Ransom said:
Just to expand on the point fishinnut was making: To paraphrase his argument, the Bible says believers were teaching and preaching Jesus (and he gave the Strong's definitions of "teach" and "preach") "in every house." It's hard to believe that every house in Jerusalem had believers in it, and hence they must have been sharing the gospel with non-Christians at their homes as well.
Obviously it's true that not every Jerusalem household was a Christian one. But the argument assumes that the scope of "every" is universal, and the author has every private residence in the city of Jerusalem in mind. But the scope of words like "every" or "all" is limited by the context. For example, suppose I am at the mall and it starts to rain. I give the car keys to my son and tell him to go out and "roll up all the windows." Obviously, I mean the windows in our car, not all the windows in all the cars in the parking lot.
The Greek phrase kat oikon can validly be translated as "in every home," but also "in each home" or "from house to house," and the latter don't necessarily imply all the houses in Jerusalem. A more limited scope fits the context: the early Christians met publicly in the temple, and privately in their houses.
The same phrase is used in Acts 2:46: "they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house [kat oikon], did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart." Were the Christians "with one accord" with unbelievers? Were they breaking bread in the houses of unbelievers with "singleness of heart"? No, this verse (like 5:42) is describing the early church's habit of meeting together in public and in private.
One last example: "Saul . . . made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison" (Acts 8:3). Was Saul arresting Christians in every house in Jerusalem? Of course not. He was raiding the houses of Christians. It wasn't really all the Christian homes, either, since obviously some Christians were spared from arrest and imprisonment. We can probably chalk this one up to an unfortunate translation choice: something like "entering house after house" is probably closer to the intended meaning.
Maybe there were Christians doing door-to-door evangelism. The Bible doesn't say there weren't, and I'm sure it occurred to someone that it might be an effective evangelistic strategy. But the practice isn't going to get support from Acts. That's simply not what "in every house" meant. Again, Luke is describing their habit of meeting together privately in house churches as well as publicly in the temple. I would personally imagine that was where a lot of evangelism went on. The Bible is rather explicit that the apostles practiced open-air preaching wherever there were crowds.
Sarcasm alert.....sometimes I can't help it.
All those years that I spent knocking on doors, teaching & challenging many others to reach their town with personal witnessing was done all wrong. I should have concentrated on street preaching.
All those many scores of people that I gave the gospel to in one-on-one conversations at their doors or in their homes got it in an unadvised fashion.
All those many hundreds that prayed with me & those who I taught to do so, I guess trusted Christ at a location that was not taught in the Scriptures.
As I said elsewhere, door-to-door is not working in our present culture as much (at least where I live now) but then again it was evidently all in vain anyway.
Apart from Billy Graham setting up tents on streets in LA, so many soul-winners have done it incorrectly.
All those bus kids...........well you get the picture.
Just think of all the fish I could have caught while I was knocking on doors fishing for men.
If the church house & the street corners are THE places for Bible evangelism why in the last 30 years have I only seen 2 street preachers?
I'm so glad that at least those that I won on the streets, lanes, highways & hedges will be in heaven.
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I'm not mad at anyone. But can I be forgiven for witnessing to as many of my neighbors as I can, even today?
I fish for fish....a lot, all I can, every chance I get. Sometimes on fishing trips or in rivers, in the oceans, lakes, in farm ponds, but never do I tell anyone there is only 1 type of water in which it it correct to fish. And I have never taken just on pole or 1 lure. I get as many hooks & lures in the water as I can, so as to catch as many fish as I can. Recently I was kayak fishing & hooked 2 fish at the same time on 2 different rods with 2 different lures.
Instead of explaining witnessing methods or locations away, why can't we use every available tool to reach as many lost souls as we can with the gospel? There has never been a day or a place when the gospel was not good news.
I'll quit now.
