One of the coolest things that I got to do in China was talk to an atheist on the train from our city to Beijing. My very best friend back home is an atheist, so I was really excited to talk to this guy. I mean, most of the conversations that my bestie and I used to have about Jesus turned into arguments and tears on my part, but I was still hopeful.
It's just that I could never get the hang of the intellectual side of the whole debate/debacle. Lee Strobel is WAY over my head. I actually read “the case AGAINST the case for Christ” to understand what his book was about in a nutshell. I've read cases for and against Christianity, and God has always used it to bring me to a new level of faith and understanding. I just hoped this guy wouldn't try to make me cry.
My squadmate, Richard, had taken the first (HUGE) step in sharing his faith with him. (Rich is cool like that.) He actually took the man aside with his BIBLE and walked him through the whole thing.
As for me, I was sitting right across from the dude and couldn't even muster up the words to say anything until he looked right at me and asked,
“do YOU believe in Jesus?”
as soon as those words came out of his mouth, it was on.
“Yeah!” I said, maybe too enthusiastically.
He shook his head. “not me. My teachers have taught me, and my parents have taught me, and all of my friends believe…” and he went on to tell me some of the common reasons people have for not ascribing to religion. “so, you see…this belief in God…it just doesn't make sense.”
I nodded excitedly. “yeah! They taught me that in school, too!”
Baffled, he asked, “but…you don't believe it?”
I shook my head with a cheery, “no!”
He squinted, as if he couldn't decide whether I was stupid or mentally unstable. I'm fairly certain he was leaning towards the latter.
“…Why not?”
And so I got to tell him how Jesus had changed my life. Then it was MY turn to ask, “what do you believe, and why?”
He told me a little bit about what he believed. I got confused, and asked, “well…what about (xyz)? And where did (…) come from? And what about this?”
instead of answering those questions, HE started to look confused! “I…never thought much about it.”
it was my turn to be baffled. “you should! You should think lots about it! You gotta know what you believe is really real!” He conceded that he would look more into it. And that was it.
What I loved about this encounter was that neither of us was out to pick a fight. I was genuinely curious to know what he believed, and he felt the same. neither of us looked down on the other for not sharing the same viewpoint. We were two people coming alongside each other on the quest for truth. neither of us wanted to waste our lives believing a lie. no one- whether Bhuddist, Muslim, Christian or atheist- has anything to fear when it comes to seeking truth. as one person put it, "If you come across truth in any form, it isn’t outside your faith as a Christian. Your faith just got bigger." don't be afraid of truth. be afraid of living under a lie.
another thing I LOVE about what God did on that train is that He used someone who dropped out of community college, who didn't know a thing about fossil records or the dead sea scrolls, and whose understanding of evolution ended in her high school science class, to confuse a man studying to be a doctor(keep in mind that I wasn't ACTUALLY trying to confuse the guy. I just hoped he would answer my questions.) honestly, His creativity and His Author heart stun me speechless. He is writing an incredible story, and I feel more and more grateful to be a part of it.
I didn't lead this guy to Jesus. He probably still thinks that Christians for the most part are ignorant, uneducated, and obnoxious (it's hard to fight a mindset that you were raised in.) but if in twenty years or so, he can look back on that day he met the weird girl on the train and think, “maybe she was onto something.” and it will cause him to seek Truth, then it was worth it.
thank you for sharing the story with me.
-Anna
