Thoughts on pushy Christians? Those who go up to total strangers and push them to "make a decision for Christ"? If they came up to you as a believer, and still insist you say their prayer, how do you deal with them? What do you say? What do you say to the people who walk away from them in disgust?
I can't blame the people who walk away from them in disgust. It really does nothing to further the actual mission of the church to try and shove things down peoples' throats.
I always think of the young ruler who came to Jesus, Jesus told him what to do, and he walked away very sad. And then Jesus grabbed him and forced him to make a decision. At least you'd be forgiven for thinking that, given the way the pushy types act.
Many years ago I was at a friend's party, and almost everybody there was a Christian. At the time I was overtly hostile to anything that looked like a formal religion. When the opening gambit in just about every conversation was "What church do you go to?" and my answer was "I don't go to church" from the response I got you'd have been forgiven for thinking I said I ate babies for breakfast or something. One person there wouldn't accept any polite answers as to why I didn't go to church (because I guess they thought people who aren't Christians would go to church anyway), and it wasn't socially appropriate to reply with anything like "I don't go to church because of people like you".
I often think of the verse that says to always be ready with an answer for the hope we have. It seems far better to live in a way that makes it clear we have something that people want, rather than simply assuming they want it and ramming it down their throats even if they don't want it.
