Last night I watched Larry King Live because they were talking about what happens when a person dies. The panel was John Macarthur (Christian), a Catholic Priest, a Spiritualist, a Muslim, a Jewish Rabbi and an Atheist. I suggest checking out the transcript, it's very interesting. The most irritating person on the program had to be the spiritualist woman. She was very cultish and scary. A lot of "God is love and when we die we get sucked up by the essense of love and we become one with everything" kind of talk. Hers was definitely the opinion with the least amount of authority. At least the Muslim, Christian and Jew have a place where they put their authority. With the spiritualist it is just about what you feel and experience.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0504/14/lkl.01.html
This morning we met at 7:45 to hand out Granola Bars to people on their way to work with a postcard about Forefront. It was a better experience than I usually have. I feel like this is an effective way to meet people and establish a good community presence but generally don't enjoy participating that much. The people were all very friendly today. The city woke up on the right side of the bed this morning. Had a few people stop and thank us and one person emailed in and thanked us and said he might come to church on the 24th. It's amazing the people you can meet and the invite to church just by handing out something as simple as a granola bar. We do it a lot in the city, it makes me wonder why churches in smaller cities and towns don't make that kind of effort. You would never see anyone from a church in Lincoln Illinois doing that and it makes me wonder why? I bet it would be huge there. But I guess most of us have gotten comfortable by just hoping people show up to a building on Sunday because they know it's there right? I'm not trying to be holier than thou, I just realize now that I didn't make much of an effort when I lived in the Bible Belt because it was almost like, "they know where church is, they can come if they want, it's up to them." I didn't feel like we really sought people out to invite. Am I way off here?
2 comments:
you're definitely not way off. being out in the community shows people that you actually want them to be a part of your church. i know friends of mine in small town Marshall feel like they won't fit in at church and that the "church people" wouldn't want them there. if the "church people" would look them in the eye, hand them a granola bar, and say "come join us, this place is for everyone", maybe their attitudes would change. does this mean you want to move back to small town Bible belt? heheheheheh
kelli
The atheist woman was obvioulsy an angry person. She was saying things like "I can't believe in a God who tells people not to care about this life but just day dream all the time and then die, I think people should try to make a difference in this world and live the best, fullest life possible." I was like, "amen". All of the other spiritual leaders instantly concurred with no objection. The God that all of these people believed in was a God of purpose and meaning. The atheist just assumed that God was another word for stupid lazyiness exuse.
Its funny how many athesist and believers have big misconceptions about what the other believes (or doesn't believe). I think that everyone is interested in some form of truth, or at least we can all agree that we should be. And I think that in order for us all to find what we're looking for we have to listen to what exactly it is the others believe.
Post a Comment