Several years ago, I remember this Christian woman just about coming across my desk trying to convince me that Jesus was the answer and that I needed to be “saved.”
I didn’t care for her pushy, “in your face” approach to preaching Christianity. Who did she think she was? While I don’t remember being rude to her, I do remember hurrying her out of my office and thinking, “what a nut job!”
She wasn’t the only one who tried to assertively convince me about Jesus. In fact, I can distinctly remember at least two other people prior to her telling me about Christ, but I always had a million reasons for saying no.
And then one day I met Jeremy, a bit of an odd ball neighbor, who was not really the type of guy I would ever hang out with. I was the crew cut jock and he was, in my eyes, the long haired, “head-banging” hippy type who probably smoked dope and played guitar in his garage.
Well, turns out, he did play guitar in his garage, but in a Christian band, and while he didn’t have all the answers, he had a lot of them. You see, Jeremy may have had a 101 reasons why he shouldn’t have approached me that day, but he ignored all of them and boldly shared the Gospel message with me. And to be honest, he too was a little bit pushy about it, insistent that Jesus was the answer to all my needs. Up until that day, we were just strange neighbors.
Jeremy, intelligently, and deftly deconstructed enough of my objections to lead me to Christ. He didn’t wait for me to observe his life from a distance for 20 years, hoping my aloof and stubborn brain would figure out that it was Christianity that made him different. In fact, I’m thankful that he did get a little in my face about it because it changed my life. And no, I’m not handing out tracts down at the airport, but I am a far better husband and father than I ever thought I could be and I don’t hesitate to tell others about the life giving message of Jesus Christ.
While it is important for Christians to live as examples for Christ, again to be honest, I wasn’t really that perceptive, or observant beyond my misguided biased to pick it up, it’s much better that we tell people our story, and unfortunately that’s sometimes offensive to people. But Jesus did warn us that not only would people be offended by our message, but they also would hate us for it as well.
Reflecting upon this topic brought to mind a film made more than 20 years ago called, “Schlinder’s List.” While it was a far too realistic, violent and disturbing film which graphically covered the Jewish Holocaust, there was a scene at the end which I believe painted a very sobering and relevant picture of the attitude we Christians should adopt in regard to presenting Christ to those who are lost, and suffering.
The scene which I am referring to is where Oskar Schindler, the German businessman who risked much to save Jews, is saying goodbye to his Jewish workers as WWII is coming to an end. He is troubled by the realization that he did not do enough and appears to be gripped by remorse in the thought that he could have sold one more possession to save one more Jew, maybe two. “I could have got more out…,” and “I didn’t do enough” he lamented. He had already daily risked his own life to save many Jews and yet he knew it was now finally over. Why didn’t he give one more ounce, one more gold pin, one more car to save just one more Jew?
Do you think when the high stakes of living are finally in the rear view mirror, we might reflect on our lives, “Why didn’t I risk more? Why was I so busy arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, when I could have given one more ounce of effort to one more suffering soul? Why didn’t I sellout for Jesus and risk it all.
So many opportunities are gone because I was afraid of what people might think and now, here I am, it’s all over. Did I leave everything on the field of battle, did I risk enough, or did I sellout Jesus for my own personal comfort.”
After all, who cares what the world might say – when we know who Jesus is and what he came to do for all mankind. Someday it’s all going to end. Even if that person never talks to you again because they were offended, isn’t that better than if they never had a chance at all because you didn’t tell them about Jesus.
In retrospect, I thank God for those pushy, “in your face” Christians who sold out for Jesus and risked it all to tell me about the one who saves.
Gone to the Blogs 
I will therefore just repeat my first sentence and say, I don’t mind. Do as thou wilt. Love is the law, love under will.
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And I really appreciate this opportunity to talk about such an interesting topic, which wouldn’t be possible if you did not question my understanding, nor I yours. You see then, how it is possible to take different viewpoints on something without being offendsive, or being grateful for offense. Of course, this validates duality, but that is because we are interpreting, and all interpretation relies on judgement. So really, I should not have responded at all. LOL.
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It is why he was silent when he could have spoken in his defence. To have defended his position would’ve legitimised their judgement.
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I don’t mind. Our fundamental differences arise from the fact that you are theist, whereas I am monist. That means, that you regard the creator as separate from creation (duality) whereas my experience of life informs me that there is no real separation. Separation arises only out of judgement. Remove the judgement, no separation. Christ taught this and it is a very deep message that most Christians do not understand.
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Hey, I would like to use your response here about the concept of sin in an article I’m getting ready to publish. I can paraphrase if I must,but would like to quote it word for word and give your site credit, but my article is not favorable to your position. You okay with that,or did you want to read it first?
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And too many Muslims don’t understand the Koran. Did you know that the Koran specifically outlaws suicide? It was the Ayatalloyah of Iran who used a Shiite teaching of self-sacrifice to justify suicide in the name of allah. This originally annoyed the Sunnis but then Hamas used suicide bombing against Israel, despite the fact that self-sacrifice is not a part of their religion, because Hezbollah taught them that it was effective. Even Hezbollah had never used suicide bombing against CIVILIANS. Hamas were the first group to do that. And this is why we are in the state we are now in – Ayatollah Khomeini. He ruined the life of Iranians, too, who once enjoyed freedoms like we do, and women who had never been veiled, had to be under his command. To abuse any spiritual path as a justification for violence is the point at which you have left that path and become spiritually unwell.
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I don’t believe in the concept of “sin”. I think that as imperfect beings, we are all prone to making errors of judgement. It’s all about how we handle it. Growing in self-awareness and awareness of others, we can appreciate that to judge another for sinning differently is foolish. Rather than judgement, we should aim for understanding, of ourselves, others and ultimately the human condition.
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Suffering is a part of life and yet there is so much more. I’m thankful that the Bible has something to say about all of life, even things that I don’t want to hear. Life is messy and learning how to negotiate it is a challenge. While I too love dogs, I don’t belief that they offer much in the realm of wisdom. While they are great companions and most forgiving in their personalities, their ability to respond to human life’s challenges is limited to instinct and survival, which is exceptional, I agree, but wholly inadequate for the finer details of human existence. I have often asked the question of God as to why he didn’t make us more like dogs, because it seems like such a peaceful existence, but only in the realm of domestication. Dogs in the wild behave quite differently than “Rex” at your house. Again, I have appreciated your intelligent and well thought out dialogue and was glad to hear that I have actually inspired someone to write. Thanks again!
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I’m glad you have a good support group, this is also key in healthy relationships among Christians. However, it’s been my experience that far too often, people will off-handedly reject Christianity because of the hypocrisy of Christ followers. My response to this is that people who become Christians are often wounded and suffering people at various stages of recovery much like a recovering alcoholic. They stumble and fall, get back up, stumble again and hopefully get better and stronger as they grow closer to Christ and allow the Holy Spirit to work in their lives. So, you may see a professed Christian in the midst of a fall trying to get back up, or perhaps not fully convicted of a particular sin at the moment of your observation. I often think I most likely would have “spontaneously combusted” had Jesus convicted me of all of my sin all at once at the moment of my salvation. Rather, he has, like a fine artisan sculptor, been molding me and shaping me into the image of Christ over the course of my journey. And of course, let’s face it also, that there are just flat out (CHINO’s) “Christian’s in Name Only” that are giving the rest of us a bad name. Thanks again for your kind words.
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“Too many Christians do not understand the basic message of Christ.” Agreed.
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Thanks for your kind words about my writing. While I don’t know that much about Buddhism, I know Christianity is focused not only on suffering, but joy as well, both in this world and the next. I acknowledge that there are some sects of Christianity that put a much greater emphasis on suffering, but I believe this tends to be a little too one dimensional view of Christianity. What Jesus Christ does is teach about all aspects of life and balance is always the key. If you were to take a whole row of teeter-totters lined up on one continuous fulcrum, Jesus would have walked the perfect balance between each end without tipping one side or the other out of perfect balance. For example, the woman at the well in John, chapter 8, who is shoved to Jesus feet for committing adultery is not condemned by Jesus even though it was the law to stone such a woman at the time. The act of Jesus not condemning her even though she was guilty was the perfect balance between judgement and mercy. However, his concluding remarks to her acknowledges that her actions were indeed sinful, “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more.” Jesus knew that what this particular woman needed at the time was mercy,even though he was fully within the boundaries of the law to have her stoned.. Not to mention the side benefit of teaching her whole crowd of accusers the lesson of humility while confronting them with their own sinfulness. As far as the pushiness is concerned,my point was merely that sometimes we need to be challenged in our beliefs by bold and courageous people. Jesus never backed away from a verbal challenge when an opportunity to teach a greater lesson was necessary. This is yet another example of his perfect balance. In Matthew 23 he literally demolishes and destroys the Pharisees for their hypocrisy, while in Matthew 27:11-14, when pressed by both the Pharisees and Pontious Pilot, he remains silent to all charges even though it appears Pilot was ready to release him if he had only given a defense of his actions. This time his silence was appropriate because being crucified for all mankind is exactly what he came to earth to do, thus showing mankind ultimate mercy and reconciliation with God. It’s the perfect love story. And I’m not sure if you have children or not, but one thing most parents can understand is self sacrifice for children.
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It was really St Paul and others who did the promotion after Jesus’ death, wasn’t it? To live as Christ did, is what matters. That is the practising of his consciousness. A consciousness of which we are all capable. But it’s not just suffering that helps – it’s understanding why we suffer and then we can be kind, even in the midst of injustice. Good grief, I have written so much in response to this, it ought to be a blog post. I will go ahead and do that, then. Thanks for the inspiration! 🙂
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My group operate on the basis of attraction rather than promotion and so they are not at all pushy. I believe that is how Jesus operated too! 🙂
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I would also add that the reason why I hang out with my particular christian group, as opposed to others, is that they practice christ-consciousness rather than just christianity. It is the CONSCIOUSNESS that matters, not the religion, and the same consciousness exists in buddha-consciousness. Too many christians do not understand the basic message of christ.
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I enjoyed this. You’re a good writer and I appreciate your point of view. I tend to a more Eastern approach to god, wherein god = nature, and christ/buddha/etc = kindness, rather than the separation of creator from created which Christianity rests upon. Another difference between East and West is the emphasis on joy in the east, and suffering in the west. So when my friends who are christians start on about Jesus as being some magical son of god, I am apt to point out that we are all sons and daughters and god and that the message is fundamentally about kindness, even in the midst of injustice and ignorance. Because I am kindness-oriented like my christian friends, they are the friendship group that I look forward to being with most, and where I feel appreciated and loved. I will never be able to worship a god that is super-natural, or a jesus who is super-special and will continue to point out that my dog is just as kind and just as good a teacher as jesus, if people stopped to observe him. It is the KINDNESS with which we treat one another that matters, and if Jesus was able to read this, he’d agree with me. Getting push is not what Jesus would have wanted, at all.
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