Bad Witnessing

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Mordocai

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Long story short.
Was working with a friend tonight at a local Christian book store. He is in a Oneness Pentecostal Church. Him and I have been discussing doctrine for a few weeks.
Tonight, near the end, a friend of mine walked in from my old job who is not a dedicated Christian, with 2 very non-Christian friends.
I asked him what he was doin that night, he said going clubbing and then to watch girls wrestle in jellow.
For some reason, the answer that came out of me was a sarcastic “ah, the good stuff” and then i told him he should come in, buy a book, that way it’ll guilt him away from what he’s doing.
2 questions.
  1. WHY AM I SO STUPID?? (what a terrible witness!)
  2. im not even sure if my other friend heard me or not cuz we were outside the doors (the store is in a mall)
    so if he heard me say that (my oneness pentecostal friend) he’s probably thinking “by their fruits you will know them” and that im not really Christian if i say things like that.
    so, am i under obligation to bring it up to him and say “this is what i meant” because he wouldnt have seen my facial expression and noted the sarcasm. because it was kind of scandalous for m to say what i said and then have my friend possibly overhear it.
    or do i just accept it silently and pray that he doesnt judge me for his sake?
    a bit confused about whether or not to let it go and accept the possible persecution that comes with that, or to bring it up to him?
God Bless
Mordocai
 
I think you can bring that up but let him know you shouldn’t had said that to your friend, etc…then ask him what he thinks of you - a Christian or not…and see how he really reacts to you.

A real Christian is not only those who make no mistakes, but also those who admit the mistakes and have desire to not let it happen again.
 
Mordocai, I did a similar thing with my brother. I had been concerned about him for quite a while. He has left the Church. He and his wife are big animal rights advocates. They aren’t having children because they are pursuing time consuming hobbies.

All good reasons to be concerned.

But, when I finally said something, I said it in the middle of an argument about a cat. I used the truth like a stick. Now, three years later, our relationship is still strained. And, I have lost all credibility for gently rebuking him that he’s lost his way.

I apologized to him. And, asked God to make up for my bad judgement and heated words.

I am praying for someone else to minister to my brother.

Don’t dwell on it too much. And, remember God has other workers that He can send in to clean up your mess. And, your mess is pretty minor, really. 🙂

And, yeah, talk to your friend about it. I bet he’s done the same thing.
 
Don’t fret. Everyone has long litanies of lost opportunities.

Look to the future instead, and tell yourself that the next time you see anyone in that group, that you’ll use the opportunity to spread the faith.

Good luck!
 
Remember, St. Paul said to become like those we hope to help convert without sinning. Your “partying” friends, well, if they stopped by to see you at the Christian store you work at, then I would say that there is a level of trust there that they have toward you. I am sure there will be more opportunities to evangelize to the party group.

I have a family of “partiers” and while I don’t do the bar scene, when they talk about their weekends and naturally ask about mine, I am more than happy to tell them about mass and adoration. The same partying family members get a little more comfortable each time to not only discuss the faith with me, but to come to me with questions about the faith that they couldn’t answer exactly when they were discussing their faith with their other friends (now, these are cousins who;s only mention of faith with their friends in the past was as deep as “I’m going to a baptism this weekend” nothing more than that). That’s why I’m so excited that they’re actually discussing the faith, even simply, with their friends. My own mother is starting to contemplate actually taking action on petitioning for a decree of nullity from my father based on the fact that my daughter’s dad and I will not live together and/or get married until a tribunal makes a decision about whether his marriage was valid or not.

Usually when you’re not trying is when you witness the best (remember, actions almost ALWAYS speak louder than words) and my guess is that your partying friends are hearing your message (which is why they still talk with you and didn’t “dump” you when you started working at a Christian store).
 
Rather than appearing embarrassed and apologizing for what you said to the partiers, how about asking your pentecostal friend if he has non-believing friends and how he handles talking with them. Then, in the course of the conversation, you could bring up how you dealt with this situation and wonder aloud if you could have done better. In this way, you make sure you have not scandalized your co-worker and also open the conversation in a way that may be helpful to both of you.

Betsy
 
betsy, great suggestion!

and yes, whoever cited Paul in becoming all things to all men in order to save some. i forgot about that.
yes, avoid sin. but, Jesus ate with sinners, prolly had a great sense of humor.
and these were people EASILY bored, so Jesus was very interesting to a bunch of sinners? hmmm what did He know that we don’t know? 🙂

GOD BLESS
Mordocai
 
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