1/25/18 Eric about 45
What happens when we drift away from God and His word? We make our own!
From the initial description of his beliefs, it would be
hard to imagine Eric had a strong church background. At some point he decided his “God” can be
constructed from the buffet table of his favorite spiritual sounding ideas that
are out there. The first half of our
conversation was filled with Eric’s new ideas about a “God” of his own
imagination, one who reincarnates our souls into various life forms after we
die and considers us so much a part of himself that we are “gods” ourselves.
Eric has drifted from God and His word, and needed a strong
reminder out of the blue from a stranger on the street to tell him so. He is also a radio DJ with his own show, and
blessed with the gift of gab, so the stranger God sent to him needed to be very
patient and a good listener before Eric was ready for him to speak into his
life. But once he did, he was grateful
and ready to listen and take to heart what he heard.
The first letter of John, written entirely as advice to
people who are already Christians, ends on a seemingly random afterthought. My conversation with Eric, from his strong
Christian background, helps me see what happens when people stray from God and
His word and begin to create a version of God they are more comfortable
with. The final advice that John leaves
for us as believers in his first letter? It’s that strange and abrupt note right there
at the very end of 1 John: “Dear
children, keep yourselves from idols.”
Eric agreed to allow me to record our conversation, so check
out how he changed his focus back to the faith of his childhood.
No comments:
Post a Comment