 | Rev. Patrick Notley is the Associate Pastor of First Presbyterian Church located at 525 N. Broadway in downtown Wichita. Reverend Notley received an MA in Divinity at San Francisco Theological Seminary and a Master of Arts in Christian Education from Presbyterian School of Christian Education in Richmond, VA. Born in Denver, CO and raised on the East Coast, Reverend Notley along with his wife, relocated to Wichita in 1997 to join the church, where he is responsible for Evangelism Educational programs. You can reach Reverend Notley at (316) 263-0248 ext. 22 or by email at pwnotley@firstpresbywichita.org |
Religion
2006-02-01 14:17:00
How to talk religion with a non-believer?
My best friend sums up his feelings about Christianity and salvation as follows: "I am perfectly content as a non-Christian. I do not believe in an afterlife and would never consider a religion so restrictive and exclusive as Christianity anyway." My family and I are Christians, but I do not feel I am ready to get into a conversation with him about this. I do know he reads this column. Can you provide your comments for me to refer to when I do visit with him?
ANSWER: I suppose I must say that as a Christian and as a pastor I do not see Christianity as either restrictive or exclusive. I believe in a God who is quite inclusive and very loving and I believe that this point of view is well supported in the Bible. I suppose my focus would more be with why you – the one posing the question – are not ready to engage in a conversation with your friend about your beliefs and their desire to not believe. I believe our purpose as Christians is to proclaim the Good News as we know it to be true in our lives. It is not our purpose to convert; only God can convert so to claim to be engaging in conversion is to claim to be gods ourselves. I would therefore, encourage you to engage your friend in conversation. Find out why they feel Christianity is restrictive and exclusive and share with them why you feel it is not that way. However, if your approach is to say that, “you will never be truly happy unless you are a Christian.” Then stop before you start. I find that the place to start is with personal experience, not theological content. What is your personal experience of being a Christian? What difference does it make in your life to say that you are a Christian? Hear what your friend has to say and then ask your friend to hear you as well, not for the purpose of conversion but for the purpose of building up one another. And remember the words of one wiser than me, “Bidden or not, God is present” You may not ever know what difference such a conversation might have but you can know that God will be present in the conversation and that is enough.
