4. April 23-May 13 Connecting Sunday and Monday Talk/"Will the world . . . ?"
What happened when you tried to be a reliable witness for Christ with non-Christians? Report on one of the conversations you had or an aspect of one of them.
I think the most important thing in Jeremy's situation was that he was there and willing to speak. I don't know what I would do in that situation. And I'm sure that after I did something, I would wonder if what I did was the right thing. Wow, that's really tough!
I guess you can't measure success in sharing the Gospel by one situation. If it is to mean anything, it is because of the witnessing done by actions that accompany our words.
Kelly, that's awesome that you got to talk with that guy. Hopefully we have some of that where we're going.
I think what Kay has to say is right on the money. We shouldn't be afraid to admit that we don't know something. We rest on faith, not on knowledge of God, after all. We believe that God is good and merciful and has grace for sinners.
In my experience with these types of conversations, people like to put Christianity on trial. Sometimes I think people are less interested in Christianity itself and more interested in justifying themselves or in making the poor Christian look foolish.
We just have to pray for grace, and that our love and humility shine through... somehow.
One day after class, I found myself talking to a Muslim, a Jew and an atheist regarding religion. (Very interesting conversation) What I took home with me that day is that is was the Muslim I was able to identify with the most. Let me explain.
The atheist believed in nothing - she was quick to put down all religion - especially Christianity and had no desire to try and understand what I believed in particular, and only slightly more regarding Judaism and Islam.
The Jew was Jewish by birth and her faith was primarily traditional. She did not really have a faith they way I would define faith. She celebrated Jewish holidays, ate Jewish food - but rarely went to the Synagogue or did any extra readings.
In contract, the Muslim was a devout believer in Allah, sought ways to grow stronger in her faith and could fully attribute blessings in her life to her God. Although I obviously don't agree with what she believed - we both found mutual respect in each other that we at least understood what faith was and that we were living for more than just our materialistic world.
After some thought, I decided that this was quite intimidating. With the Jew and the atheist - they were both living just for the world and if I had had more time to talk about spiritul matter and the desire to "something else" in life - there would have been something to talk about. If a situation had arisen that one of them would have wanted to talk more about Christianity, I would have felt relatively okay.
Regarding the Islam faith - what would I be able to appeal to in her to make her want to believe something else? Her faith is so embedded in her life, her home, her family, her friends and she believes it so strongly. How would I be able to convince her that my way is better? She has no desire to add something different to her life.
As Islam spreads at alarming rates throughout the world, I have increasingly more respesct for the missionaries that try to work with these peoples. They are a huge force in our world right now, and I know that there is a lot more I need to learn and discover about my faith, combined with a lot of prayer that I feel I would be able to have continued a conversation on religion with her.
Hope that made sense - I know that this scenerio wouldn't be true of all people we talk to - but it was a good point for me to ponder - Thanks for reading - Steph
here I am 82 years later . . . but I wanted to say that I really resonate with what Stephanie said, especially now that I am working on a committee with a woman who is a former Roman Catholic-turned-Muslim. I think that she doesn't necessarily have a totally "correct" view of Islam, or rather, she has sort of written her own version of it . . . but I totally agree that they have so much more in common with us as people of faith . . . and yet, it makes things more difficult in a way because of the fact that she doesn't THINK that she has a problem . . . which makes things more difficult at times . . .
3 comments:
I think the most important thing in Jeremy's situation was that he was there and willing to speak. I don't know what I would do in that situation. And I'm sure that after I did something, I would wonder if what I did was the right thing. Wow, that's really tough!
I guess you can't measure success in sharing the Gospel by one situation. If it is to mean anything, it is because of the witnessing done by actions that accompany our words.
Kelly, that's awesome that you got to talk with that guy. Hopefully we have some of that where we're going.
I think what Kay has to say is right on the money. We shouldn't be afraid to admit that we don't know something. We rest on faith, not on knowledge of God, after all. We believe that God is good and merciful and has grace for sinners.
In my experience with these types of conversations, people like to put Christianity on trial. Sometimes I think people are less interested in Christianity itself and more interested in justifying themselves or in making the poor Christian look foolish.
We just have to pray for grace, and that our love and humility shine through... somehow.
One day after class, I found myself talking to a Muslim, a Jew and an atheist regarding religion. (Very interesting conversation) What I took home with me that day is that is was the Muslim I was able to identify with the most. Let me explain.
The atheist believed in nothing - she was quick to put down all religion - especially Christianity and had no desire to try and understand what I believed in particular, and only slightly more regarding Judaism and Islam.
The Jew was Jewish by birth and her faith was primarily traditional. She did not really have a faith they way I would define faith. She celebrated Jewish holidays, ate Jewish food - but rarely went to the Synagogue or did any extra readings.
In contract, the Muslim was a devout believer in Allah, sought ways to grow stronger in her faith and could fully attribute blessings in her life to her God. Although I obviously don't agree with what she believed - we both found mutual respect in each other that we at least understood what faith was and that we were living for more than just our materialistic world.
After some thought, I decided that this was quite intimidating. With the Jew and the atheist - they were both living just for the world and if I had had more time to talk about spiritul matter and the desire to "something else" in life - there would have been something to talk about. If a situation had arisen that one of them would have wanted to talk more about Christianity, I would have felt relatively okay.
Regarding the Islam faith - what would I be able to appeal to in her to make her want to believe something else? Her faith is so embedded in her life, her home, her family, her friends and she believes it so strongly. How would I be able to convince her that my way is better? She has no desire to add something different to her life.
As Islam spreads at alarming rates throughout the world, I have increasingly more respesct for the missionaries that try to work with these peoples. They are a huge force in our world right now, and I know that there is a lot more I need to learn and discover about my faith, combined with a lot of prayer that I feel I would be able to have continued a conversation on religion with her.
Hope that made sense - I know that this scenerio wouldn't be true of all people we talk to - but it was a good point for me to ponder - Thanks for reading - Steph
here I am 82 years later . . . but I wanted to say that I really resonate with what Stephanie said, especially now that I am working on a committee with a woman who is a former Roman Catholic-turned-Muslim. I think that she doesn't necessarily have a totally "correct" view of Islam, or rather, she has sort of written her own version of it . . . but I totally agree that they have so much more in common with us as people of faith . . . and yet, it makes things more difficult in a way because of the fact that she doesn't THINK that she has a problem . . . which makes things more difficult at times . . .
--Lorraine
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