10/18/13 Anthony 19
Walking
down the sidewalk I stopped an approaching young man named Anthony, 19: “Excuse
me, I have an interesting question” He looked
curious. “What do you think happens
after this life?” He broke into a big
smile. “That’s an awesome question! I think about that a lot!” He told me he had “grown out of” his family’s
Catholic roots while in a world religion class at his catholic high school. Now he favors a generic view of God as a sort
of physical power and has picked various parts of Buddhist and Hindu beliefs,
such as reincarnation, that seem attractive to him. He feels like he is really thinking for
himself rather than just going along with the faith he grew up in. I asked what it was that attracted him to the
beliefs he has chosen. “We can all be
God’s ourselves!” was his enthusiastic reply.
“But what would the world be like if everyone was God, all deciding for
themselves what is right?” I asked, trying to get him to think through the
implications of his beliefs. It soon
became obvious that he has not been “thinking for himself” at all. In fact, he hadn’t really thought through the
Christian faith he thought he had grown out of.
I believe his rejection of Christian faith is just part of a juvenile effort
to establish an identity of his own, one in which he feels free to do whatever
he wants. Despite his misguided efforts
to form his own tailor-made set of beliefs, I have a lot of hope for
Anthony. He has the energy and
enthusiasm that, properly directed through the Holy Spirit, could help him
discover for the first time the faith he thought he knew and grew out of.
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