like an ok guy. But the system is broke. And he either has to play the game or get out. And he is playing the game. She now realizes that and walks around telling ppl that the world, including politicians, is in satan's hands.

hi yannis, :hibye:

i must be cut from the same cloth as st francis of assisi. (i love many quotes from him, btw. i wonder if he knew he would be so quotable?)

i have quoted dr. albert schweitzer many times, but i suppose one more time won't hurt:

"when it comes to influencing others, conduct is not the most important thing. ............. it is the only thing."

he must have read st franscis of assisi too, huh? :whistle:

unless people notice that there is something a little different about us that they can't quite identify -- first -- you can be sure that any "words" we might use in trying to "preach" to them will fall on deaf ears.

as someone i knew once said, ... "don't tell me. show me."

Hi Yannis, This is a great topic!!

Here are a few tried and true things one can try.

Pickup the phone book and dial a page worth of numbers. Simply ask the person if they have a moment to talk about Jesus. Many will hang up,or curse etc BUT a few will want to talk!!

This one is one of my favourites.

Get a clip board write down a series of questions. ( some people love questionaires ) simple things like
#1. Have you ever read the Bible?
#2.Do you own a Bible?
#3. Name 2 men/women from the Bible?
#4. Do you believe there is a Heaven?
#5. Do you believe there is a Hell?
#6. If you were to die and stand before God what would you say when He asks why should I let you into Heaven?

( you can put more questions but #6. is usually the show stopper I have spent several hours with people on question #6. )

A person on the streets asks you for money. So you ask what for?
If it's for coffee or food go for a coffee or by them lunch and you'll have an open ear for 15min to 2hrs.

You can try what my friend Gary has done in Ireland. Head to a area that ressembles Sodom and Gommorah find an elevated point to speak from and cry out at the top of your lungs I AM IN LOVE WITH A MAN!! You then describe why. " He is the greatest am who has ever lived" "He was so rich and He gave it all up for me" " I owed such a debt it was huge if I lived to 10,000yrs old I could never pay it off. I was in prison because I couldn't pay it,and they sentenced me to die then He stepped in and paid it in FULL!!

Giving His Life for mine!!!

Then ask, do you want to tell you His name? JESUS

Folks my sin debt was so huge but Jesus took it all upon Himself every lie I had ever told, every lustful though or action I had ever done,every curse words I ever uttered,every hateful thought or action I had ever committed was laid upon Him and the wrath of a Holy Holy Holy God was no longer on me because Jesus took the wrath for my sin!! I can say.

there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.

How about you sinner are you free from God's wrath for your sins?

Come to Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins,know Him as your Saviour and your Lord


Lastly, this is a practical daily one. Called " Crossing the Bridge " you throw out a feeler word like Church,Bible,God,Jesus, and see what response you get. If negative, like shut up about that God stuff. You don't cross the bridge but, if the response is slightly negative like the Bible it's just a bunch of myths cross and have a good conversation about how History,Science, and archeology all confirm the Bible. If positive like I used to go to church but, cross the bridge and see where it leads.


I'm sure there are hundreds more like when I see Morman guys head down a street I park my car and walk toward them. ( that one never misses they hit me up everytime!)


BB:happyheart::heartbeat::happyheart:

I help, instigate, rile up whatever I can.

More than some non-transformers.

Mostly the holy spirit tells us what to do. Fear knocks at a door, faith answers and no one is there? Go figure.

With Sis Love, Debbie

We witnesses not just by going from "door to door" but also informally and with anyone we meet.

Also as Jehovah's Witnesses we must live up the name and be willing to witness by both word and deed.

A good question would be,... Who are we a witness too? For in fact we are not Witnesess to a god 'Jehovah" but instead to the one Our Father gave us Jesus.

How do we preach Jesus? For me it is to preach and share what Jesus provides us. The ability to have Love and to give it to others. The freedom to forgive others and to be forgiven, and to free'd from the chains that bind us in this world, for in him we have life itself. He was sent to preach these very things, and he sent us to do the same.

What is proper worship of our Father? I feel James said it well,

"What God our Father considers to be pure and genuine religion is this: to take care of orphans and widows in their suffering and to keep oneself from being corrupted by the world."

Love Lynn

In the past, I would visit subscribers to our Church newsletter. We would also have a booth at a fair, of course all the other church groups would come by and debate us over the trinity and other doctrines we didn't agree with. When we put out presentations (film, special talks) we take to the streets and hand out flyers and tracts. I haven't gone door to door is ages, it was unfruitful as a JW, I don't see any value in it now.

I witness to JW's all the time online and in person. None of them know that I was a JW, they just know me as the "Russellite Evil Slave Guy".

I have been demonized by the Witnesses in my area, about seven congregations either know me or have heard about me, but many have never actually met me, it's always a hoot when I tell them my name. Some are respectful. One of my customers was a JW, I witness to him, now he's a brother-in-Christ.

There are plenty of ways to witness, but you know .... it doesn't matter how you share your faith, if you don't live it, it's void. Someone once said, "I'd rather see a sermon then hear one" and another said "for some, we may be the only Bible they ever read."

RR

I've always been a person who like variety, so I use several ways as well.

1. My CommonTruth.com website witnesses to those around the world in ways I could never do physically.
2. Me and my autistic son like to give out small baggies of candy with chick tracts on Halloween.
3. I make my belief in Christ known to all who I work with or associate with, which often opens up biblical conversations.
4. On occasion I'll invite someone to come to church with me (usually those who don't normally attend church services)
5. I also use social networking and blogging to reach those in cyberspace.

And, most recently, I've been discovering that the book I just published actually opens up a lot of conversation as well.

:heartbeat:

Nice going sis! :thumbsup: Ya never know when a seed you planted will begin to sprout!

I LIKE that idea! :D

Sarcasm doesn't come across in print as well as a well delivered verbal response. I knew I had a post to go back to and couldn't find it.

Yannis, I agree with our actions being more important than our speech. My mind runs the concept from a quote (I don't remember the quote, just the idea)...it was about Christians and Atheists, an Atheist was the provoker and the statement was about Christians SHOWING why they have the truth. It led me to personally reflect, "What can I do to SHOW that I have something special?"

So far, I haven't changed one Atheists stand, :D

Forgive me for "skipping rocks" again. I do that when I want to mark ideas and come back later to them. My creative mind goes through rapid thoughts and I want to remember them. Its not only here, but in many different things. I've always been this way. The fear and faith story was written to keep it solidified, at that moment. I was in a fearful place and was having a hard time maintaining peace. I'm trying to be more disciplined by writing in a journal, but I am easily bored and prefer to "shake, rattle and roll" with real people. Thank you for putting up with me, my brothers and sisters.:grouphug:

With Sis Love, Debbie

This idea seems to say that our lives will preach better then anything we may say.

My goodness....

My life is not the Gospel. My life is not what justifies me before God. Neither is my life going to justify people observing my life. This quote is simply wrong.

Don't misunderstand me as saying that there is no point in living the Christian life. That's not what I'm saying. We should live a Christian life, but that's not called the Gospel.

The idea, "my life will preach the gospel" is wrong. This is not just a wrong emphasis it's a wrong category. My life doesn't preach the gospel. There is one thing that preaches the Gospel. The Gospel!! The Gospel is about what Jesus accomplished, and it's a very specific reference. We believe the Gospel and follow the Law. We are still obligated as Christians to obey the law out of love and gratitude for what God has done through the Gospel.

In the scriptures we are not told to "live the Gospel". We are told to preach the Gospel. We believe the Gospel when it's preached. It's called faith.

The apostle Paul made this same point!

“Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.” (Romans 4:4-5 ESV)

That preaches better then my life. They need to know they need to be reconciled with God. Reconciliation implies that God is angry at us because of our Sin. We can't know our sin without the Law. They need to know that if they believe in Christ all their sins, past, present, and future, are paid for and forgiven. Christ lived the good righteous life for us and God looks at us as if we had lived his life.

Your immediate reaction should be, "Then are you saying we can live how we want because we are forgiven?" NO!

This is exactly the natural objection to the Gospel and Paul deals with this in Chapter 6 of Romans, "Shall we continue to sin so grace may abound? God forbid!" (6:1)

Obviously we need to live authentic Christian lives. But that is not the Gospel. The Gospel changes our lives us. When you catch a sight of the Glory of Christ you see it's infinite value. There is nothing else in the universe that can compare to the beauty, worth, and majesty of , the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. When the sovereign power of God's grace opens your eyes to Behold the glory of Christ by faith, there is a complete transformation of your person. You are changed from the inside out."And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another." (2 Corinthians 3:18 ESV)

Matt

Are you sure you were ever a J-dub, Mavos? (....grin).

Your expressions of faith are very much appreciated.

May blessings and peace from our Father in heaven continue upon you Mavos, by means of our Lord and Shepherd Jesus Christ.

Christian love and appreciation,

gogh

Are you sure that you dont like the quote because it's from a Catholic Saint? :D

I am not sure what you are disagreeing with here, St. Francis says to do BOTH. Live and preach the Gospel. We live the Gospel when it changes our lives. That is a witness to the power of God and the faith in the resurrection. Thus, when people see the changes they are drawn to the Gospel.

Didnt the Lord say to "let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven"?

Our actions are more powerful than anything we may say my friend. Maybe Western Christianity should spend less time "proselytizing" and more time living as a Christian should.