A few thoughts - outreach opportunities (Kirk Assassination)

[Hazelelponi]

Hello. I was just thinking now is a good time to reach out to people with book suggestions and perhaps church suggestions to friends, neighbors, and random people.

A few things are happening. Right now with the new kill lists coupled with the murder of Charlie Kirk and there's a lot of right wing commentators that are legitimately afraid for their lives.

Crowder said he tried to attend church on Sunday but had to leave because he was legit afraid to be in a crowded unsecured location and couldn't get past it and left.

GLAAD (a transgender activist group) publicly named a detransitioner alongside Kirks name which has now placed a target on her back and she's terrified for her life because of the kill lists.

So issue 1 is that some people who are podcasters, writers, etc - there could be more than we realize - might want legitimate contact with the faithful but are facing real fears about being in public.

Second.

With Charlie Kirks passing many people are going back to church or reading the Bible for the first time. Many are saying so publicly, so perhaps we can keep an eye out extra for people who need to be pointed in positive directions for church attendance and reading materials suggestions.

That's what I was thinking about.

 

[EarlyActs]

What passage of the Bible would you suggest a new person read first?

 

[Josheb]

Hello. I was just thinking now is a good time to reach out to people with book suggestions and perhaps church suggestions to friends, neighbors, and random people.

A few things are happening. Right now with the new kill lists coupled with the murder of Charlie Kirk and there's a lot of right wing commentators that are legitimately afraid for their lives.

Crowder said he tried to attend church on Sunday but had to leave because he was legit afraid to be in a crowded unsecured location and couldn't get past it and left.

GLAAD (a transgender activist group) publicly named a detransitioner alongside Kirks name which has now placed a target on her back and she's terrified for her life because of the kill lists.

So issue 1 is that some people who are podcasters, writers, etc - there could be more than we realize - might want legitimate contact with the faithful but are facing real fears about being in public.

Second.

With Charlie Kirks passing many people are going back to church or reading the Bible for the first time. Many are saying so publicly, so perhaps we can keep an eye out extra for people who need to be pointed in positive directions for church attendance and reading materials suggestions.

That's what I was thinking about.

Wow. That's a lot of content to cover.

1. You're correct. Now is a good time to reach out to others, believers and non-believers AND do so with manners and respect (which was one of Kirk's best attributes). I have received a modicum of criticism for this next comment in various forums but there are posters here who are better apologists than Kirk. That skillset is a gift, and it should be used.
2. I reject the premise of a "kill list." It's propaganda. The reality is that mentally ill people behave mentally ill and the association with the left side of politics is correlative, not causal. An argument that gun owners often use is there are at least 100 million gun owners in the Us. If gun owners were the problem, then everyone would know it. Similarly, there are 65 million people diagnosed with mental illness in the US. If mentally ill people were the problem, then everyone would know it. There are about 80 million voting left. If they were the problem then everyone would know it. The problem is news media. We cannot get objectively provided whole information and the subterfuge exists in both left and right media. Every video seen on YouTube or the news, etc. is edited. Only by going directly to TPUSA can any semblance of a whole even be observed (and even then the vids are edited). Editors, editorialists, and politicians want everyone enraged. It sells ad minutes and distracts from what's actually happening (which is much more complex than a real or imagined kill list).
3. Crowder is a fool. Perfect love casts out fear so church is the exact place he needs to be and many churches have armed security. Where present, they do not announce themselves (my congregation has a shooting club so I suspect there is always someone present carrying concealed). He'd have to talk to the elders to find out about security and he, apparently, did not think to do that due to his anxiety. Anxiety kills more people than mass shooters. Dying scared in Christ is much better than dying in the illusion of safety outside of Christ. Crowder professes to be Christian, so he knows better.
4. Leftist organizations, like GLAAD, do what Leftist organizations do. It is irrational for Christians to expect non-Christians to act like Christians. The news of what GLAAD does is "news." It is highly structured, contrived, worded, edited content that cannot be trusted. The problems reported are always either much worse, or much less a problem than what is reported and, again, the media wants its readers/hearers enraged. News content is always intended to provoke. The entire news (and political) apparatus is a troll. The sooner a person understands that the sooner they are able to act Christlike (whatever that may entail). Prominent names constantly receive threats of violence. Whole news hours could be consumed reading that list of names.
5. Publicly made threats of murder are prosecutable. If the person, organization making the threat is not prosecuted then there are two problems: a) the threat and the people making it, and b) the lack of accountability. We live in a society that has problems with both. That is reality.
6. "Contact with the faithful" is always a need AND a need for both those in Christ and those outside of Christ. Evangelism is a spiritual discipline. Every Christian should practice it to the best of their enabling. Every non-Christian should hear the gospel and (obviously) receive it. That they do not receive the gospel is not a problem for the Christian because each individual's eternal disposition is God's purview, not the evangelist. And, in point of fact, evangelism is always more fruit-bearing when the evangelists is actively listening to God for illumination about the person being evangelized. Sometimes the providential end of the evangelist's evangelism is condemnation, not salvation. The exact same cross that saves also condemns. The current set of circumstances we're experiencing in the US (and elsewhere) is temporary. After this nonsense passes another nonsense will occur. It is what sinful humanity does. Expecting something else is irrational. The question is whether or not Christians will be the agents of gospel change God calls us to be. The gospel covers all aspects of human existence (even if there exist those, like GLAAD, who disagree).
7. Keeping an eye out for new attendees at church is always commendable. You or I may be the only person with whom they speak (even if a congregation staffs greeters). Will we be engaging or superficial. People thirst to be heard. Feeling heard is one of the most powerful experiences a person can have, especially those living outside of Christ. Those inside Christ have a much different experience of knowing and being known but it can be a function of maturity and alternatively something appealing, repulsive, or intimidating. In a Sunday morning setting emulating a TPUSA campus event would be inappropriate.

.

That's what I was thinking about.

Very commendable.