Well, not so much witches, but a witch.
Met her while going door to door today in Ilford.
She didn't want our literature - said she was a Pagan. Being the inquisitive guy that I am, I asked her what "Pagan" meant. She went on to explain that she believes everything around us is alive. She celebrates the cycles of nature, believes in a duality (god and goddess), and has a specific goddess that is "hers". She belongs to a coven of witches with whom she celebrates nature and worships her goddess, and she's even a chaplain for Pagans in prison.
I asked her about Harry Potter - she laughed and said it had nothing to do with her reality - just a pure fantasy.
She said the church has often misunderstood Pagans and accused them of worshipping Satan; but she said she doesn't worship Satan, and doesn't even believe he exists. She said she did think that Jesus existed, and the was a good man, but not the son of God. She also mentioned how she doesn't like "Born again" Christians because they can't tolerate anyone who disagrees with them. I told her that I believed that Jesus said he was the only way to God, and that I believed he was telling the truth. I asked her if she thought it was possible for me to believe that and still respect and value people like her. She said 'Yes'.
Very interesting. Wasn't sure where to go with it all...it was a little freaky because she didn't open the door more than a crack during the whole conversation, so all I could see of her was one eye (talk about playing into the bad stereotypes of witches).
I asked her if I could pray for her before we left and ask God to bless her. She said "Sure...well...you're not going to pray that my soul gets converted, are you?" I said "No, I'll simply ask God to bless you." And I did. As I recall, that's what the founder of World Harvest used to do when he'd meet people in their shops...pray God's blessing on them.
When I was finished, she said "And may my goddess bless you." Hmm...
Anyway, does anyone have any thoughts about this? Just kind of wondering if I did the right thing...I can be really nice to people, play away from all the negative stereotypes of Christians being people who hate everyone who doesn't agree with them. But in the end, has my interaction with this woman honored Jesus?
6 comments:
Seems like a good example of authentic, personal evangelism. In asking her questions, you demonstrated your interest in her as a person. In asking if you could pray, and agreeing on the boundaries of that prayer, you showed respect for her and perhaps opened a door for her to be willing to listen to another Christian at another time, going one step further.
Did it honor Jesus? Yes, because we are called to take every thought captive. Differene is between you two is that you prayed and she just said it. It was powerful to her.
A few months ago we had Stephen Beck (German Urban Church Planting Facilitator) speak to our church on "How to Pastor Pagans in Progress" . Dan the following is taken from his material under the heading "Compassion Can Penetrate the Hardest Defense" :
God's love through us (Romans 5:5) is infesctious. Foe many people the compelling agrument for the truth about Jesus the Messiah is not your ability to defend Christianity(though that is important), nor your knowledge of the Bible(though that is important, too), and certainly not that your reasons are better in comparison to those of other religions. The compelling argument for many people is the way you love them, your tone of voice when a group discussion gets heated, your respect for the person who belittled you for your belief, and your pastoral care for the unbeliever in coming to his side when he is in a crisis.
Larry Evans
dan, we just returned from our weekend in charlotte and i opened your blog. my take on 'did it honor Jesus?' is this: He sang and danced with joy while you were engaging with this woman. i could think of only one word while I was reading your story: 'awesome'. by the way, you would have made jack proud. grace, john
Thanks for all your thoughts, everyone.
I love Alan's comment of "...it's always good to surprise people with the gospel rather than beating them up with religion".
In the end, I always try to remember that the true pressure in evangelism should be put on the Holy Spirit. I know that I have no power to change how someone feels, thinks, or believes. We do have the power to choose to value, respect, and care for someone.... which sounds very similar to how Jesus treated people.
Post a Comment