6/29/12 Craig, Will, Charlie
early 20's
In Chicago's UIC
University Village I began 3 separate conversations simply by asking people if
they had time to answer a few questions.
All three - Craig, Will, and Charlie - were in their early 20's, had grown up
Catholic, and now felt free to pick and
choose their spiritual beliefs. Craig
felt his soul is more like energy that will be released when he dies. He is highly suspicious of organized religion
and thinks the Bible is just the result of exaggerations that have built up
over the years. Will, a 6'10"
basketball player, has put any thoughts of spirituality on hold until later in
life when he thinks he might settle down and take religion more seriously. Charlie theorized that heaven is like the
internet - people will hang out with other like-minded souls - sort of like
internet chat rooms - and create their own version of heaven or hell. In sharing our faith, how do we deal with all
the different religious opinions out there?
Who is to say who is right? First
I need to say that, far fetched as many people's views might be, we need to
hear them out without judgment. More
often than not people haven't thought through their beliefs until they need to
explain them to someone else, and when they do they realize they contain many
logical inconsistencies. They are often
just making it up as they go along, but it becomes easy to share our faith with
others once we have given them a chance to express theirs. Second, I believe we need to help people
understand that its not up to man to define God, but rather to examine how He has
revealed Himself to man. When we try to define or explain God on our
own terms we only end up creating a false idol in our imaginations that we are
more comfortable with. But trusting that
God has revealed himself to man leaves us with the historical world religions,
and it is easy to show how Christianity is unique from the others. Even though Craig, Mike, and Charlie had come
to different conclusions, I noticed one thing they all had in common. They had each given some thought to matters
of faith, and they were each willing to talk about it with a stranger. Will you pray for each of them, and will you
do your part to share your faith with this new, unique generation with all
their different beliefs?
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