I must drill deeper into my argument for affirmations of correctness of the giver on the door step.

I’ve argued the giver has the right to distribute his bibles on private property to the front door; a right that may be challenged by the property owner either prior to the intention by signage, or during the act of distribution, by a personal challenge to the giver of the Bible.

But all things being equal, there are mutual obligations to be considered.

I take your point, this act may be considered insulting to some, and upsetting to others.
I personally believe the distributors of bibles using the door to door method are naive and show a lack of judgement; but to my mind, not a serious lack of judgement, but is the generous act of Bible distribution lacking in morality, when the intention is to help lost souls find the spiritual light, (to the evangelists view)? No, I don’t think so.

A question you raised on the degree of charity using Hindu judgements, I think are irrelevant to a Christian in this instance. I’d choose to ignore that point.

I think your argument against is a weak one so far. I’d reconsider my stand if the process of door to door Bible distribution were being performed in India, where Hinduism predominates; or for that matter, Israel, where many Jews would be insulted.

Your argument against would hold more water then.

Ttbn.

The Democrats consistent attacks on Trump are more than penciling in the next US Civil War.
Maybe, since they appear to hold a controlling influence on the security services and the military, this intention is believable. And maybe even sooner than later they will achieve the aim of everlasting domination of US politics. No need to vote!

Promoting a major war with Russia and China is the engineering of a smoke screen to achieve it

Dear Dan,

I remember these stickers: "Driver, don't be right - be wise".
I think that they apply in this case just as they apply on the road.

Looking at the dictionary, an "Evangelist" is:
1) a person who seeks to convert others to the Christian faith, especially by public preaching.

So people who indiscriminately distribute Bibles on door-steps (that was the original topic, as opposed of those who preach in public, those who ring and seek to talk with the home-owner, or those who place Bibles in hotel drawers, these we could discuss separately), may be evangelists, but very inefficient and unsuccessful evangelists who cause much disturbance, create much hostility and resistance to Christianity, cause that many Bibles to be desecrated and are unlikely to make even one convert in a lifetime of book-distribution - not a soul saved. They may be right - but not wise, they cause that many accidents and fail to bring anyone safely home!

The Bhagavad-Gita is universal wisdom, but may need to be translated for different cultures to understand, so what if I spoke of three types of evangelists: the best, the middling and the lowest.

The best evangelist preaches to a worthy person simply because it is right to preach, without consideration of anything in return, at the proper time and in the proper place.

The middling evangelist preaches with reluctance, with the hope of a return or in expectation of a reward.

The lowest evangelist preaches at the wrong place and wrong time to unworthy persons, without showing respect, or with contempt.

All being evangelists, which of them, you think, pleases God the most?

Yuyutsu

I well understand the points you make, @nd with many of them I agree, but the author asked the question; is it right to leave a Bible at the front door of a dwelling.

I’ve clearly argued that there exists a right for a person to do that under most circumstances, but not all circumstances.
As a property owner, you will not get much sympathy from a policeman if you should complain about the delivery of a Bible to your front door when unasked for.

The above is the main frame of his question, and my answer to go along with it.

Now from that jumping off point, you seem to be attempting to steer the debate down another path, and that path inclusive of a moral question IE: is it ”ethically” correct to place a free Bible on a door step.

To that additional annex of the question, I’ve argued that not only is it legally correct to do so, but it is also ethically correct.
Supporting my conclusion to the ethical question, I pointed out that Australian doorsteps can fairly safely be assumed as to be Christian doorsteps, since Australia is a Christian Nation.

I think personally, it’s a bit rich in expectation for a resident otherwise than a Christian to be offended by an act of Christian generosity.

To cover the possibility of offensiveness by the act of giving out Christian literature , it surly then must be accepted by all residents of the country, to be on guard against the offensive nature of Christian proselytising (to them), and place signs in English in a prominent position which can be easily read and understood.

In other words, buyer beware.

Dear Dan,

If by "right" you mean "legal", then it's a legal question that should be answered by a lawyer.

If by "right" you mean something like "fitting with public mood and acceptance", then this is constantly changing and open to controversy.

When Nathan opened the discussion, he asked: "Is it though THE right thing to be doing?", rather than "Is it though A right thing". From this I conclude that he meant neither legality nor ethicalness, but rather whether that is in the line of wisdom. But perhaps Nathan could enlighten us here about his original intention?

As a property owner, you will not get much sympathy from a policeman when complaining about commercial junk mail either (despite the signs)... I tried, I actually went to the police station, they just sent me away. One must be truly naive to believe that the state and its police are there to protect ordinary people.

Is Australia a Christian Nation? That too is a controversy which I have no interest getting into right now (but just for the record I don't even accept that Australia is a Nation).

Still even if it is, Christians too can be offended by Bibles placed at their front door and never count it an act of generosity. For example if they already have too many Bibles at home (I could list more reasons, but there's a word limit).

Either way, you may expect people (Christian or otherwise) to not be offended, but the fact is that they are! The fact is that at times they could be so upset as to become violent and hurt their family members.

Yes, after it happens the first time, most English-speaking people with sufficient understanding of the Australian culture would place a prominent sign. I don't have such a sign, but then nobody ever placed a Bible on my door-step. I would have felt awkward to throw someone's holy book in the bin, but probably would do so anyway if the Bible was in English (though I could have use for another original Hebrew copy or a Sanskrit translation).

Yuyutsu

I think your making a strategic retreat by asking for the authors intervention to explain the obvious intent of the question, which I think explains itself in its simplicity.

Not many property owners are aware or care what rules apply to egress into their property I would suspect, but ignorance of the law is not a defence, and not the everyman is expected to be a lawyer obviously.

No doubt there will be people, as you pointed out, offended by the act of placing a Bible at the front door, but there is no law broken by doing so, which justifies to a very large extent their action in doing so.

So it is a simple question asked by the author, with an eaually simple answer.

I think the examples you raise as objection, lead away from the simplicity of the question. These arguments are a wheel in perpetual motion, and could be addressed in other areas of debate more fully.

Dear Dan,

I am not a lawyer, I don't think any of us here is.
If Nathan wanted to ask a legal question then he should have asked (and paid) for a legal advice, and would at least name this thread, "Is it legal to leave a Bible at your front door" if he wanted free advice from laypeople like us.

I tend to agree that Australian law allows such foolish actions - not because it favours Christians (that would be against the Australian constitution) but because it favours a heated economy (more taxes) where people buy things they do not really need, and does not differentiate between shonky advertisers and naive Bible placers. I sadly find that the British/English tradition worships the idol of commerce!

Legally speaking, ignorance of the law of men is indeed not a defense, just as ignorance of the presence of a wolf is not a defense for the lamb. I believe that God's laws are more merciful than that! ("The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. The Lord protects the unwary; when I was brought low, he saved me." [Psalms 116:5-6])

«No doubt there will be people, as you pointed out, offended by the act of placing a Bible at the front door»

Not only people, but Bibles too, I believe, who would cry out if they had a mouth to complain. Most religions abhor the act of placing sacred scripture on the ground, I believe this even includes mainstream churches.