The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1961-12-01


ness. giving evidence at a trial
The Christian should be ready to
give as reason for the hope that.
is in him. But this is in emer-
encies, it's a bit unusual Wit
ness, as the church uses the word
today 1--WE get the word from
Acts 1:8) means all that a Chris
tian may do to show that he is a
Christian.
Witness by Being
Not that a Christian is to be
a ShoW-off. Never. Jesus uses two
meaningful figures of speech in
this connection. He calls His fol-
lowers light, and salt. Now both
light and salt can be nuiSanceS,
even harmful, if you get too
much salt into the food or if a
glaring light gives you a head
ache. Both light and salt must
be modest, SO to speak. unobtru-
sivc. But what do light and salt
do to justify their existence?
Strictly speaking. the do not do
a thing. They just ARE. The
light gives light and the salt
tastes salt. This suggests a way
for the Christian to witness for
J Christ. Just BEING what the
preacher talks about, just BE-
ING (as it Were) like the pictures
in the catalogue, that is witness,
that is evangelism. We use the
word "eyangelism" in the church
too exclusively for talk. Every
body knows one picture is worth
a thousand arguments. If you are
a Christian, why is it? Isn't it
because you somewhere have
known a real Christian or two?
Talk is important, Christian talk
very important; but the sales
man ought to be able to point to
some good samples.
Witness by Doing
You can't really separate being
and doing. Part of being a Chris
tan = an indispensable parts
doing. What? Well, here we
come on all sorts of strange
ideas. Centuries ago there were
men who thought the thing to do,
for a Christian, would be to suf-
fer as much pain as possible. So
if they didn't have any wounds
they would cut themselves. and
if they were not sick they would
do things almost guaranteed to
make them sick. They would
stand in cold water all night long
to keep from going to sleep. One
man (Simeon Stylites, the Pillar
Nam stood on top of post for
So solid years just to show what
a good Christian he was. Most of
the church has got over these
grotesque ideas. Some thinkers
have rushed to the opposite ex-
IRENE and denied that a Chris
tan can do anything to show
g CHRISTIAN. The Bible truth
is simple. St. John put it into
words Of one syllable: He who
says he abides in Him Christi
ought to walk in the same way
in which He walked"
Some people are better takers
than others. true enough. But il
does seem strange that Chris
tianS very often find it harder,
or they think it's harder, to say
a good word for Jesus Christ
than it is To walk as He walked
or to have Christ-like attitudes
Nevertheless. witness by saying
is very important. A professor in
classroom of chemistry makes
demonstration at the desk: and
that's very effective form OF
teaching. But if he never once
says what he is doing. never ex-
plains at all. he's a poor teach
er. A Christian, if he is any
thing like the Christians Of the
early days. will not only witness
by doing and being. he will say
a good word for the Saviour Man
is a talking animal. The word
Gospel means Good News. News
can be pictures, but some time
or other it Calls out to be told.
II witness by saying seems
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