FRONT PAGE - here you will find the last 20 postings about recent conversations. Please pray for these people!
5/25/10 Felix, 32
Besides the fear of the unknown and the effort it takes to get out of my comfort zone, I think another major obstacle to evangelism is the difficulty of putting my agenda aside and just making time to give another person my full attention. My "to do" list of everyday tasks can seem so important. I want to get so much done in a day and I keep telling myself it's all a part of serving God, but I suspect much of it is for my own selfish pride. God gives me enough time in the day for me to do what He wants me to do, so if I feel overwhelmed I must have added my own items to His agenda. That's how I felt yesterday, when my own busy-ness had left me tired and ready for bed at almost 11 PM, but I still hadn't met my goal of having a Gospel conversation that day. I'm glad I set a goal rather than make a promise about this because I didn't feel obligated or trapped by the guilt of a foolish promise hanging over my head. I believe the one who has made the promise is God, that He will help me as I put my own agenda aside to serve Him. So I left the house late at night to go far a walk, praying that I could meet someone to talk to on the deserted streets. A few blocks away I happened upon a man (Felix) who had come out of his house for a smoke on the front steps and to work on his laptop. His house is for sale so I used that topic to start a conversation and soon swung it around to spiritual topics by asking his opinion on life after death. He said he doesn't think about it much because there is no way to know and even when I asked what might happen to him if there IS a judgment day, he continued to work on his laptop and show disinterest in the topic. Some interest was sparked when I asked how he intends to raise his children: "I just want to make religion optional and let them make their own choices" he told me. I talked about how one really can't make their own choice if they aren't aware of what the options are, and as a father he won't be able to tell them about their options because he really isn't aware of them himself. I gave him some common sense advice about God, explaining the four options created when we combine our belief or unbelief and God's existence or nonexistence. I was "reasoning" with him like Paul did with the Athenians in Acts 17. This sparked enough interest for him to gladly take additional info comparing Christianity to other world religions.

2 comments:

TerryNC said...

Please explain the four options. Thanks!

Jeff Reiman said...

Sure -
1. We believe in a God who does not exist. We die without ever knowing if we were right or wrong.
2. We don't believe in a God who does not exist. We die without ever knowing if we were right or wrong.
3. We don't believe in a God who does exist. He holds us accountable for our sins (I spent time showing Felix that he has a God-given conscience and knows right from wrong and if God exists he will be held accountable for his sins regardless of whether he believes in Him or not)
4. We believe in the God who does exist. This God must have made us for a reason and so would reveal Himself to us in some way.

These options seemed to get Felix thinking more clearly about eternity - a small start, but a start nonetheless. He lives near me so i hope to be able to continue the conversation. This is an example of someone who needs more than the "Four Spiritual Laws" - he needs someone to help him build the basic foundation of belief in God, sin, judgment and eternity.