Consequences of Witnessing
S. Briscoe, Getting Into God, p. 88
Feeling a concern for witnessing can mean that you will have to stand up and be counted, and this can bring some degree of abuse. Years ago I was praying with one of my children at bedtime, and I asked him if he had any problems we should pray about. He couldn't think of any, even though I could think of a number! Rather unwisely, I pressed the point and asked, "Don't you have any problems at school?" "No," he replied quite firmly. "Don't the kids give you a hard time because you're a Christian?" Again the answer was "No." Thinking back to my own traumatic school days, I said, "But kids always give you a hard time if you let them know you're a Christian." His reply was frank beyond belief: "All the more reason you don't let them know!" And quite happily he turned over to sleep.
With the refreshing candor of the very young, he had put into words the practical reasons why many Christians don't witness. They don't want to take the consequences.
