The Atheist - Agnostic - Non religious thread

el dingo wrote: Epignosis wrote: My atheist friends, something a lot of Christians do not get is that it's not their job to convince you God exists, or that you need to repent of your sins. Nope.  Not our job. The Bible teaches something very profound and very simple: If God wants you, he will make you thirsty enough.  Then he will take your heart and change it to make you want Christ.  Then he will change your ways over time to make you act like Christ.  And you will be filled with joy for it. It has nothing to do with my rhetoric or a given church's bullsh*t. But there sure are a lot of reasons why I tell people about Jesus.    Sure - I tell lots of people about new bands I discover. I'm mildly disappointed if they don't agree with me. I think the trouble might be that evangelical people are not always as reasoned as you and forget that most of us atheists are all too well aware of Jesus and choose to keep their distance.   I genuinely wish any follower of any non-violent religion the very best in their worship of whatever but i do get a little fed up when some people insist on telling me what I'm missing out on/   I'm offered a product. I reject it. Please folks, don't try and frogmarch me back into the shop  - I'm still not going to buy it,

I've noticed a distinct change over the past 5-10 years in Evangelists, at least down here in the South of England, The Plymouth Brethren don't stand outside the Post Office sermonising anymore, The Jehovah's Witnesses are no longer "a challenge" when they come to my doorstep (which they still do three of four times a year), but are quickly dismissed with a "not today thank you" and they haven't tried selling me a copy of the Watch Tower for quite a while. Even the huge dayglo posters outside the local Gospel Hall are less "fire and brimstone" than they used to be. We still get a good supply of pamphlets and invitations to alpha meetings and church picnics posted through the door and they still constitute a major portion of the unsolicited junk mail I receive (oh how "green" this pleasant land), but they have lost the aggressive "in your face" hard-sell of the 70s, 80s and even 90s. Even at music festivals collectives like the Jesus Army are using a softer approach than they used to use in the 80s (not picking on them specifically - I just can't remember the names of the other organisations ... the 13th Tribe?).

Whether this change is due to "bad press" or simply that the old methods didn't work who can say, but people have long memories and it will take a while for the old stereotype to be forgotten.