Why Christians Scare Me

This is a terrible thing for a Christian to say, but it's true. Someone will say about a person they want me to meet, "He's a real Christian." Or worse, "a red-hot Christian." Usually, if I am to converse with this person, I fear I will spend time with either an ignorant person or a badly deluded one.

I feel better for having made this confession.

I have known two preachers personally, and I make exceptions for them. Talking to them was fascinating, because they were both open to ideas. Paul's statement that he was all things to all men, was especially true of one of these men.

You can check me on this, but when I meet most Christians I will meet a person who is ignorant, not only about the world, but about the Bible. As one preacher said, they're trying to "good their way through."

Here is my test. If a Christian meets a non-Christian, can he or she talk to them about what concerns THEM and not hit them with the threat of going to a "devils hell?" Can the Christian be knowledgeable and interested in the unsaved person?

In other words can the Christian be the kind of person the non-believer would like to get to know? It soon may be that the non-believer asks about why you are so happy and live in such a desirable way.

I recently was invited to a going away dinner at a church for my best friend's son. Seated at my table was a person who was like Kryptonite for Superman. I felt bad for three days after meeting him. I mentioned that archeologists have found Noah's ark. Not that they think they might have, but this is it. The dimensions are just as the Bible says.

I thought he would be interested. His next statement was, "When I was in Israel I saw the remains of an old boat." A person who has been in Israel but is not interested in finding the ark! "An old boat" does not describe the ark of Noah.

I was supposed to say. "Wow, you've been to Israel!" as if this made him an expert on anything.

There is a current theology that says that ignorance is a virtue. It keeps you holy and unspotted from the world.

My last job was as a security guard. I worked with a young man who was a Christian. We prayed together. I used to read the newspaper between rounds and used a ruler to tear out articles. He said to me, "I see you seem to want knowledge all the time. I always believed that learning was of the flesh."

This from a man who told me that at a recent church meeting, when the piano player got sick, the Holy Spirit filled in and played the piano. The other variation of the story is that the Holy Spirit sang the part for a missing member of a quartet. It is a popular story.

Awful to say it, but feeling good, and prosperity are the two parts of what drives many people. Too bad no one told Paul about them.