The Synagogue of Satan is starting to be seen in some comments

I will not post a name of the person who sent this comment, but I want to show people how to not use Scripture to attempt to prove a point. When you put a bunch of "stuff" in there and neglect the Truth of God's Word, then you are playing the part of a fool. read below...

(I will set the scene, this person does not believe in evangelism. He believes in friendship evangelism. Basically meaning, you become friends with a person first and then present the gospel to them. If they die before you get a chance to tell them the Truth, then that is their bad luck. It was more important to be friends first) The blue print will be my response to him!

I want to address the Woman at the Well. I see this story lifted up quite frequently.

The Scriptures teach us a lot about this passage that some choose to not listen to or focus on. By not focusing on those and using it your defense against "friendship evangelism" does the Bible injustice.
There is nothing that "I" can do to bring injustice to the Bible. The Bible is God's Word. Now it is possible that when someone uses the Bible in a way that is not biblical to show the Truth of God's Word, then the person is guilty of exposing himself as an unbeliever.

The meeting: The village of Sychar was where Jesus met the Samaritan woman (Jacob's Well). The well was located near Mount Gerizim, the site of the Samaritan temple, Samaria's holy place.
The discussion is about how Jesus showed the woman at the well that she was a sinner. The history and the geography do absolutely nothing to prove a point here.
For biblical support of the town and the history of the region; you may take a look at the following:

- II Kings 17:21-41
- Ezra 4
- Nehemiah 4.
Again, not relevant to the conversation.
Also, remember that Jesus was thought to be by some a Samaratian and have a demon (John 8:48).
Again, not relevant to the conversation.
There are a few interesting things that can be learned from this encounter:

1. Twice her nationality and her religion were emphasized.
So, when I come up to someone, I will be sure to say, "You are of Swedish descent. You are of Swedish descent. I know you are a baptist. Look, When we evangelize with someone, we start out in the natural realm, much the same way Jesus did and then we turn it to the spiritual realm.
2. Then there is the fact that she is not exactly well-to-do. Women of influence and affluence did not draw water from wells in those times. (John 4:7)
When doing evangelism, it does not matter whether someone is of influence or affluence. This has nothing to do with talking to her. Jesus did not pick and choose whom he would talk to because all are sinners in need of a Savior. Just as we should not pick and choose who we will be "friends" with for the purpose of evangelizing.
3. Then there is the inescapable hint of a disreputable life - "you have had five husbands and the one you have now is not your husband". (John 4:18)
This is more than just a "hint." You make it sound like he was scared to tell her about her sinful life. No, it was the Truth that He gave her. He pointed out (without needing to say it) that she was an adulterer and was breaking the 7th Commandment. He convicted her of her sin. When we marginalize our conversations and act scared to mention sin, there will be no need to repent.
4. Further, this woman is somewhat unique in that she had not sought out this meeting either by prayer (like Anna in the temple) or by going out to find him (like the Syro-Phoenician woman - Mark 7:26).
Now, in dealing with evangelism, it does not matter whether someone prays for us to come around to talk to them. We do not need to have people come to us. We go to where the people are at. We hit the streets, we go to McDonalds, we go to the mall, we go to WalMart. We meet them where they are at. This argument that you are using here does not make any sense at all concerning our discussion. After Jesus ascended up to heaven, there were the disciples. What were they commanded? Go into all the world preaching the gospel to every creature. They were not to wait for people to come to them. They were SENT to reach the lost Gentiles.
Jesus in Relationship:

- Historically and traditionally, Jewish men did not speak in public to women, even their own wives.
This still has absolutely nothing to do with evangelism. Unless of course you do not talk to women. Putting a plug here for your relationship aspect of witnessing is pretty poor at best.

- For a rabbi this would have been an even greater restriction. Women were not publicly taught the Law.
And yet, when you read Scripture, John 4:25 says, "The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things." Regardless of this point, it has nothing to do with our discussion on evangelism.

- A woman's place in that society was not remotely similar to our own. But Jesus never treated women in the expected ways of his culture. He talked with them. He taught them. He expected and trusted them to be able to proclaim the Good News. He told stories using women as his characters. He even gave an illustration of what God was like using the image of the woman searching for the Lost Coin. Jesus acted and spoke as if women and men were equal before God and his eyes.
In speaking about relationship and evangelism, this argument you are presenting does not follow logically. You are saying some things that are very obvious and yet, they are things that do absolutely nothing to bolster your claim that friendship evangelism is better than straight forward evangelism.
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ." (Galations 3:28)

The Meeting:

Jesus not only spoke to this woman and initiated a conversation but he asked her for a drink of water. Jesus very deliberately chose to affirm life instead of hide-bound tradition that said this woman was not only immoral but ritually unclean when he asked her for the drink.
Guess I have to ask. We know Jesus did these things. Do you? I personally don't care who a person is or where they are from. I will witness to them. I will "initiate" a conversation. Now, saying that Jesus "deliberately chose to affirm life" should be what every single person does who is evangelizing the lost. We do it because we love the person enough that we don't want to see them go to hell.

He specifically ment through Samaria to have this meeting with this woman. They normally would not travel this way.
Again, this does nothing to prove your point.

Jesus on many occassions to meet / touch / confront those with great needs.
now, Jesus knows who has great needs. We can know of a great need too. The need for the gospel to be preached. We are to preach in-season and out of season. Or did you forget that one! While doing evangelism, I shake the person's hand and introduce myself to them. I then ask them some questions. How about those Cubbies? Nice weather we are having, isn't it? Simple things like that. I then ask them if they would like to take the intelligence test. It is almost a 100% seuccess ratio on this one. They all say yes. Why? because people want to prove how smart they are. From there I have them laughing and enjoying our time together. It goes from the natural realm to the spiritual realm when I ask them if they can name the Ten Commandments. No one is offended. They all attempt to name them. Usually they can only name about 4 or 5 of them. So, by your own argument against evangelism, I meet someone, by way of introduction, I touch them, by way of handshake, and I confront them when I walk up to them in the first place. What is their great need. They are sinners headed for hell. They need a Savior!
Now circling the wagon on why this is not a good verse to use against friendship evangelism (which term I do not like) is the following:

In this passage, Jesus and the followers were traveling through the town. They did not live there and would not be around.

Today, when we are in our community, we will see people on a day to day basis.
So, while you are in "community" you will completely NEGLECT ALL OTHER PEOPLE WHO DO NOT LIVE WHERE YOU LIVE? Seriously, when you go on vacation, do you take a vacation on witnessing to people? You like to say that the best way to evangelize is to love people the way Jesus did. Well, your argument is not a valid one. If we are to love all people, we will witness to them, regardless of where they live, where they go to church, how much money they have. We are told to not be friends with the world. Are you obedient to God's Word? Something tells me the answer is no. Your lack of willingness to confront people with the Word of God shows a lack of understanding. In an attempt to prove your point, you have failed miserably.

The commenters have also posted remarks about how Jesus never said the words repent to the woman at the well. When she realized that he was the Messiah, the one called Christ, she left to tell others. The overall theme of the Bible from beginning to end is repent, repent, repent! We don't see what was said to her when she came back to Him later. But you better believe that because of His knowledge of her life, and the fact that she now knows He is the Messiah, she will come back to listen to what He has to say.

Read what the Serpent said in the Garden of Eden...
Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
But of the fruit of the tree which [is] in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
And when the woman saw that the tree [was] good for food, and that it [was] pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make [one] wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. Genesis 3:1-6

This is why I will not post comments that have a sound of the deceitful serpent. It sounds good, but the great deceiver has other plans for you. Saying things like, "I think we should just love people (with no mention of caring about their eternal salvation if they should die THAT DAY!) or to say, something like, "the NOTION of repent." That is too serious of an infraction. It is not a NOTION, it is the Truth of God's Word that says that all sinners will perish unless they repent! No one will come on this blog and pervert the Word of God to deny this eternal truth.