steenajack wrote:I didn't even think it would be offensive until Nate said so.
I didn't mean it would be offensive, exactly, I just meant that some people would be annoyed by it.
Like I said, imagine you're out with your family and buying some groceries for a party, or for dinner. And you come across a group of people loudly singing a song about God not existing.
You might not get offended, and you might not tell them off. But you'd probably find it a bit annoying and be like "I'm just here to get some groceries." And like I said, I'm willing to bet a few people on here would be like "Why do these people have to shove their beliefs in my face? Why can't they just leave me alone and let me live how I want to live?"
And well, non-Christians sometimes think those same things when we do stuff like this. Jesus said we are to love our neighbor as ourselves, and part of that means trying our best not to irritate them or be pushy. I'm not saying this is irritating or pushy in and of itself, just that it has the potential to be.
I'm also with Temmy, here. While there's nothing wrong with missionary work (in fact, Jesus does command us to preach the gospel to all nations), I think there's a difference between real missionary work and "Look at me I'm such a great Christian because I'm doing this stuff." Some people (not all, but some) are more interested in doing this kind of stuff not to tell others about God, but to tell others that THEY believe in God, which is completely different. It's less about "Let me tell you about God and how great He is" and more of a "Look at me I believe in God!"
Also tracts may be cute and helpful in some situations, but often times they can over-simplify things (I have yet to see a tract address the "Problem of Evil" which is a famous theological quandary), or can try and push a specific theology rather than genuinely trying to help people know God (in other words, a tract that says something like "You HAVE to believe that communion is only symbolic or else you're a heathen!").
And the worst ones are those jerks that leave tracts that look like dollar bills on the cover as a tip for a waiter at a restaurant or something. There's just no excuse for that.
Getting a bit sidetracked now. But yeah, I'm not saying this is inherently bad or no one should do it. Don't let me discourage you if God is truly calling you to do this! But I do think people should search deep within themselves and ask, does God truly want you to do this? Or do YOU want to do it? And there's nothing wrong with YOU wanting to do it, either. I do things I want to do all the time, and not because God tells me to do them (like play video games and surf the internet). But when I do these things, I don't do it under the impression that I'm doing it because God wants me to.
I just think we need to be careful that we're actually praising God, and not praising ourselves for praising God.