A New Friend
I had a couple of good conversations with a new friend this week. It all started with me being bored out of my mind and trying not to fall asleep at work. Having worked with him a little before, and sort of expecting a little of what was to come, I decided to walk over to where I saw him standing and ask him a very, VERY open-ended question.
To paraphrase, I asked, “So, tell me something philosophical.” It was like opening a faucet, LOL! What I was not expecting was the volume of conversation. Obviously, I struck a nerve!
A Second Conversation
So, it was the next day – in the only down time I had (coincidence?) – that this young man walked over to me and started a conversation. If nothing else, he would have made my day by the way he started . . . “Based on yesterday’s conversation, I’m assuming you’re a Christian?” Let me tell you, that alone was a shot in the arm that I needed that very moment!
It was too fast-paced and in-depth to recount what was talked about, but there was one thing my new friend said that made me smile. He prefaced a statement he was about to make with, “I don’t want to offend you…“
You Won’t Offend Me, Honestly
It’s not the first time I’ve been told that. Actually, it was just a couple of months ago that an older man who hired on the same time as I did asked what I had done for a living before coming to work at Volkswagen. When I answered that I had been a full-time pastor, he immediately returned with, “Well, I don’t want to offend you, but I don’t believe what you believe.“
How is this supposed to offend me? Why would I be offended by someone telling me he doesn’t believe the same things as me? It’s possibly because when he’s mentioned it to other believers they’ve gasped with indignation and shock. Sort of like, “Whaaat? How is that possible? You must be a bad, bad person!“
But seriously, it doesn’t offend me when someone tells me he doesn’t believe what I believe. All it does it open the door for the kind of conversation I live for!
Beware the Crack
So, to all my new and old friends out there, “offend” away! Go ahead, tell me what you believe that differs from what I believe. Seriously, I’d love to hear it! All I ask is that YOU return the favor and not get offended when I ask you questions about how you came to your conclusion.
Let me give you a little advice, however. If you want to continue being an atheist or agnostic, or whatever it is that leads you to believe I might be offended by your words, beware of the cracks that may develop in your philosophical foundation. As soon as you begin to open up to honest conversation, you risk hearing a perspective that might change YOUR mind. You risk developing a crack of doubt in your own presuppositional opinions, a crack that may allow a tiny seed of faith to sneak in and take root.
So, no, you won’t offend me; you will encourage me! All you can do is convince me that I’m in the right place at the right time, just as God ordained.
The thing about foundation cracks is that they rarely close back up; they just go deeper and wider.
The Recovering Legalist 