Doorknocking

I have posted in several threads that I live in Santa Monica, California. Is the church that you are talking about anywhere near Santa Monica, California? Please look at a map and get your facts straight before posting personal attacks!

 

It is an IFB church, and it is possible that some members of this message board are members of that church, and I do attack other members of this message board by calling them “zombies walking around in a trance.”

My point in my posts was three fold,

1. It is very rude to knock on the door of an individual or family that you do not know and who may be very displeased by your presence.

2. Doorknocking is a favorite sin of the Mormons, the J.W.’s, and "zombies." Christians should have no part of it.

3. We get plenty of opportunities to share the gospel with others without sinning against our neighbors.

 

Craigbythesea???? How is it a sin against our neighbor to knock on their doors----does this mean that everytime the AVON lady knocks on a door--she's sinning??? How about the teenage fella lookin' for a yard to mow??? He knocks on your door----is it a sin to ask your neighbor if you can mow his yard???

I went out "knocking" this past week----here in rural Mississippi---houses are spread out and you don't get to knock but on a few and its time to go home---but anyway---the couple we visited--we just pulled up in to the gravel drive---the drive way twisted about 1/10 mile to the trailer where they were---they happened to be outside----and I had no problem talking to them!!!

Now---granted---it doesn't always work out to be a "no problem" night of door knockin'---I pastored down in Florida in a residentual area near Leesburg---one particular night---I remember it like it were yesterday---I and another Soul-winner went out to a mega-subdivision----parked our car near a particular corner and had just started "knocking" for the night----

We knocked on the first door---an old man about 80ish answered

"Good evening, Sir! We're from the First--"---"SAVE YOUR BREATH!!!"---and----blam!!!---went the door in our faces!!!

So we walked to the next house---ditto as the one before-----"I DON'T WANY YOUR RELIGIOM!!!"---and "BLAM!!!!"---went the door again!!!!

I looked at the fella I was with---and we both agreed----"Lets go to this next house----and if we don't get any response---we'll go somewhere else!!!!"

We knocked on the third house down from where we started-----and a young lady in her mid 20's answered the door!!!

"Good Evening M'am!!! We're from First Baptist here in town and we were out in the neighborhood sharing Jesus Christ with people who will listen---just wondering if you had a minute or two for us to talk to you???"

"Well---I'm waiting on my husband to come in from work---but I guess it'll be ok!!! Come on in!!"

We made little "chit chat" for a minute and then began to share the love of the Lord Jesus with her and we showed her from the word from the Word how she was a lost sinner and that Jesus died for her sins and that if she would place her faith and trust in Jesus and repent of her sins---He would come into her heart and make His home there!!!---then we asked her if she'd like to be saved from her sins-----

"I sure would!!!"

She knelt down right there by the recliner where she had been sitting and repented of her sins and place her faith and trust in Jesus Christ to save her and make His home in her and was glorously saved!!!

Craigbythesea----was it a sin to knock on that little lady's house??? True story--by the way!!!!

Now---don't get me wrong----and you know as well as I do---that more people are "won" to the Lord Jesus---merely through "Lifestyle" evangelism than through "cold door" knockin'----and that knockin' is tough work---with hardly no glory---its not the most effective way to evangelize but----if it'll reach a little girl in her mid-20's for the Lord Jesus---it was all worth the effort----I agree!!!

 

If an individual Christian genuinely believes, with substantial cause for that belief, that he is led by the Holy Spirit to knock on a specific door, that would not be a sin. But to go knocking on doors because you have been told by a man to do so based upon a map grid, yes, that is a sin because it demonstrates a clear and obvious disrespect for the privacy of others in their own homes.

As has been made all too obvious, I live in a community very different from yours and, as others have mentioned in this thread, cultural values in the south are very different than they are where I live. Here, it is not acceptable for Avon ladies, lawn mowers, and other solicitors to knock on doors. Many of us live on private, gated streets where we have invested a fortune to have our privacy, peace and quiet, and personal security because these values are VERY important to us. All people, especially Christians, need to show us the basic courtesy of respecting our values and not finding ways to sneak through the security gates and knock on our doors. Many of my neighbors have found it necessary to build wall around their homes and install an electronic gate with a security camera and a microphone at the entrance to their property so that no one can get to their front door to knock on it unless they have first been cleared at the front gate by one of their domestic employees.

The Bible very clearly teaches us the importance of loving our neighbor and walking in the Spirit. That is all that I am asking for in this thread. No one should have to spend three million dollars to buy a four bedroom house where no strangers can come disturbing them by knocking on their door, and then hire domestic help to answer the door when someone slips through the cracks by stealth.

And not everyone has the three million dollars to buy that four bedroom house on a gated street or the money to hire domestic help to answer their door, and these people should not be victims of abuse simply because they do not have the financial resources to avoid it.

 

If a family wants your kind of love and attention, why would they spend three million dollars to keep you off their property and away from their front door? And how can you get to my front door to knock on it without first trespassing on my property and invading the privacy of my front yard? I am only asking for the simple obedience to Christ and the Bible that I show to others.

 

Matt. 22:35. One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him,
36. "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?"
37. And He said to him, " 'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.'
38. "This is the great and foremost commandment.
39. "The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.'
40. "On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets." (NASB, 1995)

 

Apparently you have never been to Santa Monica or any other prosperous community where a four bedroom house on a gated street costs three million dollars or more. It is not the "security" that is expensive; it is the location that is expensive. As Realtors say, "Its location, location, location!"

And please do not suggest that I have something to hide simply because I live in an expensive neighborhood where it safe for our children to be outside and play ball in the street, and where we can sit down at the dinner table as a family and not worry about some stranger interrupting that precious time by knocking on our door.

I am not asking that you have the values that my family has; I am simply asking you and others to respect the values of my family and stay away from our home unless you are specifically invited.

 

It sounds as though the Lord has blessed you with a very fine place to live without having to go deeply into debt to buy your home. May God our Father continue to bless you and yours according to His riches in glory through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

 

Craigbythesea: 2. Doorknocking is a favorite sin of the Mormons, the J.W.’s, and "zombies." Christians should have no part of it.

Craig, You are offering no more than opinions and your own viewpoint. You need to offer solid bible or stop arguing this point. The thing about God's word is that it sometimes rubs us the wrong way because we don't want to agree. Bottom line is that door knocking is biblical, was done in the bible, and has been blessed of God time after time.

You will have to be one of the few that slam the door in our faces. But that is to be expected.

 

Nothing in the entire Bible is more solid than this,

Matt. 22:35. One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him,
36. "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?"
37. And He said to him, " 'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.'
38. "This is the great and foremost commandment.
39. "The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.'
40. "On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets." (NASB, 1995)

But, of course, those who choose to pester their neighbors into the fires of hell for eternity are not particularly concerned about the two greatest commandments!

Maybe you don’t like what the Bible says, but I do—every word of it!

Maybe the Canaanites and the Philistines behaved like that, but there certainly is no mention of any Christians going door to door being a public nuisance. There is absolutely no Biblical foundation for willfully sinning against our neighbors hoping that our sin will get some of them saved. A few people may get saved in spite of such sinning, but the end does not justify the means when the means includes sinning against our neighbor.

'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.'

God said it, Moses said, Jesus said it, and Paul taught it,

1. If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
2. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
3. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
4. Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,
5. does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,
6. does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;
7. bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8. Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away.
9. For we know in part and we prophesy in part;
10. but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.
11. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.
12. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.
13. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.
(NASB, 1995)

Please don’t argue against the Word of God!

 

Posted by Craigbythesea: Nothing in the entire Bible is more solid than this,

Matt. 22:35. One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him,
36. "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?"
37. And He said to him, " 'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.'
38. "This is the great and foremost commandment.
39. "The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.'
40. "On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets." (NASB, 1995)

We knock doors because we love the Lord. We knock doors because we love our neighbor enough to tell him of God's love.

Posted by Craigbythesea: Maybe you don’t like what the Bible says, but I do—every word of it!

Well then. Stop twisting it!

Posted by Craigbythesea: Maybe the Canaanites and the Philistines behaved like that, but there certainly is no mention of any Christians going door to door being a public nuisance. There is absolutely no Biblical foundation for willfully sinning against our neighbors hoping that our sin will get some of them saved. A few people may get saved in spite of such sinning, but the end does not justify the means when the means includes sinning against our neighbor.

Matthew 10:14
And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.

Luke 14:23
And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

I believe these to be a door knocking verses. We are told to GUT! We may find some on the streets but it was evident they went to peoples houses as well.

Where do you get willfully sinning against our neighbors garbage? We knock doors out of love. I wouldn't rather be lounging at home on a Saturday? Enjoying my family?

People are dying and going to hell! We need to reach as many as possible with the gospel. If you are satisfied to witness to the people you meet, then fine. We also need to GO as the Great Commission commands and seek out the lost. If that entails knocking on their door and offending them then remember that the gospel is an offence to some. It is done out of love and IS NOT SIN!

Every verse you use justifies knocking on someones door. You have to twist them out of context to make them fit your meaning.

 

Soulman wrote,

Why do you insist upon making a mockery of the gospels by twisting them out of shape? Luke 14:23 quoted above EXPRESSLY teaches the VERY OPPOSITE of knocking on doors. It says to go out into the highways and hedges—anyone who teaches that going outdoors into the highways and hedges is knocking on people’s doors is doing severe violence to the word of God!

And again, in Matthew 10:14 quoted above, you are twisting and distorting the word of God to make it justify sinful behavior toward one’s neighbors. There is absolutely no hint or suggestion of knocking on ANYONE’S door in this verse. Why these people were in these houses and if they initiated the visit or responded to an invitation we do not know. We do know, however, that Paul preached in public places and that people subsequently invited him into their home to learn more. We may have the very same situation in this verse—we simply do not know. But we do know for a fact that the verse does NOT say that they knocked on the door. Christians have no business sinning against their neighbors on the basis of conjecturing from one verse in the Bible out of 131,000 verses that God endorses sinning against our neighbor. The Mormons make a regular practice of it; the J.W.’s make a regular practice; and some other cults make a regular practice of it—but the practice of theses cults does NOT justify Christians doing it. There are enough people suffering in the fires of hell already without making Christianity appear to be another cult that rudely interrupts our family dinner, our family devotions, and other precious family times in the privacy of our own homes. If theses people were being led by the Holy Spirit, they would not do this to us—so it is very clear that they are being led by an unholy spirit.

 

Soulman wrote,

How dare you say that you knock on my door and interrupt my family’s dinner out of love! If you don’t know who lives in the home and if you don’t know for sure that the Holy Spirit is leading you to knock on their door—it is a SIN to disturb the occupants of that home. What could possibly be more obvious!

ALL SIN IS SIN! The Great Commission does NOT tell ANYONE to knock on any door not knowing who lives there and the damage you may cause to the message of the Gospel by interrupting their lives. The HOLY SPIRIT brings us into contact with the people He wishes for us to witness to—it is NOT up to US to randomly knock on people’s doors or knock on the door of every house in such and such city block. Those people who do their own thing rather than be led by the Holy Spirit are enemies of the cross of Christ.

If you really think that every verse that I use justifies sinning against our neighbor—you have a VERY serious problem.

Whatever happened to the days when Baptists believed the Bible and lived like it tells us to live?

 

Matthew 28:19
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

Acts 5:42 And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.

Is this close enough for you? What do you think were on the highways and in the hedges? Houses with people in them. I am not twisting any scriptures here. Acts 5:42 says they went to every house. They had to have knocked on many of the doors. Deny or twist that one!

There is no sin in door knocking Craig. You just don't like it. Plain and simple. You call it sin when God blesses the effort. He tells us to Go. We can preach to crowds or at someones steps. Yes the Mormons and JWs' do it to. All the more reason Christians should do a better job. After all they are imitating us.