The Everyday Club

9/11/10   David,    47
A man came up to me on a sidewalk to give me some coupons for a new store opening in the neighborhood, and I told him I had an interesting question for him. "Do you have any spiritual beliefs, like a belief in a higher power?" He turned out to be a Buddhist from, of all places, Columbia in South America. He claimed that he didn't believe in God but had found inner peace through Buddhism. I asked "What do you believe happens after we die?" "You will receive back whatever you do in this life" was his answer. "But if there is no God, who decides?" I asked. Dave replied "Its the law of consequences." "But if there's a law, there must be a lawgiver, right?" Dave dismissed this question with a lot of spiritual-sounding rhetoric, saying the important thing is that he finds peace by knowing he is forgiven for all his mistakes. "But who does the forgiving" I asked. Again, more spiritual rhetoric, that he must come to peace and forgive himself. "Forgive yourself?" I questioned. He tried to explain, "We believe there are spirit beings that report our activities to the universe."  I wasn't asking these questions just for the sake of arguing but to reveal the illogic of what David was saying. He had to get going, so I gave him the "Why Christianity?" booklet, which compares world religions and shows how biblical Christianity alone addresses the problem of our sin which comes between us and our Creator. Colossians 1:21-23