Hey there it's Kevin, how did everyone's day go. That was a great discussion about both the atheist friend and about the guy who was formerly a Jain (sorry I can't remember his name)
who checked out a megachurch. What do you guys think, I think that had to have taken some real guts. I thought it was neat that he was curious enough to want to go through with it, you know? And that he felt free to explore and learn without being judged.
Well I woke up this morning to find a field mouse running around in the house, I must say that was freaky. I think maybe the cat brought it in, I don't know, but I will say that it was a rather unpleasant emotion. Especially because where I live, you don't see a lot of mice on a regular basis. Fortunately we got rid of him and now all is well...
Hello everyone. I found the discussion at the talking circle to be very freeing. It was interesting how just listening to seemingly random heart-talk can teach us things about ourselves. The deep thinking of one of us can often answer the puzzle of another of us. Thanks for being in the body with me.
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I was just reading through the comments and I was thinking about how we connect with atheists and other people. I thought that Guido's comment was right on, they are just people loved by God, they just don't happen to have a relationship with Jesus. This really struck me because it is so easy to pull the labels out (Oh he is a nonbeliever, she's a Muslim). I suggest maybe we try putting those labels back in the drawer. In response to the other comment, could it be that one reason we sometimes feel threatened is partially BECAUSE of those labels? I wonder. If you'll permit me to bring it out on the table, maybe one reason we feel threatened by certain people is that those are times when we are called to defend our faith, to maybe be able to articulate what we believe and why. Makes me think of a couple of books by Lee Strobel? on that very subject of apologetics. If we know what we believe, seems like we shouldn't feel threatened, I would think. I will be the first to say that I'm not any kind of expert of doctrine, so I probably wouldn't go looking for a deep theological discussion with a seeker, and if I did, I think I would need to pray the Holy Spirit would guide what I say, and quite possibly cause me to listen more than speak. It seems to me that good listening is one of the things that has worked so well for the people in the videos, so it can't hurt to give it a try, you know?
I am curious why christians seem so threatened by atheists and tend to get defensive when defending the faith. I agree with you Kevin that it took guts for the atheist to sit down and talk and he was very open to discussion. I was most impressed by the friendship of the aethist Casper and his believer friend Jason. they were really connected and yet could disagree over big issues. RWR
Hey Kevin, it was great talking with you again this week!
I really liked the discussion again this week; it really made me think about who I am as a follower of Jesus. I particularly liked Josh's observation about how it might be very narrow minded to say that all atheists think like the guys we saw in the videos. I think Jim Henderson and Jason (forget his last name) from the videos succeeded in their relationships with atheists because the saw them as people that are loved by God. That seemed to be the driving force behind all their interactions with them.
When I learn to abandon my fears/misconceptions/generalizations of people that are different than me, I think I will be able to love them more like Jesus does. That's a great thing, and it is evangelism at it's finest.
No matter what we talk about each week, I am encouraged. I'm encouraged because I see how full the body of Christ is, and how much we need each other.