Rational Evangelism

The first line of the article reads, "I first started to understand 'rational evangelism' the night that a woman in a bar told me that she had seen Jesus dressed as a homeless cross dressing man in an elf costume." Heather Kirk-Davidoff then goes on to to tell the story of an encounter she had with a woman in a bar that eventually lead to her favorite character in the musical, "Rent." Angel was "a homeless, drum playing gay man, who spends most of the show dressed as a drag queen Santa Claus." The woman goes on to tell Heather, "what's amazing to me, is how much power Angel's love has in the lives of the other characters in the play. And his love doesn't stop affecting them even after he dies. It's like,... It's like it's made more perfect in his death." It's at this point in the conversation that Heather suggested that Angel was like Jesus Christ. (article)

My biggest problem is not that she had the audacity to make the comparison, (although that is a problem for me.) My biggest problem is that in this article about EVANGELISM, she never explains that she then went on to EVANGELIZE this woman. She would have you believe that she allowed this woman to continue thinking of Jesus as Angel from Rent. Now I don't really know if she went on to explain sin, punishment for sin, the life of the REAL CHRIST, the death of Christ as payment for sin, and the imputed righteousness of Christ so that we might be found holy before a holy and just God. But the general tone of the article would leave me to believe she did not.

Heather goes on to say, "What would evangelism look like if we... counted conversations instead of conversions?" Well Heather, it would look like we had a lot of conversations and no conversions. It would look like we spread a lot of seeds amongst the thorns and on the shallow ground. We would see many plants sprout up and die very quickly.

If someone does not know WHY they are fleeing to God for salvation, then salvation can not be obtained. If we do not inform them of the true gospel message, who Christ TRULY IS, and why he died on that cross, then they have nothing to believe in. Talking to someone about Christ is not evangelism. TELLING them about Christ, and God's only plan of salvation is. So counting conversations is fine, as long as you count the right ones.

Questions? Comments?
timmrees@yahoo.com