Java 1.2

1/23/13              Nimron                 about 25

After a late evening discipleship Bible study at Dunkin’ Donuts, Elias and I decided to reach out to those around us and ended up in a long conversation with a young man from Pakistan named Nimron.  He had grown up in a Muslim home but no longer considers himself religious, describing himself as more of a computer geek who has been checking out many religions lately, especially Buddhism.  This was reflected in a question he asked as I explained the differences between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.  “Isn’t the difference between Judaism and Christianity kind of like Java 1.1 and Java 1.2, and wouldn’t Islam be kind of like Java 1.3 ?”  He had thought that Jesus just brought in new and updated teachings, so I explained how Jesus is the fulfillment of prophecies about a coming Messiah throughout the Old Testament.  It’s not like the religion of the Old Testament was imperfect and needed improvements, like God was just making it up as He went along.  Christianity fulfills Judaism, but it doesn’t reject it as a false religion.  Islam, on the other hand, outrightly rejects the Jesus of the New Testament, making up alternative versions of the Gospel story that deny Jesus’ divinity, crucifixion and resurrection, making Him out to be nothing more than another prophet on the order of Moses and Elijah.  I went on to explain the importance of believing in the biblical Jesus, how only God’s only Son would be worthy to take the place of the punishment we deserve for our sins against an infinitely Holy God.  We covered a lot of ground in our 40 or 50 minutes of conversation, but Nimron kept asking good questions that let me know he was tracking with my answers.  He also asked for information on our church so please pray for him, that he will come for a visit and keep learning more.