So i've made some updates to this article on hitchhiking (adding reason #4). Please enjoy.
Ok. Recently, i've had a handful of other discussions on the morality of hitchhiking. It appears that i'm not alone in my Biblical advocation of picking of hitchhikers, thanks to Maridith Wade. She took a stand in class the other day for relying on the Holy Spirit to guide her in picking up hitchhikers.
I've stated my reasons before, but here they are again:
Ok. Recently, i've had a handful of other discussions on the morality of hitchhiking. It appears that i'm not alone in my Biblical advocation of picking of hitchhikers, thanks to Maridith Wade. She took a stand in class the other day for relying on the Holy Spirit to guide her in picking up hitchhikers.
I've stated my reasons before, but here they are again:
#1) The opportunity to pick up a hitchhiker is absolutely amazing, spiritually speaking. I would venture to say that all or most hitchhikers are extroverts, willing to stand boldly and desperately on the shoulder waiting for a stanger to come by with their thumb in the wind. This means they will be open to you. They are also desperate for someone to show them love in a practical way. By fulfilling that need, you earn the right in their mind to share the Gospel. And, since they are already open about themselves, being extraverts, having a good spiritual conversation will happen almost always.Gal 6:10 "So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith."
Col 4:5-6 "Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person."
#2) They're asking to be picked up. Matt 5:38-42 "'You have heard that it was said, "AN EYE FOR AN EYE, AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH." But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.'"
In case you didn't know, that thumb sticking out in the wind means, "Please stop, i want a ride." Therefore, you should not only give them a ride ask if there's anything else you can do for them.
#3) We shouldn't fear things of this world. As in my last Guatemalan entry, the Lazarus complex is that we should live as men who have been raised from the dead. And, since we have been raised from spiritual death into life, i'm puzzled at the fear that American Christians still have of death and pain.
What does Scripute teach about these fears?
Isa 41:10 "'Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.'"
1 Pet 3:14-17 "But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. AND DO NOT FEAR THEIR INTIMIDATION, AND DO NOT BE TROUBLED, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always {being} ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence"
1 Sam 12:24 "Only fear the LORD and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you."
Nevertheless, the biggest arguement against picking up hitchhiking is, "...Yes, but God gave us good logical common sense for a reason." I agree.
What does Scripute teach about these fears?
Isa 41:10 "'Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.'"
1 Pet 3:14-17 "But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. AND DO NOT FEAR THEIR INTIMIDATION, AND DO NOT BE TROUBLED, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always {being} ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence"
1 Sam 12:24 "Only fear the LORD and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you."
Nevertheless, the biggest arguement against picking up hitchhiking is, "...Yes, but God gave us good logical common sense for a reason." I agree.
#4) It's safer to pick up a hitchhiker when we are with a friend, preferibly a strong one. I often hear girls say, "The only time I would pick up a hichhiker is when i'm with someone i know. I would never pick up a hitchhiker by myself." That's a great rule of thumb! And, since we are Christians we are never alone.
Hebrews 13:5-6 "Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.' So we may boldly say: 'The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?'"
God is always with us. He has told us he will never leave us so we can say, "I will not fear." The Holy Spirit lives inside us. God, the most powerful force in the universe lives within us. And you might be thinking, well corey, that's not exactly what i meant by "with someone." And so the question must be asked: Should you feel safer with Jesus and a big strong masculine friend or just Jesus alone? The point is, Jesus is enough. Only the Devil will try to tell you that Jesus is insufficient for your protection. Having a friend sitting with you in the car isn't going to be any safer than Jesus' protection.
Hebrews 13:5-6 "Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.' So we may boldly say: 'The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?'"
God is always with us. He has told us he will never leave us so we can say, "I will not fear." The Holy Spirit lives inside us. God, the most powerful force in the universe lives within us. And you might be thinking, well corey, that's not exactly what i meant by "with someone." And so the question must be asked: Should you feel safer with Jesus and a big strong masculine friend or just Jesus alone? The point is, Jesus is enough. Only the Devil will try to tell you that Jesus is insufficient for your protection. Having a friend sitting with you in the car isn't going to be any safer than Jesus' protection.
#5) Maybe we should use the logic that God has given us to spot real unecessary danger. If common sense does, in your opinion, trump Scripture, let's look at this logically. TranSafety, an acredited private organization, existing to provide the public with statistics on road safety in the US. They have released an article based on a 3 year study of pedestrian deaths across three states, NC included. That study was made, without a biased focus on hitchhiking, making the report pretty reliable. This report has a paragraph for each of these causes of death, including hitchhiking. This paragraph states, "Hitchhiking accounted for less than 1 percent of the pedestrian fatalities. The researcher points out that this figure may be misleading, as reporting officers may not have been able to determine that a pedestrian was hitchhiking at the time of the accident." If you look on the graph they provide (copied above), another catagory of pedestrian death, 
"Not Known," is given. This bar is slightly less than the <1% href="http://www.disastercenter.com/traffic/State.htm">Disaster Center's website and found fatalities by state. Under our state, NC, you will see that their are around 28.8 traffic related fatalities for every 100,000 licensed drivers in 1996. This gives us a percentage of 0.000288% of getting killed in a car as a NC driver. Now, let's multiply that percentage by the number of deaths that could possibly related to hitchhiking (less than 2% ... let's go with 1.9) and your estimated real chances for getting killed in a hitchhiking related accident are, get this, 0.0005472%. That is your real chance of getting killed in a hitchhiking related crime if you pick up hitchhikers, since of course, your chances of getting killed by a hitchhiker would be 0% if you never picked one up. So the real question is: Is a 0.0005472% difference in danger enough to keep you from sharing the Gospel with someone? As Christians, who are assured Heaven, what could be too dangerous for us to not share the Gospel?
Now, let me stop talking about petty things like whether or not to pick up hitchhikers. A greater issue is this: As a born again Christian, who is promissed eternal life and has been raised from spiritual death, what could or should possibly scare us away from any opportunity to share the Gospel with a lost person? Is 0.0005472% enough? What if these statistics are wrong? How about 1%? 10%? 50%? 100%? Does it matter? Should it matter? It's so important that we are willing to do that. A faith not worth dying for is a faith not worth living for.I beg you for your logical and biblical thoughts. That's not to say that i only want comments that agree with me, but however, i'm it really irritates me to give all these verses and logic and get a reply of, "Well, I'm a girl and so I would never pick up hitchhikers." If that's the case, just say, "Well, I don't think the Bible applies to me because I'm a girl."