Christianity or Bust

Today, I had my first Jehovah’s Witness door knocker visit since moving home.

It was a pretty interesting discussion.

He opened up with a quote about the End Times that came from Isaiah Chapter 3 (or 2:4) that is also found on the United Nations Headquarters. I mentioned that I’m reading Isaiah at the moment.

I found it really interesting that he said that some people call the book of Isaiah “the firth Gospel”. I’ve never heard that before.

Subsequently, I established that I was a non-denominational Christian very quickly.

I can’t remember most of what we talked about even though I invited him and his son in (eventually) for tea. It was good timing because during the discussion, there was a huge downpour.

One of my housemates got up and joined in discussions. I feel like laughing because he thought he has the quiet room of the house that is away from the side of the house that is on a busy road with a shopping centre across from it! Ha ha ha!

I got an explanation for why the JWs believe that the 144,000 resurrections have begun in 1914. I really would rather see an explanation written down in paper because it covered a lot of stuff I haven’t read including prophecies from Daniel.

I really shouldn’t have asked him about that. There are more important things such as how they believe Jesus was just a human and not God and what that incorrect belief means (see earlier post).

My housemate asked for the man’s testimony. The impression I got was that the gentleman had a Catholic father and Anglican mother but wasn’t terribly satisfied by the orthodox church but loved the feeling of brotherhood within JW. Occassionally, he would speak about how Christians have waged war upon each other - I should have pointed out that wars are really started by war pigs (ie individuals) who are not always representative of Christianity.

I said they are welcome to come back to discuss things further. I wonder if he’ll come back.

Maybe I’m thinking with a too critical mind but the JW had his son with him and the poor child looked really bored.

My housemate thinks I am wasting time talking to JWs and Mormons and says that it’s must more fun to talk to “Babylonians”. He may be right. In the past, Christian friends have said it takes a lot of effort to evangelise to them because those groups are cultish and always surrounded by their peers.

Anyway, as an effort to invite reader participation, I’ll ask: Am I wasting my time talking to Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses door knockers or pedestrian pests?

Whenever I go to church, I usually assume that everyone I speak to is a Christian. However, I’ve started to realise that is not the case. Maybe it’s just that at my last church, those people seeking to know God kept their thoughts quiet. Maybe there isn’t enough of an opportunity for them to ask questions and have them resolved.

At my current church, there is a gentleman who described himself as a Christian / Buddhist / Hindu / Atheist philosopher. I wasn’t sure how that could be! From my limited discussions with him, he takes the philosophies that he likes because philosophy is the main thing he is interested in. (However, part of me thinks that perhaps, he is seeking to satisfy his social needs by coming to a church.)

I guess, I’m curious how a person can go to a church for over six years and still not be persuaded to believe in a deity.

In our limited discussion, I found out that he does believe that Jesus was a real person but didn’t believe that Jesus was the Son of God. That started making me think about the ramifications of what it would mean to me if Jesus wasn’t actually God. I’m sure this is the sort of thing that we really ought to think about so we can answer people with different beliefs (if I recall correctly, Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that Jesus was just a human and not also God). Yet really we ought to have the basics fully understood.

If Jesus was not God:

• Jesus would be just human and still be a sinful human - in the Gospel of Luke, we know that John the Baptist was born with the Holy Spirit yet we know that like all humans other than Jesus, he was still sinful (see Romans 3:23)
  • Thus, Jesus would not be a perfect sacrifice of God and thus mankind’s sins would not be atoned
• Jesus would be a liar in saying that he is one with the Father
  • Thus, what Jesus said and his promises would be unreliable.
    • Thus, Christians would be wasting our lives following a liar and believing in the promise of Salvation.
• Jesus would not be able to speak with the fully authority of God

Ah, you get the picture, right? When something fundamental is disbelieved, the whole orthodox Christian beliefs collapse in an ugly heap that includes millions of people dying for it.

Yet, I suspect my disbelieving acquaintance is a “cherry picker”.

Anyway, just in case you are wondering, I am not having a crisis of faith just because I’m pondering these things.

It’s taken me a year but I’ve finally filled another sharps bin. This one is one of the larger ones available: 4 litres.