I have been thinking a lot about evangelism recently. I am most comfortable, personally, with the sort of evangelism that proposes marriage. I think that when Christ calls a person to himself it is nothing short of a marriage proposal, and like most relationships it begins with an introduction, which morphs into a time of pursuit, and, when the time is right the proposal is made.
I wonder if the church does Christ a disservice when they approach unbelievers, invoke the horrors of hell, and then offer Christ as a means of escape. Wouldn't that be the equivalent of walking up to Sarah, whipping out a shotgun and saying "marry me in Vegas or you're dead.' She might go with me. She might mumble "yes," but her heart would not be mine, and isn't that what Christ wants- our hearts. Too many evangelists, in my opinion, are in the business of this sort of evangelism. I see it all the time at Camp.
I watched a documentary recently which told the story of a volcanic eruption on a small caribbean island. The island's government had been monitoring the volcano with the help of a team of foreign scientists, and when they became convinced that the volcano was about to to blow they went to the airwaves warning the islanders. At first most heeded the warnings and fled to safety, but as days turned into weeks and the volcano didn't erupt they began slowly trickling back to their homes and farms. When the volcano finally did erupt many perished as the pyroclastic flows raced down the side of the mountain and filled the valleys.
I once saw Billy Graham during a televised crusade tell the audience of thousands "You're gonna live forever the only question is where." It seemed to me that a great many people went forward following that chilling piece of information, and I wonder all these years later how many of those villagers have trickled back to their homes and farms.
Some may say,"...but I came to know the Lord that way." I would answer such a person by pointing out that by God's grace, such conversions are used as a beginning, but that doesn't justify them. There is something healthier and closer to God's heart.
Of course, we should always be honest and unashamed about the consequences of rejecting Christ, but invoking hell as a means of evangelism strikes me as lazy, and smacks of an attitude that goes something like "Christ doesn't actually sell- it's hell that brings them to their knees." It seems to me that many evangelists don't actually believe in the product they are selling, or maybe the problem is that they frame it that way- a product that needs selling. Christ sells himself.
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