Posted: Nov 16, 2016 3:43 pm
They're a staple around here. We have a large Christian College in Pensacola and it's my understanding that Street Preaching is a required course for the men. Most of the time they stand on street corners holding a bible and yelling at passing cars. And I can only assume the women are required to stand nearby wearing denim skirts and holding signs, because that's what they do. Those are easy to ignore. Just drive.
The ones who approach you are a little harder to ignore, but really, there's no reason to engage them. It's a waste of time. If they come at with you things like "if you died tonight would you go to heaven or hell!?" you can just brush if off with a simple "false dichotomy" or something, but then keep walking.
They want you to stop and ask questions. Don't do it. I made that mistake once. (Well, more than once, but we'll ignore that first time since alcohol was involved). There's a popular restaurant here that always has a long wait outside. Street preachers like to stand across from it yelling at the people waiting to be seated but they ignore the strip club right next door. Mr. Faceless just had to ask, why are they shouting us when we're just trying to eat when the "real sinners" are over there. That guy kept us there for 45 minutes explaining how he came to Jesus before finally answering the question - that those guys over there know they're sinners because they run inside and shut the door. Those of us waiting at the restaurant don't know we're lost because we're just sitting outside. That's why he targets us. Bottom line - they had a captive audience at the restaurant but not at the strip club.
That's 45 minutes of my life I'll never get back. But you can learn from my mistake.
The ones who approach you are a little harder to ignore, but really, there's no reason to engage them. It's a waste of time. If they come at with you things like "if you died tonight would you go to heaven or hell!?" you can just brush if off with a simple "false dichotomy" or something, but then keep walking.
They want you to stop and ask questions. Don't do it. I made that mistake once. (Well, more than once, but we'll ignore that first time since alcohol was involved). There's a popular restaurant here that always has a long wait outside. Street preachers like to stand across from it yelling at the people waiting to be seated but they ignore the strip club right next door. Mr. Faceless just had to ask, why are they shouting us when we're just trying to eat when the "real sinners" are over there. That guy kept us there for 45 minutes explaining how he came to Jesus before finally answering the question - that those guys over there know they're sinners because they run inside and shut the door. Those of us waiting at the restaurant don't know we're lost because we're just sitting outside. That's why he targets us. Bottom line - they had a captive audience at the restaurant but not at the strip club.
That's 45 minutes of my life I'll never get back. But you can learn from my mistake.