Street Preachers Who Shout in Shopping Areas

Mormons are a PITA.. they're always Americans, and they will always stop us in the shopping precincts.. however there's no screeching from them.. and they are always immaculately turned out, and extremely polite...

Yes, Mormons are American-made. Super polite and decked-out, they are indeed hard to be rude to. 🤗
 

Those who go door to door, sometimes serve a totally unexpected purpose.

My cousin, Bill, took a job one summer selling bibles door to door in the Midwest, the summer after graduating high school and before joining the Army and shipping off to Vietnam. Very nice, high quality, handsome heirloom type family bibles.

Bill went to one remote farmhouse and standing on the porch, was overwhelmed by an odor. Looking through a window, he saw a decomposed body seated in a recliner and called the police.
 
I have never seen one.
I must be really getting old because lately all the memories that pop into my head are from way back in my childhood.

One day, Mum and I had to visit the Dept of Education in the heart of Sydney - something to do with being transferred to another school.

Near the Dept of Educ. was a small park with an obelisk that commemorated the fact that that spot was the origin point for measuring road distance in the fledgling colony of New South Wales.

A fire and brimstone preacher was going full bore on the sins of the unsaved and most people paid him no heed. Mum and I were eating our cut lunch if sandwiches and friut.

At the foot of the preacher lay an old drunk, possibly a consumer of metho and boot polish.

He kept harassing the preacher by repeatedly shouting out "Hey!" but the preacher ignored him as if he didn't exist.

Then the old man sat up and loudly declared "Hey! When you're dead, you're dead! AND THE GRUBS EAT YOU!"

I was highly amused by such heresy at the time but now I think that the preacher had a chance to be the Good Samaritan for that man, to call for help, or to put him in a taxi and take him to a place of refuge where he could sober up. He could then have come to him, to counsel him and encourage him to give up the grog.

It might have been a fruitless exercise, but if he had any faith in Jesus' teaching, he should not have walked on by.
 
Never mind in the street, I had one of those self-proclaimed "preachers" knock on my door. This guy is yelling that I'm going to hell, I'm a no good sinner, etc., etc. He's screaming on and on, in my kitchen. I decided he had to go, and started for him. It was then that God spoke to him, and told him that while his soul may go to heaven, unless he fled, his earthly body was going to get beat to hell.
 
I had two young Seventh Day Adventists knock on my door when I lived in Adelaide. They saw I was painting, and offered to help. The were New Zealanders, and were very keen to know about Canada. They didn't even discuss religion.

On the other hand, the Jehovah's Witnesses that came around to my Toronto neighbourhood, before I moved to Australia, were the most aggressive proselytizers I've ever met. They foresake anyone who doesn't agree with them .. told me I would burn in Hell if I didn't convert. I stopped answering the doorbell when they came around, but, hubby would answer and let them chat forever. He's far too polite sometimes.
 
I don't have a problem with people that have religious beliefs, if they do then that's OK with me, but I don't have have religion in my life, and that's OK for me.

I do get annoyed when callers come knocking at my door peddling their religion, and they totally ignore a polite notice on the wall beside my front door informing such people not to knock on the door or ring the bell.

Some years ago I was just returning home from London, and as I was leaving the train station I was accosted by a bloke shouting his religion at me. I politely told him that I wasn't interested, but he followed me for about a half mile, shouting all the way.
I then stopped, glared at him, and told him to either p*ss off or he'd wake up with a flat nose.

I think that those people that shout out their beliefs, much to the annoyance of people just going about their lives, are in fact performing a sort of assault.
Outside a supermarket a few months ago I saw two elderly ladies, clearly distressed by a man shouting his beliefs at them.

Rant over.
 
I occasionally give out gospel tracts, but I only engage in conversation if the other person wants to talk. I don’t interrupt someone talking on a phone or taking care of their child, I never interact with minors, and I only give out tracts in public spaces (sidewalk), not in places of business. Most will take the tract. I am pleasant and wish them good day either way. I pray and let God do His work should the person actually read the tract.
 
Interesting - can you tell us what the differences are between yours and mine regarding free speech?

And for the record, I've never heard or read of anyone in the US suggesting that they could say "anything they wanted anywhere they wanted". But street corner preachers (the topic of this thread) in America are within their 1st amendment rights to preach what they believe. Our free speech here is not limited to just "you can criticize the government". Can't say about yours. Or in London.
Nope I am ashamed to say that. We came to Canada in 1969, became citizens in 1975. Shortly after that Pierre Trudeau brought the constitution home.It was all clear as mud to me.
In the 8th grade in California we had to pass a test on the Constitution to be able to get into high school. Then there were limits on what you could say that can get your butt tossed in jail.
 
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Nope I am ashamed to say that. We came to Canada in 1969, became citizens in 1975. Shortly after that Pierre Trudeau brought the constitution home.It was all clear as mud to me.
In the 8th grade in California we had to pass a test on the Constitution to be able to get into high school. Then there were limits on what you could say that can get your butt tossed in jail.
Fair enough. Thank you for the candid reply.

Happy Holidays
 
If standing on a street corner preaching or evangelizing is what that person needs then I just let them be. We all have our path to Christ.
 

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