In a job I held several years ago, all of my co-workers knew I was a regular church goer and was a church leader. One day, I was sitting in the lunch room with several other staff members having a great conversation about movies, kids and life in general. Suddenly out of the blue, one of my colleagues blurted out, “How can a nice intelligent guy like you believe in a God that allows the abuse, rape and violence against women and children?” I’ll never forget the question because it startled me so much. It took me a moment to gain my composure, but I responded, “I don’t and neither should you.” This little exchange led to a running discussion which took place off and on over the next several weeks. Another two people joined us and we all discussed the issue together during lunch. I like to think of our time together as “witnessing” to the gospel.
Each of us gets an opportunity to share our faith and many of us pass up the chance by saying, “Well I’m not qualified to talk about it.” Or we fear we’ll be labeled as a “Bible thumper” or “religious nut” or some other onerous name. But that doesn’t have to be the case. Like my situation, just talking about the faith, asking questions, answering “I don’t know” occasionally is being a faithful witness. One of the top criticisms of people who are deemed religious is that they’re judgmental. So instead of saying this is right and that is wrong, why not start a discussion? It could lead to a very powerful witness. Comments are closed.
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This blog consists of reflections written by the minister each week for the Sunday bulletin. We hope that you enjoy the musings! Archives
January 2020
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