I, Zac, do believe in God. It's just the title of the post.
And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22:35-39
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 Corinthians 13:5-7God has called us to love our neighbors. God has called us to love like He lays it out in 1 Corinthians 13. God empowers this love.
Let me ask you a few questions.
How could you love someone if you never listened to them? How could you love them if you never got to know them? How could you love someone if you never tried to understand their point of view? How could you love someone if you never tried to understand what they believe?
It's far too easy for me to cruise through life believing what I believe. But I know a lot of awesome people (people that I am called to love) that simply do not believe the same things that I believe. Sometimes the Christian's response to someone like this is shunning, hatred, and rumor mongering -- not Godly love. I think this is wrong. Jesus called me to love others and share the gospel, not to change people's hearts (that is His gig). Therefore, out of compassion, friendship, and plain curiosity it is important to get to know other people's points of view. It's unloving to ignore, hate, and make statements that are not grounded in reality about anybody -- no matter what they believe.
I have some friends who do not believe in God, and they have passionate, deeply held beliefs as to why they feel that way. I respect them for believing something and standing up for it. It is far more than I have done in the past. Of course, I would like them to see it my way, but salvation belongs to the Lord. It's simply not our job to force anyone to believe.
This being said, I think it is a good practice to learn what other people believe and why they believe those things. I think that it's wise to educate yourself, but I also think that it's the loving and Christlike thing to do. So check out this video made by Hemant Mehta, and begin to understand why people believe differently than you do.
When it comes down to it I have to ask myself, why would anyone listen to what I believe and why, if I am not also willing to listen to what they believe and why?
I agree. There's too many Christians who try to force and coerce. Often, the relationships they build with unbelievers (if any) are noticeably surface with an obvious bent on underlying motives to change them. Too few of us are willing to honestly invest in people unlike ourselves in a real, genuine relationship where we love the person despite their unbelief. Discipleship cannot happen apart from time spent together and most non-Christians aren't going to get excited about our invitations to sing worship or attend bible study. Incidentally, many Christians aren't even willing to invest in other Christians who are unlike them or disagree on beliefs/opinions. O.o
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, though, relationships with non-Christians can only be so deep. I have lots of unbelieving friends whom I love and hang out with, and I do witness to them whenever possible in normal conversation, but, like you said, salvation is of the Lord. While I wouldn't stop loving them or hanging out, I think there is a time where I have to ask myself if my time might be better spent discipling someone else who is interested - because when I look at Jesus, I don't see him chasing people who would rather talk about their toe nails than the gospel.
I guess it just comes down to respect for people as humans and loving them enough to speak the truth after we've listened. I think respect also stops talking when the other party refuses to acknowledge truth and has made clear they are uninterested.