Why we bother…
Apr 23rd, 2008 by ljkim
Most of the people we know who don’t believe in God or who aren’t particularly religious have full and interesting lives… If you were to meet any of them, the last thing you would think is that they NEEDED anything. They work, have interesting work, play, vacation in cool places and meet people… That’s what people like about New York, it’s filled with interesting and competent people! Then why should we bother doing ANYTHING to help non-believing friends know about God?
I struggled with this for years during my twenties as a new believer… Knowing God and seeking Him had enriched my life, but why should I try to persuade other people? Rest assured, I’m not going to try to persuade you to persuade other people. I’ve come to my own conclusions about my role in persuading people to seek God – so I’d like to give you an inside look at the rationale that floats around in my head…
First, it turned out that people always see you as a poster-child for something or other… Different people see different messages: some look at us (me and Grace) and see us as poster children for education and technology. Others look at us and see us toting the happy-go-lucky lifestyle with no kids. Others look at us and think we’re poster children for an upwardly mobile middle class. People are always looking at us and jumping to conclusions on what we’re about, how we think and live… Talking about God is a way to get a handle on our PR.
I actually don’t believe in the middle-class American dream. I don’t want a bigger house in the suburbs, or a bigger car, or a bigger TV…and if you thought that you would have NO idea who I am. So we’re always evangelizing something… Atheists evangelize not-needing God, or science’s ability to solve human problems, or whatever… Typical New Yorkers evangelize the wonders of fine dining and travel…and the benefits of working in certain fields. So Jesus-lovers are left with two choices: either allow people to think untrue things about you based on your socio-economic status or tell them the truth in a way that puts God on equal level with their “gods.”
[Phew that was longer than I planned, but I can be brief with the others].
Second, the more I get to know happy unbelieving people, I can’t help but think they’d be qualitatively happier if they were seeking God in a church like ours… Maybe you have a bad impression of church community – I certainly did for a long time. But now I know what it can be like, and I can’t imagine anyone I know NOT benefiting greatly from it.
Third, the more I got to know people, the more I realized that there is a longing for God, for meaning, something more… but it’s buried and they don’t like touching upon it because they’ve given up. Just the way a person who has terminal cancer can come to terms with it and be happy in the last few months of life – they can be happy because they have accepted their fate and are not looking for a way out… If someone came and had some crazy idea for a cure, they’d probably turn him away – they have given up on a cure, and it’s too painful to hope and be disappointed… People do the same with God. Too many dead end religions.
What would you do for a friend who had a form of cancer that you found out is curable – but they don’t want to hear it (they’ve gotten their hopes up before and now they’re just ready to die…)? What would you do for a friend in that situation? I would try to persuade them anyway – give them hope – let them know it’s okay. They might get upset sometimes, but that’s okay – amongst friends.
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