10/22/13 Dennis about 20
What happens when people don’t base their understanding of God on the Bible?
A sidewalk conversation with a young man in his early 20’s named Dennis showed how easy it is to form imaginary ideas about God based on one’s own limited knowledge.
Dennis believes in some sort of higher power that created everything, “but not a God worthy of our worship” as he put it.
“Why not?” I asked.
His answer was unusual: “We don’t worship the inventors of the IPad do we? Neither do they expect us to. So why should God expect us to worship Him?”
We were still at an early stage in our conversation where I was just trying to understand his beliefs while also establishing some trust and rapport, so I didn’t question the errors in his logic.
I asked further about what he thought God was like and he went on to say “How do we know there is just one God? There’s probably many gods working together as a team, just like the development teams for all our greatest technologies. The creation of the universe was probably the same way. Maybe that’s why there are so many different religions out there.”
I had to admit I had never heard this line of thinking before, and before I could begin to try to untangle his twisted logic, I found out he was just on a smoke break from his job at a nearby restaurant and had to get back to work.
I wanted to talk further but couldn’t, so I did the next best thing – I gave him a gospel booklet to help him understand the Biblical view of God, how God has revealed Himself in the Scriptures.
I usually carry a variety of resources – with my contact information stamped on them – for situations just like this, and I picked one I thought would be specifically helpful for Dennis based on what he had told me. I believe our conversation was enough to generate some interest on his part in reading it.
I know many Christians oppose using gospel tracts like this as being too simplistic or impersonal, but it sure is better than leaving people’s understanding of God up to their own imagination!
A sidewalk conversation with a young man in his early 20’s named Dennis showed how easy it is to form imaginary ideas about God based on one’s own limited knowledge.
Dennis believes in some sort of higher power that created everything, “but not a God worthy of our worship” as he put it.
“Why not?” I asked.
His answer was unusual: “We don’t worship the inventors of the IPad do we? Neither do they expect us to. So why should God expect us to worship Him?”
We were still at an early stage in our conversation where I was just trying to understand his beliefs while also establishing some trust and rapport, so I didn’t question the errors in his logic.
I asked further about what he thought God was like and he went on to say “How do we know there is just one God? There’s probably many gods working together as a team, just like the development teams for all our greatest technologies. The creation of the universe was probably the same way. Maybe that’s why there are so many different religions out there.”
I had to admit I had never heard this line of thinking before, and before I could begin to try to untangle his twisted logic, I found out he was just on a smoke break from his job at a nearby restaurant and had to get back to work.
I wanted to talk further but couldn’t, so I did the next best thing – I gave him a gospel booklet to help him understand the Biblical view of God, how God has revealed Himself in the Scriptures.
I usually carry a variety of resources – with my contact information stamped on them – for situations just like this, and I picked one I thought would be specifically helpful for Dennis based on what he had told me. I believe our conversation was enough to generate some interest on his part in reading it.
I know many Christians oppose using gospel tracts like this as being too simplistic or impersonal, but it sure is better than leaving people’s understanding of God up to their own imagination!
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