Sometimes I read articles online that deal with religious issues. When I scan over the reader comments featured below such articles, two things jump out at me. One, some readers are quite hostile to any references to Christianity or religious faith in general, and two, some of the believers who stand up for Christianity need to work on their delivery.
We Christians are not going to win over skeptics with bad grammar or a seeming ignorance regarding one of the greatest inventions of the scientific age–the spell check. Maybe we should be applauded for our passion–our seeming desire to respond so fast that we don’t adequately proofread our work–but somehow I don’t think such sloppiness is going to help our cause. I’m not just pointing fingers here–I’ve had more than my share of typos in this blog over the last 2+ years. I just think we might be more effective if we took a little more pride in our work.
Also, while it is popular in these reader comment sections to proclaim doom on all nonbelievers, this, too, might not be our most effective witness. I mean, sometimes it sounds kinda Old Testament prophet-like. Now, such a delivery wouldn’t be bad if we were in the same situation as the Old Testament prophets. But we aren’t.
Hmm, what to do…
I know, we could frame our messages like Jesus did. He spoke harshly to religious hypocrites, but to the irreligious His message was couched in love.
So, I’ve got two goals now. 1. Present a clear message. 2. Present a loving message. Who’s with me?