Thoughts on unsuccessful evangelism
I attended a video game convention this past summer where people were handing out all sorts of flyers on the street to attendees on their way in. Mostly they were ads for video games and rival conventions, but one in particular caught my eye for some reason. It was the size of a business card, and it had a bunch of different game controllers on the front, with the text, “You’re in Control.” On the back, it had a block of tiny text. Something about it seemed unlike the other ads — not so much in a good way, more like in an “I’m curious what these people are up to” kind of way. The back said this:
In video games you’re in control. The same is true in life; you’re in control of your own actions. Did you know that one day you’ll have to give an account for all the things you’ve done in life? Are you a good person? The dictionary says, “good is to be morally excellent.” Let’s check the standard, the 10 Commandments. The 9th is “You shall not lie,” the 8th is “You shall not steal.” Have you ever murdered (6th)? Did you know the Bible says hate is the same as murder? Using God’s name casually or to swear is blasphemy which breaks the 3rd commandment. How’d you do? You’re in control of your own actions, so if you’ve broken these God sees you as a liar, a thief, a murder [sic] & a blasphemer. Breaking God’s Law makes you a sinner and the punishment is Hell forever. God demonstrates His love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Jesus Christ suffered & died on the Cross, then He rose from the dead. You broke he Law & Jesus paid the fine. You can’t earn your way to Heaven by doing good things but if you’ll repent (confess & give up your sins) and trust in Jesus, God will forgive you and grant you the gift of eternal life. So right now, press “pause” in your life. 150,000 people die every day. Think about all the sins you’ve committed against God. Then apologize to Him, ask for forgiveness & receive the free gift of Salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. No cheat code will work for Heaven, Jesus Christ is the only way (John 14:6).— You received this from someone that wants you to go to Heaven. please seriously consider your eternal destiny. repent & trust in Jesus alone. Read your Bible daily & obey what you read. Thank you for reading this. Please visit: www.NeedGod.com printed by www.OneMillionTracts.comI have a few words in response to this, and to Christian evangelism in general.
The first thing I want to point out is the obvious: This message won’t work. I mean, maybe some people who have already been thinking about religious issues and such will be guilt-tripped by this into finally doing something about it. Really, though, everything I know about advertising and persuasive communication (which is a decent amount, though not a ton) says that this ad sucks. Changing your entire life to be re-centered around Jesus is a major choice, and things like that tend to engage us in more carefully considered thought processes that actually consider the points in an argument. If you don’t accept the core premise that “the Bible — as our particular group interprets it — is always 100% right,” then there is no argument here.
And heck, it really does read like guilt tripping. They come out swinging, telling you that you’re going to hell because you’ve been bad. For a longer dose of this guilt tripping, go ahead and check out their little quiz at NeedGod.com. Even if you answer everything the way you’d think they want you to answer it (never lied, cursed, stole, etc., and I read the Bible every day!), it still tells you that you’re going to hell.
I could just dismiss this as pathetic and annoying. What bothers me most about it, though, is that I fear it’s a reflection of the values behind this evangelistic effort. In short, this message is about selfishness.
I suspect that one of the major reasons people hand out stuff like this at all is that they feel they have to or else they won’t go to heaven (e.g., see Matthew 28:18–20), making it ultimately a selfish endeavor. That said, I do want to actually believe in that line near the end about how the person who gave this to me (or at least the person who wrote it) wants me to go to heaven. Someone took the time to stick video game controllers on one side of this card and actually put people on the street during the biggest consumer-oriented video game convention in the country, which may suggest that this is more than an empty, self-serving effort, that they actually hope to appeal to their target audience.
Sadly, though, even if they aren’t distributing this out of selfishness, the message itself promotes selfishness. The text quoted above asserts, “You can’t earn your way to Heaven by doing good things” — which is not only theologically questionable, but also easily read as meaning that it doesn’t even matter if you’re a “good” person by all common understandings of the word. “Doing good things” is clearly presented as irrelevant when it comes to saving yourself, and saving yourself is what this is all about. This may be nothing short of heresy, considering that Jesus picked out “love your God” and “love your neighbor” — without mention of any other commandment — as the two most important things we must do (see Mark 12:28–33). Note well that Jesus was only asked what one commandment was greater than all others, and yet felt compelled to offer the top two. I’ll grant that “love your God” came out on top, but the way this is phrased in the text above interprets that as “get into heaven,” which is a sad interpretation indeed.
As I said before, though, this is not written as a convincing message. Actually, it’s pretty obviously a very unconvincing message to those who aren’t already convinced that the Bible is ineffable. (See Church Marketing Sucks, a blog, for an ongoing exploration of such failed efforts and contrast with what the bloggers feel might be more successful.) The bits about video games seem at best a token gesture to personalize the generic message, and at worst a subterfuge just to help get rid of the handouts before people can realize what they are. Either this message is an accurate reflection of how the people behind this see Christianity (in which case it is a selfish version of Christianity) or it is not (in which case they think the only way to appeal to non-believers is to twist the message to sound selfish, which is prejudging them, which is also a sin). Either way, this whole message paints a pretty dismal picture of evangelism.
This reminds me of a time I walked by a woman on campus holding up a sign, who told me that I should accept Jesus. I thanked her and explained that I had already accepted Jesus. She said, no, I hadn’t, and that I was going to hell. I stopped a moment and said, “You don’t know me.” She replied: “Yes I do.” I went to get a sandwich so I could bring it back and chat with her as I ate, but she was gone by the time I returned. I’ll never know why she left or even what I would’ve said to her if she had been there when I returned. I suppose my goal was to counter-convert her, or at least place a seed of doubt in her mind. I suppose I was also just fascinated by her twisted sense that faith meant denying the best of others, even when they purport to agree with you.
