Doorknocking

[TexasSky]

Interesting Scenario Criag,

May I share a "true story" with you?

Actually 2 of them....

First one - A young child's parents had a tendancy to drink all night, and sleep all day. The kids were left on their own, and often played outside on the streets. The number one rule of the house was, "don't wake up Mom and her boyfriend, no matter what." So if the kids got hungry or thirst, they didn't tell Mom because hunger and thirst was not as frightful as Mom with a hangover. A Christian woman decided to go door to door in her neighborhood, gathering up children. She invited the kids to church, they wanted to do anything to get out of the hot sun, but they were afraid to ask Mom. The lady went and woke up the Mom with the hangover, and asked her permission. The Mom said sure. The lady gathered the kids and took them to Sunday School, Church, and lunch. Now, she COULD have turned the whole family into CPS, but she wanted to be a Christian neighbor, so instead, she decided to use the opportunity to get to know the mother. Eventually, the Mother and her boyfriend and the kids all came to Christ and the child became a Missionary to Kenya.

A woman who had been very hurt by someone she loved was feeling lonely, depressed, and unwanted in the world. A group from a church stopped by on a door-knocking mission and noticed that the woman was crying. They couldn't get it out of their minds, so .. they came back one night, with cookies, saying, "I hope you won't think we're strange, but we're going out for coffee, would you like to come?" The woman is now a very active member of the church the women came from.

 

[Craigbythesea]

God is sovereign, and He works in spite of our sin, but the overall consequences of sin are NEVER good. The wages of sin is death. The end NEVER justifies the means.

Had the people in your scenario been walking in the Spirit, the consequences would have been much better overall. God rewards righteousness and he punishes sin. And as partial proof of that, we find these true stories being used to justify sin. Who knows the ultimate damage that has been caused to the Kingdom of God by the actions of these people?

Many thousands of people in prison have been led to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ by other inmates, and several of them have become soul-winning pastors. Had none of these people committed their crimes, they would not have been in prison, and none of these people would have been saved in prison. Does this fact justify the crimes of rape, murder, and child molesting that put these men behind bars in the first place?

Almost all sinners find details to justify their sins in their own minds, but the fact that they are sins remains, and the wages of sin is death.

 

[mcgyver]

Craig, let me ask you brother....

How do you go about sharing the Gospel and "winning" souls to the Lord?

 

[Magnetic Poles]

Two teenage girls here in Colorado were found guilty of causing medical distress by ringing a woman's doorbell to leave her cookies. She sued and won. Happened about 3 mos ago, or so.

 

[blackbird]

Originally posted by Magnetic Poles:
Two teenage girls here in Colorado were found guilty of causing medical distress by ringing a woman's doorbell to leave her cookies. She sued and won. Happened about 3 mos ago, or so.

Magnetic---that episode??? About what time of the day was it when those Girl Scouts knocked on that lady's door????

So, its a sin to knock on someone's door----show me one reference from God's word that expliciti tells us----"Thou shalt not knock on thy neighbor's door!"

I can tell you this----the epistle of James tells us that for a person who "knows to do good---but does not do it---to him it is sin"---or something close to that----you know what I mean----

Craigbythesea----if you don't want to knock---then don't---thats your business---but for you to say that its a sin to knock----my dear brother---you are way out of line!!!!

 

[Ed Edwards]

Blackbird: //So, its a sin to knock on someone's door----show me one reference from God's word that expliciti tells us----"Thou shalt not knock on thy neighbor's door!"//

It is right next to the verse that explicitly tells us:
"Though shalt not kill thyself with smoking cigarettes".

About 45% of the US population considers it an insult to ring
their door bell uninvited. Where does the Bible explicitly tell us
it is alright to go around insulting prospective church members?

 

[dianetavegia]

Revelation 3:20
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

Matthew 10:14
And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet.

James 1:27
Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

 

[Ed Edwards]

Blackbird: //I can tell you this----the epistle of James tells us that for a person who "knows to do good---but does not do it---to him it is sin"---or something close to that----you know what I mean----//

Yep. So now that you know you are going to insult a person
by knocking uninvited, you will sin unless you make an appointment.
QED, Craigbythesea is right. Thanks for helping prove Craigbythesea
correct.

 

[Ed Edwards]

Yerusalemu, Ee Yerusalemu!

Looks a lot like Matthew 23:27

 

[Thankful]

Personally, I am very uncomfortable going to a person's home uninvited. I prefer calling and making a definite time for the visit.

Maybe this is because I like for people to call me and not just drop in.

Personal experience: A woman from a church that I was a member of came to visit unannounced. I would have been better off not answering the door because I had just got out of the shower with wet hair. She was dressed immaculately. I was embarrassed in my own home.

To make matters worse, she did not even realize that I had been a member of that church for five years (A very large church).

Later I thought maybe I am missing out on a true friendship so I called the woman and thanked her for the visit and invited her to come have coffee with me. She had all kinds of excuses. She wasn't interested in me at all. She apparently was just interested in visiting the people on her list. I'm not sure why I was on her list because I was not in her Sunday School Class. I never saw that woman again.


I don't know that door knocking is wrong, but I don't think it is something that everyone should do. It takes a special gift and a person should be led by the Lord to this ministry.

 

[Soulman]

Posted byastorSBC1303 Craig, you keep trying to justify to yourself your argument. In the meantime you have provided absolutely NO sound Biblical proof that knocking on someone's door to share the Gospel with them is "sinning against your neighbor".

Pastor, I went around and around with Craig last night on this very same point. He kept calling door knocking sin with NO biblical justification. He finally wore me down and I called it a night.

We live in a free country and have the freedom to share the gospel the way we do. In my experiences very few people even show the slightest irritation to someone knocking on their door.

 

[shannonL]

To Craigbythesea,

Friend, to be a Calvinist is within the "pail of orthodoxy" to be a "hypercalvinist" is not.
You only back your position with hypothetical situations simply because you cannot find Scripture that teaches witnessing is sin. In Acts chapter 8 Phillip the evangelist is led by the Lord to share the Gospel with a man on a lonely road. Now grant it the ethiopian asked him in but that still does not negate the fact that the Lord sent him to meet with the man in a very personal situation. You cannot deny that a Sovereign God set that encounter up. God wouldn't command us to go if He didn't intend for us to encounter people in a personal way. The only sin that would have been committed in Acts ch. 8 is if Phillip had refused to go and meet the Eunich in his Chariot that day, because it was God who arranged the whole affair. Your position on this matter is not only unscriptual its anti-scriptual.

 

[Karen]

I don't go regularly, but I do go from time to time. The last time I went was a couple of months ago, with a group helping a mission church canvas their area.
I enjoyed it and do not remotely believe I was sinning. We were respectful.
If people don't want to answer the door, they don't have to. We didn't keep ringing the door.
We gave our information and did not drag it out.

I have generally found that people are not angry when they answer the door.
Craig, your example of the 94-year-old lady and the dog was odd. People knock on my door all the time. Meter readers, UPS delivery, the postman when something is too big for the box, neighbors needing something, the Schwan's frozen food delivery, school kids selling candy, Boy Scouts selling popcorn, etc. I do exercise appropriate precautions in identifying people.

But if I knocked on someone's door, and their own dog was out of control and scared them to death, I did not murder that person. We can think up theoretical strange results all day long that never really happened. But the bottom line is door-knocking can be a valid method.
Like Thankful said, it needs to be done right, with real concern.

If a person really gets that mad when once in a while, someone knocks on their door and invites them to church, maybe that person has an anger problem.
Come to OK where you can own a nice house for a tiny fraction of $3 million and have friendly neighbors, too.

Karen
Karen

 

[Craigbythesea]

Craigbythesea----if you don't want to knock---then don't---thats your business---but for you to say that its a sin to knock----my dear brother---you are way out of line!!!!

It is not your business to knock another man's door—knock on your own door all that your heart may desire, but keep your hands off of other peoples’ property! Those who trespass against their neighbor shall pay for their sins.

 

[Craigbythesea]

Yep. So now that you know you are going to insult a person
by knocking uninvited, you will sin unless you make an appointment.
QED, Craigbythesea is right. Thanks for helping prove Craigbythesea
correct.

Ed,

Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will richly bless you for standing up for His righteousness. On the other hand, those who choose to sin against their neighbors will suffer the wrath of God for their sins.

 

[Gregory Perry Sr.]

Craig...PROVE to me...in scripture RIGHTLY DIVIDED and IN CONTEXT how and why doorknocking as a method of personal evangelism is a sin and unscriptural.How can you possibly refute the many thousands of people that have been won by the Lord through the dedicated FAITHful witnessing of God-honoring,bold believers who have taken part in this method of sharing the Lord with the lost of this world.It somewhat amazes me that EVEN you would step out onto a limb THIS shakey.Unbelievable!

Greg Sr.

 

[Craigbythesea]

Personal experience: A woman from a church that I was a member of came to visit unannounced. I would have been better off not answering the door because I had just got out of the shower with wet hair. She was dressed immaculately. I was embarrassed in my own home.

To make matters worse, she did not even realize that I had been a member of that church for five years (A very large church).

Later I thought maybe I am missing out on a true friendship so I called the woman and thanked her for the visit and invited her to come have coffee with me. She had all kinds of excuses. She wasn't interested in me at all. She apparently was just interested in visiting the people on her list. I'm not sure why I was on her list because I was not in her Sunday School Class. I never saw that woman again.

Thank you for sharing this testimony. I am deeply sorry that you had to be another of the millions of victims of those who presume to come upon their neighbor’s property without their permission and violate their inalienable right to be at peach in their own home. I can not begin to tell you the contempt that I feel toward those who behave so wickedly toward others in the name of Christ. They have earned their place in hell with the Scribes and Pharisees. May God have mercy upon them.

 

[Craigbythesea]

We live in a free country and have the freedom to share the gospel the way we do.

No, you do not, if you are trespassing on the property that belongs to another .

 

[Gregory Perry Sr.]

Craig...by your unbiblical standard it could also be presumed that anytime we WITNESS to anyone who didn't INQUIRE of us FIRST,we are violating their "right to privacy" and committing sin.How ludicrous.We have a responsibility to take the Gospel to the lost...whether it's by knocking on a door...or meeting them on a public street corner.Your position seems like wicked Hyper-Calvinism at its very worst.I'll not say doorknocking is the best method of evangelism...but it most certainly is a viable one.I don't advocate anyone being pushy but it is no sin to knock on someones door and in a compassionate,loving way seek to plant a gospel "seed" by leaving a tract or share a testimony about the Lord Jesus Christ.And then for you to even remotely imply that those that do such will wind up in HELL with the scribes and pharisees....toooooo much.I know this won't make a dent in your cold heart....but you really need to ask God to forgive you....you are way over the line.

Greg Sr.

 

[NaasPreacher (C4K)]

I am closing this thread as it has taken a distinctively ugly turn.