This is my response to the disscussion originally found on
Strider's blog.
Ok, first off, I admire you guys for having the courage to tackle these topics. Secondly, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, mine included, so please do not take this the wrong way.
I believe that the young man who stood up was in the right, for he had started the conversation by standing up. Let’s look at it this way, if after the professor had left the young man had left too, he might have been viewed as being ashamed. If he had sat back down he might have closed off the opportunity to share his faith with others who were interested.
I also disagree that he was “forcing” his views on them. For as it said in the video, he was “sharing his faith”, while the professor had actually set out to change people’s views to what he believed, and critized those who might think differently. Also the student had no way of keeping those who might not want to hear about Christ in the room, they could have easily walked out. The professor, while he might not have a physical cage, kept the people listening to him, because the people had to take the class. Thus the difference between the 2 views and the way they shared them are vastly different.
On to the second subject, I whole-heartedly believe in living a life that people see as “different”. That is actually a prayer I pray every day, to let others see Jesus through me. But I also believe that if your faith, or the question of Jesus is attacked or questioned, you should be ready to defend it and give the reason why you believe the way you do.
At the risk of sounding unkind, I do believe that sometimes you may have to “offend” people. As the Christian comedian/speaker Brad Stine said,
“There is a difference between maliciously offending someone, and someone being offended by truth. If they are offended because you are speaking the truth, that’s not your problem.” I admire Brad Stine, and although he can sometimes be too in your face, he has no qualms about standing up for Christ.
That brings us to the topic of truth, is there an absolute truth? I believe there is, it’s called Jesus.
John 6:47- I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life.
John 14:6- Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Now obviously these verses will mean nothing to you if you do not believe the Bible is the Word of God. I think Brad Stine did an excellent job on this subject so please watch this
clip from one of his shows. The first 4 minutes speak on the Bible’s accuracy and the last minute and a half talk about the hope that Jesus has given us.
Hopefully you watched the amazing video; I think that pretty much covers it. It is a choice, like he said if there is no God, then when you die you’ll never know. But I love to rest in the fact that Jesus is going to say “Hey I know Kara, she lived for me, come into My Kingdom.”
Here is something else to think about. Look at our bodies. As I am learning in Anatomy, they are the most highly advanced machine ever created. I will use just one part, the bone and joint. Synovial joints are your most common joints in your body, such as your shoulder, your knee, elbow, etc. In this type of joint the end of your bones are covered with articular cartilage which act as a “hard plastic coating” and protect the bone tissue when they rub against each other. But obviously this would still cause friction thus reducing the efficiency of motion, and the heat would be damaging for the tissue. So what does your body do? It has a membrane capsule around the entire joint that produces its own lubricant, synovial fluid, to lubricate the joint which reduces the friction. Also each of the 6 different types of synovial joints are perfectly designed to support or provide sufficient movement for each part of your body.
Now let’s compare this genius machine to an automobile, one of the most advanced man-made machines. The car is much like joints as it has parts that rub up against each other, but unlike the bones they do not have a hard plastic covering which protects them. If they did cars would not break down and need new parts as often. Also automobiles use oil, much like the synovial fluid, to lubricate the moving parts. But cars do not make their own lubricant; you have to put it in.
Now let’s say I took you into my backyard, showed you a car and told you that it was created by a tornado that blew a bunch of scrap metal around and it just happened to form a vehicle! Would you believe it? Of course not. Yet people believe that our bodies, the most technologically advanced machine ever created, happened by chance?
To close I want to share what one of my heroes, the band BarlowGirl had to say on the subject of witnessing and standing up. When they were writing their most recent album, they were discussing the growing trend of “If I just live a good life and be kind, people will see that and ask me so then I will be able to share about Jesus. But you know I don’t want to offend people so I just won’t say His name.” Then BarlowGirl had a light bulb, “Wait a second, Jesus gave His LIFE for me! And here I am too scared to stand up for what I believe in and say ‘I believe in Jesus! Jesus is the Way!’” That really brought it home for me. There is power in the Name of Jesus; we must not forget it as a Christian. Don’t be afraid!
Ok thanks for bearing with me, I pray that I have spoken truth, because although I try to live for God at all times, I am human and do slip up. If you have any questions or comments please feel free!
Kara
Abby rocked Elliott to sleep, too cute!
Becca & Elliott
Madalyn the Camera Woman
We took our Wii and projected it up on the wall. Here the boys are having a go, (LtoR)Riley, Brian, Uncle Chris, Uncle Bob, Nathanael(the twins dad), Gabe, Luke, Megan
Becca, Megan, Riley, & Sullivan hiding from Gabe, too funny
Card game time!
LtoR: Kelsey, Savannah, Rebecca, Me
Capital from the Monument
Rebecca, Mary, Savannah, Me
The beautiful Canal and Indianapolis Skyline
