Loving a Game of Numbers...

Hey all! I hope everyone is doing well and what not. For some reason, I feel like writing and thinking a lot more this quarter, and that leads to more posts of course haha. It's probably due to the fact that I'm not taking four crazy upper division courses and thus have some time for free thought without it seeming like diving into the world of academia...
But yes, anyways, this post starts with a little story... Way back when on Monday, as I was walking back from work, I saw a sign for hot dogs and a soda for 25 cents. Well, being the sucker for a good deal that I am, I decided to walk over to the line and try to get a cheap lunch. As I was walking, my mind kept on thinking: What would be the point of selling something for cheap? Well, I decided to think for the best and just decided that they were trying to be nice to everyone at the start of a new quarter, and just rolled along with it...
Oh naivety... Well, needless to say, the line was pretty huge for such an event. There was about 30ish or so people in front of me, with about two cashiers. So, this process was going to take a while... As I was waiting and walking, I heard a voice from behind say hello. I turned to look and saw a dood wearing a GOC sweatshirt. At that point, everything just clicked; GOC stands for Grace on Campus, or a Christian group on campus. GOC is a group that places a huge emphasis on evangelism. I don't know if it's the central part of their doctrine, but I know that it is something very purported, regardless. So yes, if you haven't already put the pieces together, GOC purposefully made their food cheap so that way a line was built. In this line, members from GOC would go in and evangelize to people, for people couldn't leave without losing the deal of such cheap food. Thus, most people would go through the line to get their food, yet would most likely have to talk to a GOC member at the same time.
The dood's name that came and talked to me was Wes (or maybe West... One of the two). We had a nice little talk about religious backgrounds, ministry groups on campus, and different viewpoints on evangelism. All in all, it was a nice chat, even though I ended up leading it most of the time since he was kind of a quiet guy haha. As I was leaving, though, I saw my friend Jane being talked to by two other members of GOC. I joined in on their conversation, even though it was essentially the same as what Wes talked about with me...
After that nice little convo, I ended up talking with Jane just to get her perspective on these things... Essentially, the common perspective garnered was that of a bit more pressing than is comfortable... The GOC people really pushed to make sure that everybody knew what the Gospel is, and if there were any doubts they really seemed to push it. And of course, I mean, this is all in good intentions... These people view that they have this knowledge, this medicine, that will not save your physical life, but one greater than that. From that perspective, wouldn't it make sense to save as many people as you could? Thus, it makes sense to go and evangelize to as many people as possible and try to save them all... Show everyone how much you love them, right?
Of course, a big question comes up here: What is loving? Of course, trying to save everyone's life seems to be loving. But, this statement assumes that there is only one way to show this love. I would like to think that this is truly not the case... Take, for example, if you do have this form of love in the form of medicine. Now, if you take that medicine and force someone to take it, they're probably going to reject it and try to stay away from it, even if you believe the medicine will save them. Yet, if they take the medicine out of their own volition, they'll be saved, which is the point of the medicine. Now, again I shall ask, what act is more loving?
Please don't get me wrong at this point... I think that evangelism can be important and you shouldn't feel afraid to approach people, hoping that they may receive this medicine from somewhere else... It's just that the way the medicine is administered is such a key part to see as whether or not people are saved... Of course, some people may be more willing to take medicine over others if it is pressed upon them, yet I question if this would be true for the general population...
Of course, it is all a balance, but I just think that the problem with evangelizing to just about anyone and everyone is that instead of love for the other person, it can become love of a game numbers... Yes, Christianity does call for evangelism towards others, but don't forget that there are multiple ways for evangelism? You might ask, "Is this message really going to affect them for the better, or am I doing it simply for myself?" You see, the problem with evangelizing without proper connections or proper knowledge is that it could actually make people more averse to Christianity, which would be detrimental and actually taking a step backwards rather than forwards... You see, please don't get me wrong and think that I'm saying all forms of evangelism are bad... I just think that going through such a routine and attempting to evangelize to every stranger may give them a negative impression of not only you but also of Christianity itself... Thus, if that would be the case, would that truly be loving to the individual in question?
At this point, one may point out that I'm seeing problems but not really solutions. Granted, that is the case for now, but I believe that there is a solution. I'm not really a theologian that has a doctorate in evangelism, or anything close to it for that matter, but from the little knowledge of psychology I know, I believe that the more personal the interaction, the better... I mean, if the person you are talking with thinks that you actually care for them, and are not just treating them as "just another person to convert," don't you think they would be more willing to listen? This sort of goes back to my post "Big Brother's Watching You...", but I believe that the more personal the stimulus present, the greater the chance that internal conformity, or a rather relatively permanent change in behavior, is more likely to happen. Even if the person doesn't accept what you're saying as true, at least you can present it in a more personal matter and thus allow them to give it more of a chance for consideration rather than being turned off quite suddenly...
Jane stated this idea in quite an interesting way... Simply put, she said that perhaps the ideal standard should be empathy, not sympathy... Of course, sympathy is a good thing to have, but it's something that can exist without a strong personal connection. Empathy is something that seems to be built up the farther and stronger one's bonds with another are. Thus, if empathy is more present than sympathy, the act of evangelism may be more of a personal thing, rather than just a way to do something that one feels called to do... Of course, distinction of these feelings may be quite hard to do, which means it may just be best to focus on how personal/strong one's bonds with another may be. Again, this may be begging the question, for what is personal, but that is something that may be a bit more clear, if only intuitively, than the distinction between sympathy and empathy...
As I close this post, please let me clear up a few points. Again, I'm not trying to rag on evangelism. I believe that it's not only important in itself but also the way it is done is quite important as well. And to all of those who are not Christians yet still take the time to read my posts, I'm sorry if you feel as if you were treated as just another number for an attempt at conversion... People have good intentions, but sometimes they just don't manifest themselves in proper ways... So yes, thank you all for the time to read this post, and hopefully I have given you some food for thought...