How To Call Someone To Repentance<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Last month I spent many pixels criticizing a particularly bad and ineffective way of explaining to someone the error of their ways and calling them to\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/2013\/11\/how-to-call-someone-to-repentance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How To Call Someone To Repentance\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Last month I spent many pixels criticizing a particularly bad and ineffective way of explaining to someone the error of their ways and calling them to\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/2013\/11\/how-to-call-someone-to-repentance\/\" 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{"id":653,"date":"2013-11-18T03:05:10","date_gmt":"2013-11-18T08:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/?p=653"},"modified":"2014-12-23T23:22:11","modified_gmt":"2014-12-24T04:22:11","slug":"how-to-call-someone-to-repentance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/2013\/11\/how-to-call-someone-to-repentance\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Call Someone To Repentance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Last month I spent many pixels criticizing a particularly bad and ineffective way of explaining to someone the error of their ways and calling them to repentance<\/a>. It seems only fair that I should spend some time talking about the right way to do it.<\/p>\n

Um.<\/p>\n

Well.<\/p>\n

You know, I\u2019m not sure I know just what the right way is, as a general thing. It\u2019s a hard thing to do. (Q: How do porcupines make love? A: Very<\/i> carefully.) But there are couple of things I think I know.<\/p>\n

First, I think it depends on who you are, and the gifts the Holy Spirit has given you. Take my younger daughter\u2019s godfather Tony, for example. He\u2019s a guy who can meet someone on a plane, or in line at the grocery store, talk to them about God, discern where they are having trouble, offer to pray with them, call them to repentance\u2026and be thanked for it. This is not the Usual Way in my experience, and it\u2019s certainly not something I can do. (Heck, I can leave home, fly cross country, and check into a hotel without saying a word to anyone not on the other side of a counter.) Some people are just gifted when it comes to talking to strangers.<\/p>\n

But second, I think you have to have the right kind of relationship with the person in question. I don\u2019t have much trouble chastising my children when I need to, for example. It\u2019s the most natural thing in the world, and on top of that it\u2019s my job. It\u2019s supposed to work that way. But then, I love my children, and I think that\u2019s crucial. Before you can call another person to repentance, you have to know them, and you have to love them. And you have to listen to them, because you love them\u2026and practically speaking, if you don\u2019t listen to them, how are you going to get your facts straight? And that\u2019s the thing about Tony. When he talks to someone at the grocery store, he really does listen, and he really does love. It\u2019s a neat trick, if you can do it.<\/p>\n

Please note, I\u2019m talking about speaking to another person one-on-one. There\u2019s a big difference between saying publically \u201cX is wrong, and no one should do it,\u201d and saying to another person, \u201cYou\u2019re doing X and you need to stop.\u201d The former is just standing up for what you believe (though of course there are right and wrong ways to do it). The latter is more difficult.<\/p>\n

But in short, I think that calling someone to repentance has to arise naturally out of your relationship with the person. If it doesn\u2019t, it\u2019s probably best to keep your mouth shut.<\/p>\n

Well, except to pray for the person. Ain\u2019t nobody on God\u2019s green earth that can\u2019t use some prayer, and there\u2019s no Christian on God\u2019s green earth that couldn\u2019t stand to do a little more praying.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"