zazen<\/em>\u2014especially if you\u2019ve just done it for ten hours straight\u2014is that it leaves you feeling like Lake Placid. So, in a voice filled with nothing but calm warmth, I said, \u201cThat\u2019s great. I mean, I know that for a lot of people Christianity is perfect. We\u2019ve chosen Zen. I\u2019ve got a friend who\u2019s a Hindu. My wife\u2019s dad is Catholic. I guess everybody has to find their own way.\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cBut there\u2019s only one true way, friend. And that way is through Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n
I walked around the front of our car to the driver\u2019s side. \u201cChristianity\u2019s a really sound option, for sure,\u201d I said. He stepped toward me.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s more than just an option. It\u2019s the only way. Anyone who doesn\u2019t repent of their sins and declare the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal savior is lost to the flames of eternal hell.\u201d<\/p>\n
I felt a tight ball gathering in my stomach.\u00a0With one hand on my door handle I smiled over the top of the car. \u201cWell, that doesn\u2019t sound like much fun. I hope that doesn\u2019t happen to me!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, it will. It happens to everyone who chooses any but the one true way.\u201d<\/p>\n
And then I made the mistake I too often do: I started talking too much.\u00a0\u201cI understand that Christianity works for you. And I think that\u2019s outstanding. Your life must be so rich because of your faith. But must Christianity be the only way? Can\u2019t there be other good ways for people to know and experience what you call God? Does everyone who chooses any other way but Christianity have to be wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n
With nothing but teeth showing the guy said, \u201cHey, I don\u2019t make the rules. You can fight against it all you want. But the fact is that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins. The cost of not accepting him as your savior is the eternal damnation of your soul.\u201d<\/p>\n
Through the windshield I saw Cat, quietly looking straight ahead. I knew she could hear us.<\/p>\n
I pulled open my car door. \u201cWell, I guess I\u2019ll just have to hope that you\u2019re mistaken.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, I\u2019m not, buddy.\u201d He raised his voice a little; I was getting away. \u201cBut you are. Both you and your wife are condemning yourselves in the eyes of the Lord by engaging in sinful idolatry.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAll right; I\u2019ll bear that in mind. There aren\u2019t actually any idols in Zen, but I see what you\u2019re saying.\u201d I waved. \u201cThanks for sharing. Have a good day.\u201d<\/p>\n
As I closed the car door the guy moved to the front of our car. He held up his hand like he was halting traffic.\u00a0\u201cStop what you\u2019re doing! Let the Lord into your heart! You please the devil with your sinful ways!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cJesus,\u201d murmured Catherine.<\/p>\n
\u201cOr one of his ambassadors, anyway,\u201d I said. I started the car. \u201cI wonder if I\u2019m gonna have to run this fool over?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re lost!\u201d he cried. But he also demonstrated that he hadn\u2019t lost all touch with reality by stepping away from the front of our car back up onto the curb.<\/p>\n
\u201cRepent!\u201d he fairly yelled. \u201cAccept the Lord! Turn your back on the devil! Rid yourself of your sin!\u201d<\/p>\n
I pulled our car out and headed down the residential street.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell,\u201d said Cat \u201cwasn\u2019t that special?\u201d,<\/p>\n
\u201cCan you imagine being God, and looking down, and seeing that?\u201d I said. \u201cI wonder what Jesus thinks when he sees stuff like that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Maybe I should become a Buddhist\u2019?,\u201d said Cat. \u201cOr maybe, \u2018I need to get some new salespeople. People who aren\u2019t<\/em> totally rude and intrusive? People who don\u2019t<\/em> think the way to attract people to me is to scream insults at them\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cOr maybe he\u2019d just go, \u201c\u2018That\u2019s it. I give up. Time for the Apocalypse.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
That the Christian in the orange cap meant well isn\u2019t in question. Of course he only wanted what was best for Cat and me. But he only repelled us from Christianity, because his evangelizing effort was grounded in what all such efforts must be, which is a lack of respect. By showing that he had no respect whatsoever for our belief system, he showed that he had no respect for us.<\/p>\n
Showing that he had no respect for us proved that the evangelizer did not love<\/em> us, since the best that love without respect can be is patronizing. And by not loving us, he utterly broke the second part of what Jesus himself called the greatest law of all:<\/em> to love your neighbor as you love yourself. (See Mark 12:28-31.) Another reason he absolutely could not love us is because he drove us away from him. And you can\u2019t love someone with whom you have no relationship at all.<\/p>\nTrying to \u201cshare\u201d Jesus in the manner he did meant explicitly and directly disobeying Jesus.<\/p>\n
To my fellow Christians: Remember, please, that the whole point of a witness<\/em> is to answer questions someone has first asked<\/em> you.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shame on this Christian—and on any Christian who does what he did.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1528,"featured_media":30338,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[37,38,40,41,42,10,43,44,11,45,46],"class_list":["post-10809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-personal","tag-converting-others","tag-evangelical","tag-evangelizing","tag-great-commandment","tag-great-commission","tag-jesus-christ","tag-preaching-the-word","tag-proselytizing","tag-religion","tag-saving-sinners","tag-the-gospel"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a><\/p>\n