I had a very interesting conversation with a coworker the other night. It started with a conversation about job stuff but quickly turned into a talk about the meaning of life (it’s officially a trend.) I explained to her why I see us not as evil people but broken people who are missing something very big and real and important, and that as a result we do lots of mean and terrible or stupid or hurtful things to ourselves and others in an effort to capture that piece that’s missing. I talked about how for me, being a Christian isn’t about being right or about avoiding something terrible but rather is about rediscovering a long lost love.
It was interesting - she listened. It wasn’t like those discussions in philosophy class, or those debates one has in bars about the meaning of existence. Those are about proving something, and that’s probably why they just result in people getting angry.
People say don’t talk about religion or politics. But I’m realizing politics and religion are two completely different things. Politics is about figuring out what’s right and wrong. Religion is (or should be) about understanding why we behave the way we do and why we all feel like we’re missing something. It should be about that search. And, ultimately, it should be about an amazing love relationship.
I’ve heard it said that you can’t love something unless you’ve seen someone else love it. If you think about all the televangelists and the people standing on blocks in college yelling about the end of the world, and even of the thousands and thousands of well-meaning people in churches all over the country who don’t talk about love but rather about being good enough and right enough…when you think about all of that, it’s easy to see why people are turned off or downright hostile. You’re selling them an idea - and idea that goes against their worldview and a sell that reinforces why they don’t like ‘people like you’ in the first place.
When I talk about what it’s like to be in love with my girlfriend, that doesn’t invite hostility. More often than not, people not in a relationship want to hear about what it’s like and want to know more.
If I talked about my relationship with God the way it’s meant to be, what would people’s reaction be?
3 responses
Well put…as always. Hostility is often a result of lack of knowledge or understanding, and in some cases blind ignorance. People wouldn’t have made fun of my “Nice Acura” if they knew Will was a fiesty drunk; a lack of knowledge leads to hostile actions.
People like to hear about you and the g-friend because most of us have loved before, understand its purity and beauty, and are thus unthreatened by your feelings and attitude toward it; they grasp the parameters of your thoughts; your love doesn’t send them to hell.
Alot of people have also heard of this God character, can’t put it in one of their ‘brain boxes’, can’t rationalize the creation of the planet, blah blah blah, and these uncomprehensible, unfathomable notions and statements can’t be ‘understood’ in the traditional sense of figuring them out, and it scares the crap out of people. That crap is in some instances turned into argumentative and hostile behavior.
Nice Acura!
Now kick me in the eye. Classic.
Oh, Sean, you’re good….
I’ve managed to save up roughly $60738 in my bank account, but I’m not sure if I should buy a house or not. Do you think the market is stable or do you think that home prices will decrease by a lot?