8/5/12 Robert and 2 friends, in their 20's
Outside the White
Sox game three guys were in the smoking area enjoying cigars, so I gave them
million dollar Gospel tracts, hoping to start a conversation. "Its kind of a fun collector's item but
it has a serious question on the back - 'Will you go to heaven?' What do you think? Do you believe there is a
heaven?" "Of course I do, and
I'm positive I'm going there because I go to church" one said. He believes that because he is a good person,
he will have no worries, so I asked "Okay, so you believe that there is a
heaven and a hell, and that some people will go to one and some to the other,
and that you will go to heaven. So what
makes you different from someone who will end up in hell?" Now of course one can't be a "good
person" if they just blatantly say "Because I'm better than other
people", so he changed the subject.
"Say, what kind of Christian are you anyway? What do you think of that whole Chick-Fil-A
gay marriage controversy?" They
began asking me questions to try to place me in a category of some sort, but
almost every time they did, they answered their own questions before I could
get a word in edgewise. They turned out
to be against gay marriage, not because it is unbiblical but because it's just
"strange and unnatural" as they explained it. I suppose I could have just agreed and moved
on, but they needed to know that our opinions on controversial issues like this
need to be guided by scripture, not based on knee-jerk reactions based on
emotions and ignorance. I acknowledged
that the Bible teaches that homosexual activity is sinful, but then I asked
"Do you think it is worse than adultery, or lying or stealing? Do you think you are better than other
people? Now let me get back to the main
question - how would you be judged by God if you were to die today?" They had been making the mistake of judging
themselves by comparison to other people, and because of this they were looking
for ways to downgrade others and elevate their own moral status. But God's standard isn't other people - it's
His moral law - so I focused on the Ten Commandments as a way to help them see
their own sin and need for forgiveness.
Two of the three left to go back to the game, but the third - Robert -
stayed to talk further. Please pray that
these three can see beyond the smokescreen of controversial issues to focus on
the foundational issues of repentance and entering into a right relationship
with God through faith in Jesus.
1 comment:
What KIND of Christian are you
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