the evangelist.

I was writing a lovely piece about my night in the city when I was interrupted, approached by a young and friendly-looking Evangelist.  I was compelled to indulge him.

I was waiting at a bench to have dinner with friends, and he apparently found me vulnerable and sell-able and approached.

"Do you have the Son?"  he asked, rather than greeting me.

"Um, I don't think I do,"  I answered.  No idea what he was talking about.  I glanced west toward the sunset, then questioningly back at him.

"The Son," he repeated.  "Do you know Jesus Christ?"

Oh!  "Well, I know of him," I answered.  "I was raised in a Christian family."  Thinking that if I answered, yes, I do know this Jesus, this guy would not need to keep talking.  I was wrong.

I enjoyed chatting with him from a philosophical point of view, but I quite resented his salesman attitude, trying to determine why I had "left the faith" and to rope me back in.  Pretty annoying.  Also, he wasn't actually as friendly as he put on in conversation.  When I warmly said goodbye--it was nice meeting you--and have a good night, he simply walked the other way without a word, presumably to find another lone and lost soul.

I am upset with myself for not being more assertive; I told him I was finished talking shortly after I told him that, no, I, in fact, do not "have the Son", but allowed him to continue the conversation after that.  I didn't mind talking; I don't know why I feel I have to give these people a chance, but I always listen to what they have to say.  But he was quite disrespectful of my time and initial assertion that I was finished talking, and it makes me feel a little weak that I allowed him to have my time.  I could never go buy a car alone.  Well, he didn't sell me on Christ or sin or anything like that; my atheism is steady.  It's my cajones that need some work; I need to develop the asshole in me that would allow me to call this guy a jerk and then walk away.

As usual, I won't delve into the utter ignorance and fallacies of the beliefs of yet another aggressively faithful character to cross my path.  But I will say that he was quite ignorant and/or disrespectful of the fact that I was kindly acknowledging, accepting, and allowing to exist the beliefs that he held so dear, while he was not doing that for my own.

Also, he told me he thought I was pretentious to think I don't need a Savior, as if I'm not a Sinner like everyone else.  That was pretty damn rude.