Full and bulging backpack hanging on my right shoulder with its strap supported by my right hand, a shoulder bag hanging across from my left shoulder to my right hip and a bag of merchandise hanging by my left hand... Then a young man suddenly approached from my two o'clock and said, "ma'am, can I share the Bible?"
I turned to him and back straight to my front as if I saw nothing. I continued walking at the same pace. Seriously? A woman literally needs help with her baggage and you approach her as if she needs saving from hell? Isn't that a total show-off?
There are many false prophets who do this these days. Some would even knock at doors - I had a few instances. Based on my experience, people who do this belong to small and newly established religious groups who are trying to convince others to join them.
Don't get me wrong. I am not against sharing the words from the Bible. While it is not bad to spread the Good News, even in crowded places, it is also not good when you are so tactless, insensitive, and acting righteous while downplaying the others as sinners. I remember a story my brother in the province once shared.
He was on his way to the rice field when two religious folks approached and asked him to stop for a while to listen to the word of God. They said the word of God is more important than what he was about to do in the field. They also tried to sell him a Bible by telling him that it is worth way more than his rice field and anything else. My brother answered, "if it is really that worthy then why are you selling it with just 500 pesos? Why don't you keep it to yourself?"
See what's wrong with the approach? Preachers can just focus on the good script that they are about to share without insinuating or bluntly stating that what they are about to say is more important than anything else - without regard to the setting or situation.
To those who are trying to spread the good news from the Bible, do not disguise your recruiting for more members as evangelization. Do not try to poach those who already belong to a certain religious group. If your mission is to really save souls then here are just few challenges for you:
Go to prisons, visit the sick, hang out with those gossipers and bystanders, go to cockpit arena, standby along Lakandula St. or Magsaysay Ave.* at night, or go to far flung areas where Christianity is scarce or even never heard of.
And... if you are a hypocrite, the least you can do is not to display it bluntly in the open.
* Lakandula St. and Magsasay Ave. in Baguio City are known for bars and possible chaos that come along at night
** Both images are ChatGPT visualization
