Dave Hansen wrote:
Do you think the street preachers who go out
of their way to create controversy, ever consider
the effect their antics may have on the non-believers?
Yes, many of us do. Some street preachers are rather individualistic, and I
wonder myself sometimes if they ever try and make cause and effect
connections in their mind. Some just have that call and obey it and do not
seem to make such considerations.
Ruben is one who probably is better than most in considering the effect of
his actions. It seems to me that he rarely preaches alone. He gathers his
team together before an event and goes over the strategy, what is allowed,
what is not allowed, how to handle police, how to handle upset individuals,
etc. He also encourages others to do as he does, which is not to eat during
the day of a preaching event. Then after the event, we all go out to dinner
somewhere and discuss what happened that day and critique one another. If
one of us thinks somebody did something wrong that day, we bring it up and
talk about it. Ruben considers this end of day thing to be very important.
He stresses to the preachers that if they see someone else do something
wrong, it is their responsibility to bring it up that very night.
Dave Hansen wrote:
... do other street preachers (who do not go to the
extremes in their preaching) ever cringe when they
see the actions of the more rude SPs?
Yes, I do. In fact, I cringed when I heard about Ruben waving Mormon
underwear around. I cringed when I saw pictures of somebody who I did not
know wearing a skull cap on his head to mock the apologist James White who
has taken a stand against the street preachers. I immediately called Ruben
to discuss these issues. We agreed that the skull cap thing was wrong and
he and others were dealing with the street preacher who did this. However,
he stuck to his guns about the Mormon underwear and I came to accept that
this was perhaps not over the line.
I should point out that I have cringed reading some antics of prophets in
the Bible. For example, I have cringed reading about Isaiah walking naked
for three years (Isaiah 20), and I have cringed reading about Jesus going
into the Temple and clearing it out by force. I cringe hearing about
Ananias and Sapphira dropping dead. Therefore, I don't use my personal
reaction as a gauge of what is right or wrong on the part of the person
doing these things.
Peace be with you.
David Miller.
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"Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org
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