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Recommended Rules for Evangelizing

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» Recommended Rules for Evangelizing

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In order to preempt the appearance of tiresome threads like, "Hey you guys, convert to <insert religion here>, or else <insert consequences of infidels here>!", let's make sure of a few things:

It's ok to:

* Explain your religion and its teachings
* Provide analogies/parables/fables and other stories
* Provide discussion on how to be converted to your religion
* Use language specific to the religion
* Report your religion as fact

It's not ok to

* Write the phrase "You're all going to Hell". We get it, some religions have some dire consequences for infidels. There's no need to reiterate it again.
* Insult or slander your audience. You don't need to tell your audience they're crazy for not converting; just report the Good Word.
* Put your personal spin on it or rant. Evangelism is about discussing the religion as best you can, not what you think about the religion, which can be discussed in the other religion forums.

Responders can ask for clarification and engage with the evangelist; do not insult or disrespect the evangelist.

Looking forward to seeing how forumers preach the good sermons!

@Victor Eremita,

I can only add to this sage advice, that Forum Rules and guidelines apply especially in this forum, given the nature of the subject.
Any discussion of religion has the potential to excite passions and arouse enthusiasm. For this reason, Members participating in threads in the Religion Forum should especially exercise courtesy towards other views or interpretations and those who hold them,carefully considering how their choice of words might hurt or antagonise other Members.
John
Forum Administrator

@Victor Eremita,

i think the idea of this thread being necessary is a little biased. there are equally as many members who adhere to a certain philosophy and wish to convert the world to that alone, discarding all others. evangelizing is not simply a religious issue-people evangelize about the make of their auto, what toilet cleaner they use, it never ends.

what i am saying is that if this section is necessary it should be necessary for the rest of the forum as well. however you will find that few people who 'evangelize' actually are aware of what they are doing. that is why there wont be any posts.

you would have better luck starting a section on the forum where people are free to bash other people's ideas, even above and beyond religion. evangelizing always seems to be 'here is why you are wrong' rather than 'here is why i am right'.

@salima,

Evangelizing can refer to an attitude of 'I'm right' and I don't care what you think.

As a side note, can we keep in mind that the word is also associated with a certain brand of Protestantism? When the British government announced that slavery is immoral and the British navy would be attending to bringing it to an end, this was the work of English evangelists.

Their drive to 'spread the good news' led them to identify black people in the Caribbean as humans who needed to be exposed to Christianity. These slaves had not previously been looked at as human, but as units of production.

I was talking to a Southern Baptist Chaplain one day. I was interested in whether he really believed in Hell. When he realized that I wasn't arguing: that I was in earnest, he stumbled a bit, and then told me what evangelism is: he held his hands together like a cup and said: it's about loving another person. I thought, oh... he's a holy man... surprise!

@Victor Eremita,

The reason I created this evangelizing forum is because there were some posts in the past that were evangelical and were removed and we had no where to put them other than delete them. Some people of faith come on here and rather than having them evangelize in the forums, I thought it might be good to have a place where these posts can go, respecting the fact that someone took their time to write it.

After consideration, I agree. Evangelism has got to go. I know I don't want to hear the crap. So, the evangelism forum is going to become the trash can. The trash can will be for posts that belong no where else and nobody will be able to post in the trash can, they will just be able to read the trash if they are a member, not public.

So there we have it, Evangelism - Gone!

@Justin,

Justin;89170 wrote:

The reason I created this evangelizing forum is because there were some posts in the past that were evangelical and were removed and we had no where to put them other than delete them.

I know what you're talking about, and I think you should stick with the original plan- delete them.

Quote:

After consideration, I agree. Evangelism has got to go. I know I don't want to hear the crap. So, the evangelism forum is going to become the trash can. The trash can will be for posts that belong no where else and nobody will be able to post in the trash can, they will just be able to read the trash if they are a member, not public.

So there we have it, Evangelism - Gone!

That's good, but can we just go ahead and trash the rest of the religion forums while we're at it? We all know the evangelizing will continue with these forums around.

Also, why was Salima's thread concerning the religion forums just deleted without discussion? Do we even know if most of the members here want forums on religion, and is there something wrong with having that discussion? :rolleyes:

@Victor Eremita,

It wasn't deleted. It was moved to suggestions and feedback and there's a link to it. I didn't delete anything.

@Victor Eremita,

Thank you for this post. It clears up some confusions people have had, and the forum will be a good place so people won't litter other forums with irrelevant stuff.

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