Christian Recruitment Pamphlets...

[Big Orange]

This is an interesting pamphlet I was given in Bristol yesterday by a female member of niche' Christian sect; another member she was accompanying was preaching loudly in the middle of the Broadmead shopping district. Here were the contents of this recruitment pamphlet:

Front Sleeve
Inner Sleeve
Back Sleeve

I'm all for free speech, since it allows the misguided and potentially dangerous to hang themselves by their own words. The second paragraph alone, before the "Are You Ready for What is About to Happen?" title, is just solid gold and is blatant fear mongering.

[Darth Wong]

The funny thing about stuff like this is that it's all written for hardcore true believers and just comes off as weird psycho ravings to normal well-adjusted people (including moderate Christians). Yet they shove it in the faces of normal people and expect it to change minds. It really tells you how incredibly insular they are. They literally don't even know how to fake normality so that they can interface with regular people.

I can fake being a fundie if I want to. It's really not hard. But they can't fake normal.

[Crossroads Inc.]

I can fake being a fundie if I want to. It's really not hard. But they can't fake normal.

You know this is a GREAT Statement on fundies as a whole, It such a great line and SO true. I can attest that of the Fundies I've met, the really hard core ones, they live and breath religion. It is simply impossible for them to carry on a normal conversation without slipping Jesus in once a sentence or so.

[Kodiak]

My wife had someone come by last week to tell her about their church and leave a pamphlet. Lacy was busy w/ the kids and took the pamhlet, being polite. What did it talk about, you may ask? Jesus? God? The necessity of religion to help people be good people? Nope. It talked about how mediums who contact the dead are really talking with demons and devils.

[Tanasinn]

We, at the Ann Arbor campus of the University of Michigan, get yearly visits from some nutty Jesus freak group or another that spends a week or so on the diag (a plaza between uni buildings) screaming about how gays are going to hell and masturbation is a sin. It's actually great free entertainment, like a circus freak show.

I don't think they expect to convert anyone. I think it's just ego-stroking.

[Admiral Drason]

We, at the Ann Arbor campus of the University of Michigan, get yearly visits from some nutty Jesus freak group or another that spends a week or so on the diag (a plaza between uni buildings) screaming about how gays are going to hell and masturbation is a sin. It's actually great free entertainment, like a circus freak show.

I don't think they expect to convert anyone. I think it's just ego-stroking.

I think the same guy comes to my campus in St Cloud MN. Its always a riot when he starts screaming at random walkers by about their sinful lives.

[Feil]

This may be a "niche group" in Britain, but it's around 1/5 of the American population.

[born in shadow]

I think the same guy comes to my campus in St Cloud MN. Its always a riot when he starts screaming at random walkers by about their sinful lives.

I think it's a college campus thing. The college I went to before had a religious nutter who would come by with a big sign proclaiming "HELL IS REAL AND YOU'RE GOING THERE" or something along those lines. I'd heard he'd told some people that he would hear God telling him when and where to go...which just screams a need for medicating if you ask me.

Security has escorted him off campus more than once since he was almost attacked by the students he was provoking Thankfully he only bothered me once. His arguments were hilarious and seemed to follow the checklist of arguments. Bible is proof that God exists? Check. Using an argument, then back pedalling when I turn it against him? Check. Claiming I believe things I don't? Double check!

[Ziggy Stardust]

A few years ago, I was visiting Indiana State University, and there was some crazy street preacher named "Brother Larry." He was 22ish at the time, unemployed, and living with his grandmother in Terre Haute. He had dropped out of school after spending a semester at some college in Georgia, but wanted to get a master's from ISU, then go on to a seminary. So, instead of, you know, applying or anything, he took to wandering around the ISU campus "spreading God's words." He especially liked to hang outside a local video rental store and call people going in and out "whores" for watching pornography. I heard him shouting something about how "dinosaurs were created by human technology."

On a side note, a couple years ago he was arrested and banned from campus after a series of complaints of him hitting on and harassing girls.

[Haruko]

I have been handed pamphlets mostly from the door-to-door guys, but a small amount I have received were from Christian advertisers in front of a liquor store, or other store. But the strangest Christian advertiser did not hand me a pamphlet: I was waiting for my first class to start one morning at the local community college I attend, when a girl who had been seated across the hall from me was suddenly standing right before me and telling me that God loves me and other stuff like that. I was perplexed. Did I look sad to her? What made her think I needed the word of God spoken to me through one of his children? I asked if she was a member of the Campus Crusaders for Christ, but she answered that she was not, or of any Christian group on campus.

Every time I get confronted with a Christian advertisement, I never feel as if I am the person actually being spoken to. As someone else in this thread pointed out, it is as if they are speaking to people who have already been converted, or "lapsed" Christians. So was the case with the girl who went up to me to talk to me about God on campus one morning. After getting over how random the encounter seemed, I told her that I am grateful for the gesture, but that her words were empty to me for the same reason that a polytheist going up to her and talking about how Zeus loves her would be to her. She seemed like a good person, and I made sure she understood I meant no ill will, but the encounter was certainly very weird.

[Lonestar]

This is an interesting pamphlet I was given in Bristol yesterday by a female member of niche' Christian sect; another member she was accompanying was preaching loudly in the middle of the Broadmead shopping district. Here were the contents of this recruitment pamphlet:

Front Sleeve
Inner Sleeve
Back Sleeve

I'm all for free speech, since it allows the misguided and potentially dangerous to hang themselves by their own words. The second paragraph alone, before the "Are You Ready for What is About to Happen?" title, is just solid gold and is blatant fear mongering.

*looks at images*


It drives me up the wall that people push this in a tone that indicates no one has ever heard of Jesus before, or the miracles he performed. Obviously, the reason why there are non-Christians out there is because they don't know he died and came back to life!

[Crossroads Inc.]

It drives me up the wall that people push this in a tone that indicates no one has ever heard of Jesus before, or the miracles he performed. Obviously, the reason why there are non-Christians out there is because they don't know he died and came back to life!

You have actually hit the nail on the head right there...

I know there is a moratorium on Trick Tracks, but I bring them up to make the following point... Your average Trick Track goes as follows: Some person learns of something new that runs put to be wicked and sinful, said person falls into darkness and despair, consumed by the wickedness! When they are at their lowest point, a 'friend' arrives, telling them of jesus and god, and saying if they don't change, they are headed toward a lake of fire! Within moments the wicked person converts immediately! They have be shown the light!.

"We" read these things and laugh, because it is on the surface idiotic, however, for must fundies, totally insulated form the outside world, spoon fed the word of God and brought up being told it is the most powerful thing on Earth. THESE people truly do believe that simply handing out pamphlets to others is a sure fire way to convert others. I would bet many of these are shocked when they are easily rebuffed to spreading the word of God...

[Oni Koneko Damien]

It's a normal college thing, and so long as things don't turn too violent or aggressive, I love it when the local crazies visit campus. For one thing it's hilarious entertainment to watch them squeal at passers by and give them a thorough heckling. For another thing it's heartwarming. There are precious few venues where you can watch moderate christians, muslims, wiccans and atheists happily join together to make fun of the crazy people.

[Simon_Jester]

On my campus it was mostly the LaRouchies who showed up. I had some very fun arguments with them.

[DrMckay]

The Fundy on a college campus with a big insulting sign and epithets about our hell-boundedness is a pretty common sight. Havens of atheism, liberal thought, sin, and sodomy, no doubt.

I remember one time I had a pamphlet in my pocket from a prof. about stopping the human slave trade. After informing one of them of the basics of human slavery, I asked one if he thought his hate and vitriol would be better directed at people who enslaved their fellow human beings, instead of those didn't really give a damn about what they had to say, and and saw them at best, a distraction on the way to classes, handed him the pamphlet, and walked out.

Reverse trolling, I guess, but it was fun.

I think part of the outrageous "in public" things that they do is so they can feel justified in their isolation and condemnation of "sinners." An orchestrated separation if I've ever seen one.

[Fleet Admiral JD]

I am so glad that I go to school in the city. The worst we get are the LaRouchers and Greenpeace. I think I've seen maybe, maybe one street preacher on campus. Maybe one or two more in all of Boston. We're in a rather liberal area, though, so take that as you will.

[Szass Tam]

We, at the Ann Arbor campus of the University of Michigan, get yearly visits from some nutty Jesus freak group or another that spends a week or so on the diag (a plaza between uni buildings) screaming about how gays are going to hell and masturbation is a sin. It's actually great free entertainment, like a circus freak show.

I don't think they expect to convert anyone. I think it's just ego-stroking.

We have a rotation of these guys over in East Lansing, at least 2 or 3 days a week, always outside of Wells Hall for some reason.

[Darth Wong]

I think part of the outrageous "in public" things that they do is so they can feel justified in their isolation and condemnation of "sinners." An orchestrated separation if I've ever seen one.

Some fundie denominations place a heavy emphasis on public proselytizing. The Jehovah's Witnesses, for example. It might simply be that the preacher tells them that they get extra God Points for doing this. Maybe they think they can hand them in someday for a reward.

[Alyrium Denryle]

We, at the Ann Arbor campus of the University of Michigan, get yearly visits from some nutty Jesus freak group or another that spends a week or so on the diag (a plaza between uni buildings) screaming about how gays are going to hell and masturbation is a sin. It's actually great free entertainment, like a circus freak show.

I don't think they expect to convert anyone. I think it's just ego-stroking.

I think the same guy comes to my campus in St Cloud MN. Its always a riot when he starts screaming at random walkers by about their sinful lives.

Is his name Brother Jed? Because if it is, I am on a first name basis with him. Spent 4 years doing battle with him for a week every year at ASU

His web site

What I typically do while also arguing with him...

That is the only way to deal with them. You achieve four objectives

1) Smack down their argument in a manner that pleases the crowd more than the ranting of the nutbar, thus preventing them from converting anyone.
2) Destroy their ego by learning as much about them as you can (through what they say about themselves and what you glean from researching them. Ex. I had a friend who found a picture of this guy's daughter, and literally stopped the show for ten minutes after saying something to the tune of "Yes Brother Jed, I still masturbate, as a matter of fact I blew a rather large load while looking at a picture of your daughter in her Class A uniform".
3) Waste time between classes
4) Get more action than you otherwise did in the last... year or so.

[Darth Wong]

Has anyone tried asking him if his pretty blonde daughters ever masturbate? And if so, would he wish to stone them to death?

[Gil Hamilton]

My best experience with religious pamphlets happened when I was attending community college still in Pittsburgh doing my Gen Eds. I was on the 61C bus heading back from downtown and an ancient looking fellow got on to the bus to hand out Chick Tracts, of all things. He was approaching where I was sitting, but arrived at a somewhat dirty looking white haired gentleman in a beat up Native American t-shirt and a crazy look in his eyes.

They ended up getting into a shouting match, with the crazy gentleman declaring himself a "Gangsta for the Lord" (you heard me) and said he was sick of the Chick Tract guys racist bullshit. The woman next to him clucked and went "Mmm... the Lord ain't have no gangsters..." while these two incoherantly ranted at each other, all fire and brimestone. Eventually, the bus driver pulled over and threw them both off the bus, and as I looked out, they had gotten into a fistfight.

I picked up one of the guys dropped Chick Tracts and read through the whole thing. I think I still have it, in fact, in one of my boxes. Seems I'm going to hell, but probably because of the laugh I got at the Gangsta for the Lord and Jack Chick Guy coming to blows than anything in the pamphlet.

[Darth Wong]

I've always wondered what would happen if one of them handed you a pamphlet, and you asked for another. And another. And another. Preferably his entire inventory. Would he get suspicious? Would he be weirded out? Would he just say no? What if you followed him and kept hounding him for more pamphlets?

[Alyrium Denryle]

Has anyone tried asking him if his pretty blonde daughters ever masturbate? And if so, would he wish to stone them to death?

One of his daughters got knocked up recently...

[Darth Wong]

Has anyone tried asking him if his pretty blonde daughters ever masturbate? And if so, would he wish to stone them to death?

One of his daughters got knocked up recently...

That's so sad. According to the Bible, he can't personally stone her to death because he is not without sin, but it would be the right thing to do.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Has anyone tried asking him if his pretty blonde daughters ever masturbate? And if so, would he wish to stone them to death?

One of his daughters got knocked up recently...

That's so sad. According to the Bible, he can't personally stone her to death because he is not without sin, but it would be the right thing to do.

I wonder if he can find some proxy to stone them, and whoever it was that just hacked his site...