I had the pleasure to listen this morning to a man with a heart for people of all colors and religions. The man's name was John Mayer (ha) of City Vision and he educated me and a church full of people on some pretty amazing facts and statistics regarding the incredible diversity in nationalities and religions in the Twin Cities. Muslims, Hmongs, Somalis, Liberians, Karens, Wiccans, Buddhist, Hindus -- these are just a few of the major nationalities and religions that the Twin Cities has some one of the largest concentrations of anywhere in the United States. John Mayer has a vision to reach out to these people groups with the good news of Jesus Christ and impact their lives and create a ripple effect all over the world as a result of the Twin Cities becoming a religious mecca (pun intended) for several major religions including Islam and Hinduism.
This was a very inspiring lecture. It was fascinating to find out that the little ol' Twin Cities is on the forefront for a massive shift in ethnic and religious diversity in the United States.
This was a very stirring lecture. It moved to the front burner the call of Jesus to share the good news to every nation. A interesting anecdote of Mayer's lecture is that the nations are coming to the Twin Cities.
This was a very controversial lecture. It was not controversial in a Christian church building, but this is far from the "all roads lead to heaven" popular post-modern religion that is acceptable to talk about on daytime talk shows.
This was a very confrontational lecture. Not confrontational is an offensive, arrogant or pios way, but confrontational in a "do you have something worth sharing" kind of way.
If the Christian faith was a bowling alley, I believe there are two gutters. One gutter, would be the gutter of grace where "everything is acceptable" and God knows your heart and intentions, and emphasis is on verses like "we are all sinners saved by Grace." The other gutter, would be the gutter of judgement where "being holy" means watching your every move and avoiding being "lukewarm" in your faith. Grace and works are both part of being a Christian, but it's not good to put too much focus on just one or the other.
I err on the side of grace - and I will admit that I am prone to roll a few grace "gutter-balls." I believe that God will cast a bigger net of salvation than most of my fellow Jesus following friends probably believe. I don't believe that all roads lead to heaven, but I do believe that many people of many different faiths believe they are on the road to heaven and would not be on that road if they knew it wasn't the "right" road.
I err on the side of "do not judge" and also "do not be an ass and start preaching to someone about their beliefs - and why your beliefs are superior - before you have earned the right or at least asked for the right to talk to them about such things." I have been humbled by taking this approach of telling others that my Christian beliefs are "right" only to feel like an idiot when I was asked good, legitimate questions about my faith that I couldn't answer. A good, humble, non-judgement approach never fails.
Perhaps I err on the side of not sharing enough. My "do not judge"-centric approach also may be wasting many opportunities that I have to share hope and joy with people that I come in to contact with. It's embarrassing for me to say that I think it says that I lack faith that my faith is "good enough" to share -- that my fear of coming across as saying and assuming that "you are wrong in how you live and my faith is better than yours" is getting in the way of me sharing love. My fear of not having all of the answers and "airtight proof of Christianity's validity" is keeping me from sharing something that I know is true in many ways - and the core of Christianity's message of "self-sacrificial love" is truly the best way to live life compared to any other other religion.
If it's offensive to tell other people that they are wrong for not living a life of love and self-sacrifice, perhaps I need to be more of an ass.
