Evangelistic Encounter: 11/24/08

Thinking about what I posted a couple of days ago, I had determined that I would, if at all possible, speak of the gospel with my co-worker whom I mentioned before.
The Lord did grant me an opportunity for witness to him, but not in the way I expected.

At the beginning of my work-day, I rolled my ankle, spraining it. I had been in a bad mood already, and being in pain did not help, but I continued to work through it and prayed that I might still be able to speak with my co-worker. [I refer to him as "my co-worker" throughout this post, as I am concerned that he be embarrassed for his name to appear in this context.] Before I could say anything, however, my co-worker asked, "Are you really into God?"

Surprised at this question, I answered, "I hope so!"

"I know you're religious," he replied, "but I mean, are you like really into God; like, do you pray about every little thing, like, 'God, please help these boxes to come down before the slide jams up'?

"Well," I said, "I don't usually think to pray for every little thing like that, but I don't see anything wrong with it. Why do you ask?"

"I'm just trying to figure out what I believe," he said.

I then stressed to him that finding out what we believe is very important; I reminded him of what he had said before about how he had "almost died" by narrowly avoiding a car accident. I pointed out that life is very short and that the good news of the Christian faith is that through Jesus, we can have confidence of what will happen to us after we die.

"But I don't believe everything that Christianity teaches," he replied.

"Like what?" I asked.

"Well, like, doesn't Christianity teach that people are the most important to God? Like, more important to Him than everything else that He made? I don't believe that."

"Why not?" I asked.

"Well, because God made everything. I figure that He loves everything He made equally and people shouldn't think they're better than everything else." He then spoke for awhile about how destructive people are to the environment and that other animals (he gave bees as an example) actually help the environment. He said that he knows the Bible says we're made in God's image, but he didn't find that meaningful.

During the conversation outlined above, I pointed out an inconsistency in his position; my co-worker said that he thinks God views everything He made as the same, but my co-worker does not live as if everything God made is of equal value. In other words, he has no problem stepping on some ants or eating a cow, yet he would not kill his parents or eat a person. And as we kill other things God has made in order to survive, my co-worker does not want God to view everything as the same, otherwise we would all be guilty of murder every time we eat a meal.

I also conceded that he may very well have some good points; if we were left to figure this out on our own, with our own philosophy, then we might come to the conclusion he had reached, but I pointed out that God has given us the Bible to tell us what He thinks about His creation, and that he gives people a special place in what He has made. I also pointed out that God sent His Son Jesus into the world as a human, to die for humans- for our sins against Him- and that this shows that we have a special place in His plan.

Just then, another guy came into our work area and the conversation changed, then the co-worker I had been speaking with had to go somewhere else (he usually works in another area), and I did not get the opportunity to speak with him again.

Christians reading this post: please pray that God would open my co-worker's eyes to the good news of eternal life in Jesus, and pray healing for my ankle, that I would not be made to work in an isolated area due to my injury, and that I would have further opportunities to speak to others of Jesus.