Simple

Dinner Conversation

My uncle and I got to talking last night for more than an hour about what he discovered since his high school years. He told me that he believed Jesus is his Savior, but then he began studying other religions. He has read the Bible through and knows many verses, but now he has also contemplated the words of the Torah, Koran, Morman bible, and the eightfold path of Buddha. He has read about evolution, geology, and astronomy. He took a philosophy class in college and that made him rethink and question all of the conclusions he had reached regarding the afterlife. By studying everything, he has developed his own view of the afterlife which he pieced together from fragments of the different religions. And now he doesn't know if what the Bible says is true or if it is the other books, or if everyone is right. He questions the churches authority to judge everyone and wants to know who has the ultimate say. I told him that the Bible is right, Christ did die for everyones sins, and that if you believe that, you will spend eternity in heaven with him. He seems uncomfortable about the idea of eternity. He said he saw heaven as a place where nothing is accomplished and everyone knows that God loves them, so what is the point? He also questions the existence of heaven and hell and has the idea that his energy, or spirit, will live on in the physical world and in the memories of those who knew him. (If you have read Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy you might recognize this idea.) I questioned this belief and asked him, what about your soul? He responded, do we have a soul? I couldn't think of a reference from the Bible, so I recommened he get back into reading it because it does have answers. I also showed him Keller's book, The Reason for God, and how it answers many of his questions with great references.
One reason he doesn't want to come to church is because he feels that smokers are ostracized from everyone else. That church people won't accept those with tatoos, nose rings and cigarettes. I told him everyone is welcome, and that the church is very welcoming.
He is still searching and I am afraid that it will be all he ever does. In looking for an answer that he does not want to find, he won't be able to accept the truth when it does find him.
Please pray that he will come to realize what he is missing and that he will accompany us to church some Sunday.

posted by jessi @ 11:14 AM