Evangelism or Arguism? - Joey Ferrell
My spell check says that “arguism” isn’t a word. I would like to argue that! Maybe I need to define the word better for us. Arguism - the state of arguing just to win a battle and not a soul. Well, that may be a bit broad, but it fits.
Too many times, the art and practice of evangelism may be tainted by this unusual practice and activity that I have developed a word for. Arguism is the end result of some well-intended discussions about the church, the Bible, and others’ religious beliefs. So, how do we avoid it?
First off, we need to approach any evangelistic opportunity with Ephesians 4:15 in mind. If we do not offer the Gospel message in love, we cannot expect it to be received well. Offering in love does not mean to discount anything of the truth, but to make sure that our approach is indeed for the soul and not for the sake of argument.
I had the privilege of studying with two different people with completely different backgrounds, completely different religious ideas and thoughts just this week. One was a planned lunch meeting that lasted about an hour and a half discussing whether or not that the idea of Catholicism is actually biblical and should it be in consideration for this individual to pursue. I will be honest…I have never really studied with anyone of the mindset of the Catholic persuasion, but I know what the Bible says (and doesn’t say) regarding some of the structure and beliefs that are in that particular religious group. It was an interesting meeting, but a few times it did become awkward when the questions and answers started veering from the Bible to a doctrine of this particular religion. Certainly we could argue about it…and we probably came close.
Then, as this meeting ended, an opportunity presented itself to strike up conversation with someone that I have known for several years that has of recent been searching harder and more diligently to find honest biblical truth about her soul’s eternal situation. It was more of a casual discussion. We are good friends that pick at each other about many things from time to time, as well as have disagreed many times on scriptural matters based on each of our own knowledge base and teachings in our study of the Bible. It happens. And I have seen it destroy not only friendships, but also family relationships when one enters the realm of arguing to win the argument instead of evangelizing to win the soul. Not the case with this dear friend. We had a very good discussion that ended with smiles, a hug, and an invitation for more discussion in the future.
What is similar about these two opportunities?
Simple! We are all 3 looking for truth!
Now…being that I am a preacher some Sundays, a Bible class teacher some Sundays and Wednesdays, have studied even at a college level in Biblical studies, you might think that I should have a firm grip on truth…and I believe I do; however, as I personally start any Bible discussion for several years now, here is my attitude that I make very clear:
”Listen, I am going to look at what you believe and have to say and if it doesn’t match what I believe, we need to look to the Bible and see what is right. If what you say is right and I have been wrong…I WILL change. But, I want to ask the same from you. If you believe something different than what we discuss today and I can show you in the Bible that it is the truth…will you change?”
Friends, this attitude will make a world of difference when it comes to opening hearts and ears. NOBODY should ever want to use the Bible as a weapon for an argument! It should be used as a weapon against the world and against Satan…not with precious souls who may not know absolute truth or may be wayward in their thinking.
Too many souls are turned away from God because of “arguism.” I heard a story recently of a situation where the “Freedom From Religion” group was protesting a religious symbol in a certain building. A news story was published about this particular situation and the news outlet left their comments section open for a while before having to shut it down. From my understanding of this story, several self-proclaimed “Christians” commented on the page with very harsh words saying such as “I will take a baseball bat there and show them there is a God,” “They will know when they die that there is a God,” and “Let’s see if they think there is a God when I march in there with my shotgun and blow them away.”
Obviously, this was a very bad situation that had to be stopped…and the news outlet did, but not before the FFR folks took screenshots and used them against “Christianity.”
We need to understand that every person that we come into contact with has a soul that will be somewhere for eternity. Some will be in heaven…others will perish. Jesus said that the greatest command is to love the Lord, your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, but likened unto it….here it is….Love your neighbor as yourself! Think about that a minute. I love both of these individuals that I met with this week. I have only just met one, and his soul is so important to me that when we ended the conversation, we prayed together that our journey to finding truth will find us a home in heaven together. That second one…oh, I love her dearly. She has been a friend in good times and in bad and I can ALWAYS count on her to be smiling at me when I see her. I certainly want to see her in heaven. But, if I have a knowledge of truth that differs from either of these…I need to share it with them both and prove all things according to God’s word in order to see that come to fruition, and them with me as well. Anybody can win an argument (at least in their own mind anyway if not otherwise)…but it takes sincere loving evangelism to win a soul! I want to love my neighbor as myself.
I want to be in heaven with my Savior…and I want them to be there too! Do you? If so, put down the arguism armor; drop the dagger, the ax, and the brick that you may have been ready to throw at them just knowing that you are right…even when you may be wrong. Love one another. Love the beauty of God’s gift of salvation, and let’s share the truth the only way we should…in love.
Let’s get to evangelizing!
In the field…
We have been catching up a bit in the markets that we broadcast in most recently by visiting congregations in the Tennessee and Kentucky areas as well as some mass mailings going out to many of our broadcast areas over the next few weeks.
There are a lot of exciting things happening and we want to share them with your congregation too!
Just a few weeks ago, we relaunched the www.freebiblestudies.net platform offering Free Bible studies in areas where we have sponsoring congregations. This has been pretty successful. One specific area of great response is Guam. We have had many requests coming from Guam and have put those in the hands of some great folks there to reach out.
Would you consider having a field rep visit soon? Let us know who and where you are. We would love to see you!
~Joey