Tuesday, June 27, 2006

What should I have said?

Yesterday, on my way to a Bible Study group, I was accosted by two teenage boys, who obviously understood me to be a man of faith.

Says the First: do you believe in God?
Says I: yes.
Says the Second: are you a Jehovah's Witness?
Says I: no.
Says the First: so why do you believe in God?

So now I enter into a dilemma. Since I have to be at a meeting I can't stand chattering, but then St Peter's words about always having a gentle answer to give an account of my faith are ringing in my ears. I wait for a divine word and out it comes. The trouble is that my friends from the Inquisition (sorry Council for the Doctrine of the Faith) are firing questions at me left, right and centre.

Says I: because I do. It's difficult to explain.
Says the First: So when was God born?
Says I: (not wishing to have to plough through the entirety of the Catechism)
He wasn't born. He's always existed.
Says the Second: So do you talk to God.
Says I: yes
Says the Second: So does he reply - no he doesn't.
Says I: yes, He does.
Says the First: How can he? He doesn't exist.
Says I: Well, try talking to Him then.

At this point their conversation degenerates into a blasphemous invective directed to some poor defenceless area of sky. God, I assume is big enough to deal with all the rather colourful language, so I leave them to it.

Now, I am supposed to be reassured that if I open my mouth, the words of the Holy Ghost will fill it. It certainly didn't feel that way, but then the Holy Paraclete works at the level beyond mere feeling.

This does beg the question. What can we tell these children?

From my conversation I got the following information:
  1. They cannot grasp anything that they cannot experience directly.
  2. They have no comprehension of the validity of religious belief.
  3. I need to think about St Peter's words!!

It's always after the event that "clever" things come to you. for instance the conversation could have run:

Says the first: Why do you believe in God?
Says I: I'll try to explain. Do you have a girlfriend?
Says the first: Yeah.
Says I: How do I know she exists? How do you know she exists right at this moment in time?

Now whether or not this would work, I've no idea. Somehow I think ontological philosophy would pass them by.

Cleverness doesn't always have the desired effect. Perhaps, to keep it short and simple was best.

1 comment:

poetreader said...

Isaiah 6:8ff after his marvelous vision of heaven)

... Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
And he said, Go and tell this people Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.
Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,
And the Lord have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.
But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.

Our Lord likewise told us that He spoke in parables, not to make things plain, but that 'seeing they might not see, and hearing they might hear'.

We are His messengers, in word and in deed, but if we depend upon convincing any significant number of those with whom we speak, we are dooming ourselves to great frustration. 'Many are called, but few are chosen'. We speak and act as best as we are able, but the message we bear is no good to any but those who want to hear it, to those who have ears to hear. We have no way of knowing who those might be (who would have expected it to be Saul of Tarsus?), so we tell anyone that we can, as well as we can, and seem (for the most part) to fail --but the seed has been planted, and, in the right soil will grow.
If we are faithful to do what we can, I firmly believe that, on that great Day, when we walk through those Gates, we'll look over our shoulders and wonder, "Who are all these people following me?" And we'll lead them in.

My friend, you testify to using the only approach that I think is really worthwhile. You can't convince someone who isn't willing to be convinced, but you can invite them to meet Someone you know. I've argued myself blue in the face trying to prove the truth of the Evangelion, but the only success I've had has been to say, in one way or another, "Hey there's Someone I want you to meet -- Come and see!" If I'm asked how I know there is a God, I have but one answer I can give, and it is the one I give -- "I talked to Him this morning."

ed