A couple of months ago we watched a video on Sunday morning by Penn of Penn and Teller (here's the link if you missed it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa9JE_ZVL88&feature=related). He's an atheist, but in the video he's talking about a guy who gives him a Bible after one of their shows, and how impressed he was with the guy, with how genuine he was. He goes on to talk about what he calls 'proselytizing,' which means trying to convince someone to believe what you believe, and it's pretty surprising what he says--that he thinks that if you're a Christian, you should be trying to convince others to believe in Jesus. He says that if he knew a truck was bearing down on you, how much would you have to hate someone not to tell them that they were going to get hit by the truck, and that sooner or later he'd tackle you out of the way regardless of whether or not you believed you were going to be hit. Do I even need to make the comparison? Okay, I will--if we really believe in eternal separation from God, how much would we have to hate someone to let them experience that without trying to introduce them to Jesus? See, I knew I didn't have to tell you that!
Not bad advice from an atheist is it? Now we don't normally use the word 'proselytize' because, frankly, it sounds, well, odd. "I don't want to proselytize my friends, I like my friends!" (With a nod to Tommy Smothers, if you remember him.) We talk about being missional, or sharing our faith. And we do it for the reason that Penn talks about, but let me say it in kind of a more positive way: How much would we have to love someone to want to rescue them from dying? (Hmm, how much did God love us to do just that?)
See, we aren't missional because it's a way of getting on God's good side, that it earns us points we need to make sure we get into heaven. It's not about putting notches on the belt of faith I wear (like the bat-belt) that shows how good of a Christian I am. It's not even really about responsibility. We want to be missional because there are people in our lives that we genuinely care about, people that we love. And if we love them, and we really believe that they are in danger, we are going to lovingly try to help them see that danger and the way out of it. If we just see it as our duty to tell others about Jesus, then all of our relationships are tinged with ulterior motives, and we discard relationships once our "duty" is done. But if it's about love, then it's more about wanting the best for our friends or family, and an ongoing love for them regardless of how they respond.
I think it's pretty cool that Penn could have that perspective. He really gets it, much better than we as Christians do most of the time. Balaam's ass strikes again! (Obscure Old Testament reference alert, see Numbers 22:21-33 if that intrigues you.)
Not bad advice from an atheist is it? Now we don't normally use the word 'proselytize' because, frankly, it sounds, well, odd. "I don't want to proselytize my friends, I like my friends!" (With a nod to Tommy Smothers, if you remember him.) We talk about being missional, or sharing our faith. And we do it for the reason that Penn talks about, but let me say it in kind of a more positive way: How much would we have to love someone to want to rescue them from dying? (Hmm, how much did God love us to do just that?)
See, we aren't missional because it's a way of getting on God's good side, that it earns us points we need to make sure we get into heaven. It's not about putting notches on the belt of faith I wear (like the bat-belt) that shows how good of a Christian I am. It's not even really about responsibility. We want to be missional because there are people in our lives that we genuinely care about, people that we love. And if we love them, and we really believe that they are in danger, we are going to lovingly try to help them see that danger and the way out of it. If we just see it as our duty to tell others about Jesus, then all of our relationships are tinged with ulterior motives, and we discard relationships once our "duty" is done. But if it's about love, then it's more about wanting the best for our friends or family, and an ongoing love for them regardless of how they respond.
I think it's pretty cool that Penn could have that perspective. He really gets it, much better than we as Christians do most of the time. Balaam's ass strikes again! (Obscure Old Testament reference alert, see Numbers 22:21-33 if that intrigues you.)
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