This afternoon I will engage in a conversation with a seventy year old man. He says he's not a believer (define believer...) and what keeps him from believing is... seeing.
He's not upset with God, nor blames Him for the death of his wife and (soon) his son (due to a progressive illness). It's just that because he hasn't seen God, he will not and cannot believe.
How do I approach this?
I have been in similar conversations and I remember that I once asked a young man what difference it would really make; would he really change his mind about believing or not after a physical visit from God?
After contemplating this for a minute or so he admitted that it probably wouldn't make that much of a difference.
After dealing with this smokescreen, we were able to talk about the more real issues. "If God would honor you with a visit, what would you feel and how would you express those feelings? Would you feel happiness, anger, indifference, madness, joy?
What stuff would you like to talk about with God? What questions would you aks?"
There's many smokescreens today that people use as an excuse not to think about the stuff that's bigger than life.
Here in the Netherlands, Christians have found a new toy to throw at people: the yes or not literal six day creation. Well: WHO CARES! I literally get mad about this total waste of energy, attention and resources thrown into this totally useless discussion. There's a world around us going to hell and we get more excited about pretending to be Gods lawyer. Newsflash: God is a big boy and is perfectly capable of defending himself.
So, again we're not talking about the real issues. The Christians develop their own smokescreens to keep people away from seriously think about life and God. It is a disgrace!
It almost seems that as long as we can keep Jesus out of the periphery, and with sharpened swords fight about all the secondary stuff, all parties involved seem to be rather happy.
All but one. God the Father is waiting at the roadside for anyone who is tired of fighting to come to Him and engage in a full on life giving relationship.
