For years I have protested the modern evangelical Christian practice of Evangelistic Deception (lying about our intentions in doing mission work). How can we share the Truth by lying?
Today it is painfully evident that we have only deceived ourselves - the Taliban knows exactly what the IAM (International Assistance Mission) workers were doing - promoting Christianity. It seems that the only people who are unaware that this is what the team was doing are the US Secretary of State, news outlets and the director of IAM.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton condemned the attack and disputed the Taliban's assertion that the medical team was promoting Christianity.
"We also condemn the Taliban's transparent attempt to justify the unjustifiable by making false accusations about their activities in Afghanistan," Clinton said.
On the IAM website a statement was posted that reads, "Our faith motivates and inspires us - but we do not proselytize. We abide by the laws of Afghanistan. We are signatures of the Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs Disaster Response Programmes, in other words, that, 'aid will not be used to further a particular political or religious standpoint.' But more than that, our record speaks for itself." (Dirk R Frans)
What record is that? One of doing good in the name of Jesus the Christ and proclamation of the Gospel I would hope. For a true Christian your entire life is about the following of Christ which certainly does include "proselytizing."
It is a shame that this mass martydom is not being portrayed as exactly what it is. These people were killed because they were Christians ministering in the name of Jesus and hopeful that their witness might cause some to convert to Christ and proclaim Jesus as LORD. Instead the State department and even the ministry that sent the team is tying to convince the world that these people were "aid workers" and not "ministers."
It is time to stop fooling ourselves. If you go to another country in the name of Jesus you are a missionary! If you extend yourself on behalf of the poor for Jesus sake, and the Gospel - YOU ARE A MISSIONARY! You do not have to "preach," but I certainly am hopeful that many heard the Gospel through this team of missionaries. Certainly I do not propose that we wear little name plates that say "Missionary Bob," but we should never be ashamed of the fact that these people (at least one that I knew) were promoting Jesus!
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5 comments:
Isn't it better to be able to share the gospel 'under cover' than to not be able to share it at all? Surely the Taliban would kick the whole organization out if they publicly said they were there to spread the gospel, therefore the group would lose the whole mission field there. So my personal opinion is that it depends on the situation and location.
I think secrecy in cases where it's not needed is indeed not necessary and counter-productive. But this strikes me as a case where it's more prudent to do it 'undercover'. Just my opinion. :-) Even Paul went undercover to escape possible persecution, by sneaking off in the night in a basket out of the city. (Acts 9:23-25) - Chris
Good point Chris, but notice that Paul was "escaping" rather than lying about his purpose. Even in his appeal to Rome he was not saying that he was not preaching Christ. In fact he proclaimed the Gospel to his captors.
As a matter of fact every saint in Scripture that was martyred was killed for proclaiming truth, and you don't find them or the Church proclaiming their innocence.
I cannot think of one example in the early Church where the defense was "they were not preaching or trying to convert anyone."
Furthermore Jesus commands that we should "shake the dust off our feet" of places that do not receive the Gospel. Is it possible that there are places that we simply should not go to rather than lying about the Gospel?
I just cannot see how we can justify lying to share the Truth. This is exactly the way the Muslims spead Islam - deception. We should be different.
I do not propose that we say stupid things and get people killed for foolishness, however I do believe that what drives "secret agent evangelism" is fear of death.
Some Church Fathers recommend escape if possible - go to where it is safe, but in the end death may be the price of faith. I don't think you would find any among the early councils that would have advocated deception as a means of evangelism.
It has been a shame that so many have been so quick to say that these missionaries were not missionaries, and that they were not trying to evangelise anyone. The director of the mission even went so far as to say "Our record speaks for itself." I suppose what he means is that they have been in Afganistan for years, but NO ONE had been converted. SO, why in the world are they there? To help people? Fine and good, but what Afganistan needs is Jesus!
For all the caution and deception these people got killed anyway. The Taliban is not stupid - they know why the team was there even if we continue to say that they were not. Would it not be better to proclaim the Gospel boldly rather than all these lies? And if the result of all this deception has been NO CONVERTS isn't that evidence that it does not work?
I think the message is clear - deception does not work and it will not save your life when the Taliban captures you. If you minister in the name of Jesus in some countries YOU MAY DIE. Might as well be honest about why you are there.
Negash taught me a great lession years ago when he told the Indian Embassy that he was a missionary and planned to go to India to preach the Gospel. They gave him a visa, even though it was not legal for him to go as a missionary. The guy at the embassy said, "I am giving you a visa because you are an honest man."
I guess if the organization says they aren't proselytizing and yet they indeed are, that is indeed lying as you say. So yes, I agree they shouldn't lie. But don't you think there are situations that may warrant missionary work being done in secret?
Paul wrote in 1 Cor. 9 that "To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law."
Some have argued this constitutes a form of 'holy deception' because the important thing is to share the gospel. I'm not completely sure how I feel about that interpretation of the passage, but I think it is a valid question to ask ourselves what is the best thing to do when being more 'out in the open' with the gospel would prevent the gospel from being preached. If Paul was upfront in telling Gentiles that he was actually a Jew, he loses the opportunity. So he becomes 'as one outside the law' for their sake.
At the very least, this is not always a cut and dry question.
Regardless, if pressed, I agree with you that someone should be upfront with the truth.
WOW Chris! Please tell me that you have not heard someone use I Corintians 9 to defend evangelistic deception!
That is totally out of the context of the passage. When Paul says that he becomes all things to all men he is in no way saying that he cloaks the Gospel in double talk and deception - he isn't even impling that he should lie about being a Jew.
I don't think you would have ever heard the Apostle Paul say, "I am not trying to convert anyone." That would have been a lie.
My friend that goes to strip clubs could rightly use this passage (I Cor 9) as a defense more in keeping with the spirit of the passage. She goes in to strip clubs very openly as a Christian and develops relationships with the strippers. She does not allow her moral Baptist upbringing to prevent her from befriending strippers. Everyone knows she is a Christian and she wants to evangelise them. She very openly professes Christ. She does not condemn the strippers or try to change their external appearance. She knows that when a stripper gets saved she will change.
She certainly very openly shares the Gospel. It is very clearly her hope that strippers will convert. To my knowledge she has never lied about it either.
Taking this deception interpretation of Paul - if my friend is denied access to a stip club should she then lie. "Yes, I am a Christian, but I would never try to make someone else a Christian."
My friend does not have to lie to minister. In fact I believe she actually has some club owners who like the fact that she is ministering to their strippers. In her unashamed honesty she has even gained the ear of some club owners.
Maybe a better example might be a crisis pregnancy center. They advertise "free pregnancy test and crisis pregancy counseling". They want to save the unborn baby and minsiter to the mother. One might say that this is deception, but they actually do offer free test and information about abortion - more even than an abortion clinc. The ad might be considered by some as deceptive. But, there was nothing untrue in the ad. On the other hand if they said "we will not try to change you mind" that would be a lie.
Being all things to all men does not mean that we lie.
We can "look Muslim," but if we lose our words what do we have left? That is clearly what Paul is teaching. External things really don't matter. The Word is what is important. I do not see a wholesale endorsement of deception in Paul's advice.
This mission group actually said that they are "not trying to convert Muslims" to Christianity. That is a lie. At least I hope it is a lie.
All I am saying is that we might as well be honest. Muslims want us to submit to Islamic law and become Muslims, we want them to proclaim Jesus as Lord and God. The only people who seem to be confused about this are some evangelical Christian missiologist and missionaries.
I think the heart of evangelistic deception is that we are not willing to die for Truth. We think that somehow through deception we can win the battle for Truth. How can God's Word be proclaimed through a lie?
Chris,
To answer your question - Yes, I do think there is cause for caution and even times when we might have to go "under ground".
Honestly I would most likely lie to try to save my neck, or especially the lives of my loved ones.
However, I think that Deceptive Evangelism on the whole produces deceptive disciples. Deception breeds deception, and we are supposed to be people of truth.
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