From what has been written it will be obvious that one of the most
essential points in dealing with Persian visitors is to understand
thoroughly who are enquirers and who are not. Those who are not primarily
enquirers may often be brought to Christianity almost as easily as those
who come as searchers after truth, for when you get to know Persians,
you can do much with them through personal influence, and indeed, when
all has been written about ways and methods, the thing most used of God
in Persia is the personality of particular missionaries. Curiously
enough, it is not always the popular personality by which the Persian is
most affected in big matters, but he is enormously affected by what we
call character. As to enquirers, it seems to me that no harm is done by
being very careful whom we accept as such. I must own that I have not
always worked on that principle, and there was a time when I was under
the impression that to refuse to see a visitor, or to keep him waiting
a quarter of an hour, would be to derogate from the importance of the
message that I had to give, and when I would plunge without hesitation
into the arguments for the Christian position with any one who asked me
to do so. Possibly at the time it was the best thing to do, for it was
not until I had pursued this plan that I gained any experience to enable
me to discriminate; but I should certainly hesitate to advise anybody
to follow my example. Unless a man professes some serious and practical
reason for wanting to know why he ought to become a Christian it is
not always advisable to tell him. Latterly, when I was approached on
the subject of Christianity, I always replied by asking the enquirer’s
reasons for searching, and also by asking of what he was in search, and,
if from his answer it was obvious that he was in search of something
which could be found outside Christianity, I always told him so. You
must remember that such a man naturally continues talking with you,
generally on religious subjects, and indeed you have then the opportunity
of explaining what Christianity really is, without the necessity of
controversially proving its truth. He is also just as likely to return
to your house as a man with whom you have entered into regular argument,
and I am quite convinced that he is not less likely to appreciate
Christianity at its true value than if you had allowed him to consider
that any one was a proper applicant for admission into the Christian
Church.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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