Anecdote (long) - was Jesus Genealogies

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BACH
<snip>
I assume that you include yourself as one of those xian types that you
have
mentioned to Chief Blackfoot...that you would not be convinced that Jesus
is
not God's Messiah no matter what evidence was presented to you to the
contrary.
Don't bother you with the facts....your mind is already made up, is that
it?
Doesn't the fallacy of that kind of thinking bother you at all?  As long
as
ignorance is bliss, ignorance is okay?
Bones Bach
thebachs@fgi.net


DTS
A little change of subject, into something lighter, but I had a run-in
with a self-professed (female) Baptist missionary while at the gym last
Saturday.

Bad move.  :-)

The conversation started when she regretted not being able to hear the
audio portion of the impeachment that was playing on one of the TVs.  She
was an impeachment supporter, and I opined that this was one issue where
both sides were 100% right.  It is absolutely true that the far Right was
out to destroy Clinton since the day he was nominated (which she had to
and did acknowledge), but it's also true that each time the GOP would
turn the public off with their antics or attitudes, no sooner would
Clinton blunder away his newly granted political advantage with some new
act of stupidity faster than you could say "blow me."  This time, he
blundered once too often, once too seriously.  Enough on that side issue,
however..

Soon, she asked me if I attended a church in the area.  I replied no,
except for occasioning a Unitarian Universalist church where everyone is
twice my age.  And I'm 40.  <g>  Uh-oh, I knew it was coming.  And boy
was I ready.  <eg>

Presently, she revealed that she was a Baptist missionary and invited me
to her church.  I asked, "which denomination of Baptist?  Southern
Baptist?  American Baptist?  General Baptist?  Missionary Baptist?..." 
Before I could include "Primitive Baptist," she interjected "Southern,"
and added "my, you must really study this."

She proceeded to describe her church, a "Crossroads church," as a
contemporary, youth-oriented worship; casual dress, upbeat popular music,
yada yada.  I remarked, "Yes, I have heard of the Crossroads movement. 
They have many similarities to the Vineyard movement."  Surprised again,
she replied, "yes."

So, again she asked me to join her.  I replied, "I might, except for one
thing.  I'm an ex."  "An ex?," she quizzically replied.  "An ex-believer.
 That's why I know so much about this."  "Oh," was her disillusioned
reply, followed by the obligatory "what happened?"

"Many things," I said, but I started on the Religious Right.  While
acknowledging that disliking the Religious Right doesn't in itself
discredit the Christian faith, I pointed out that "Christians can't even
settle what God's will and God's laws are.  What makes them think the
government can?  Christians can't agree on whether baptism is necessary
for salvation.  Some conservative Christians are violently opposed to
women in the ministry.  Other conservative Christians are not."  She
interjected, "obviously I'm not!"  I continued, "Christians can't even
agree on what God eants from us."

She had no choice but to agree, and argued that "the only thing that
matters is faith in Jesus Christ as your savior."

She dutifuly continued, "it is my job to spread the Gospel of Jesus
Christ.  Jesus is coming soon, you know.  We are living in the last days"

"I really would like to discuss that with you sometime," I replied.  "You
might want to ask a full preterist what Jesus meant by his second coming
and the last days."  "Pardon?", she queried after hearing the unfamiliar
theological term."  I repeated it.

Rather than dwelling on it, however, she resumed her testimony and told
me how Jesus changed her life and gives it fullness.

"I have a truism about that," I remarked.  "Suppose you were promised a
million dollars if you could discover the ultimate cure for cancer.  A
promise of a million bucks would give a lot of people a whole lot of hope
and determination.  So, suppose you set out to find this cure for cancer,
and suppose you find it.  Now suppose you return to collect on the
million dollar promise.  You find out the guy never meant a word of it. 
All that work, for an empty promise.  What I'm trying to say, is even a
false promise can give people the reason and the determination to make
real changes in their lives."

By then, she was in parrot mode.  All I got in response to my points were
memorized Bible verses.  She went on to tell me how Satan is working hard
in the world trying to keep people away from salvation in Jesus Christ. 
I remarked, "so, God sort of lets Satan run around loose and mess with
our heads?"  "God gives you a choice.  You can choose to have faith or
not."  I remarked, "obviously you're not a five point Calvinist."  That
brought out another "pardon?".

Anyway, as she left, we exchanged names and I said, "I always enjoy
stimulating conversation, even when we don't agree.  Stimulating talk is
hard to come by these days."  She agreed.

She'll be back.  And when she comes back, I'm planning to ask her out to
lunch or dinner so we can discuss the Bible and a few other things.  I'm
out on a mission of my own, of sorts:  I'm betting that within 6 months,
all positions will be missionary positions.  ;-)











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