SEVERAL OF MY FRIENDS are not believers.
SOME ARE OBSERVERS, undecided, window-shopping the faith of others.
SOME SEEK ANSWERS. They want independent proof that God exists. “Show me,” they say. “Let me see Him, and then I’ll believe.”
SOME ARE SIMPLY UNMOVED. They have never felt any compulsion to believe.
MANY OF THEM ARE FORMER CHRISTIANS—adults who, as children, adopted the belief system of their parents but have never delved deeply enough into the teachings to forge their own faith. They might want to believe, but they won’t put in the effort to get their doubts satisfied.
SADLY, SOME ARE ALSO GOD-HATERS. They blame God for all the earth’s problems. He can’t care about us, they insist angrily, if He’s let the world get in such a mess.
THEY SHARE ONE TRAIT: all of them are preoccupied with THIS world. They’ll face the next if and when it comes. To borrow from Winston Churchill, for them death is optional.
I UNDERSTAND HOW THEY FEEL because I was once one of them. In fact, at one time or another, I was all of them. Maybe that’s why I befriend them and listen to them, even when, silently, I disagree with them.
I CAN’T ANSWER THEIR OBJECTIONS. I’m not smart enough. I can’t scare them into heaven. I don’t believe in that. I can’t even tell them what I know to be true. I don’t know where to begin.
I CAN ONLY LISTEN to whatever pain, frustration, or apathy they care to share.
EXPERIENCE CAN NEVER BE TRANSFERRED. Neither can real knowledge. Some have to be knocked down to get it—like Christ knocked Paul to the ground. Some find the answer in study—though few will put in the time.
BUT MOST—as I did—will reach a point when they are completely without hope and sick to death of this world. They will open the door to God because there is nothing else they can think of to do. And only then—if they grasp the opportunity—will they be ready to learn, will they be ready to accept comfort, will they find the joy of knowing the God who loves each of them so dearly.
BECAUSE THEY ARE MY FRIENDS, I pray I’m with them to celebrate on THAT day.
You’re blessed. Be a blessing!
Labels: former Christians, God-haters, non-believers, observers, unmoved, window-shoppers
