This morning I was reading my Bible on the couch of the hotel lobby when a man sitting nearby asked me, “Are you part of a Bible study group?”
“No, I just like to read my Bible,” I said.
“What denomination are you?” he asked.
“Not really any…I just believe the Bible. What about you?”
“I grew up Roman Catholic,” he said and went on to explain his background and childhood.
“So do you think Heaven is a free gift of something you have to earn?”
“Roman Catholics would say you have to earn it,” he said.
“But what do you think?” I asked.
“You have to earn it,” he replied.
“So, if you have to earn it, your faith is in yourself, right?”
“Well, I suppose…” he said, but then explained at length how everyone’s standards are different and it’s not fair to judge others by your own standard because maybe they have had a different background than you, etc.
“Well,” Sarah (who had now joined our conversation) replied, “maybe God has a standard and, although we can’t judge each other by our own standards, God can judge us by His perfect standard.”
“Well, that could be, but I think that you have to think about everyone’s different background and what is true for one person might not be true for another,” he said.
“So do you believe there is any kind of absolute truth?” Sarah asked.
“No, I don’t think there is,” he said after a moment of thought.
“So you believe everything is relative?” Sarah asked.
“Yeah pretty much,” he replied.
“Are you sure about that?” Sarah asked, (trying to get him to make an absolute statement… )
“No, I’m not really sure, but I heard some people on TV talking about how all of God’s Word is subject to man’s interpretation” he said. “And everyone has a different interpretation.”
“It’s true that there are many people out there who are trying to discredit the Word of God,” Sarah replied, “but I’ve never heard any piece of evidence (whether science, historical, etc.) that discredits the Bible.”
“Well there are theologians that will back me up,” he said.
“Yes, and there are also theologians that will back me up,” Sarah said.
“And that just goes to prove that everything is relative,” he said.
“No, that just goes to prove that some people are right and some people are wrong,” Sarah replied with smile.
He scratched his head, glanced out the front window, and complained that this was too heavy of a conversation to have at ten in the morning. Just then his ride came.
He shook our hands and asked our names. We left him with a creation science tract from Answers in Genesis called, What Really Happened to the Dinosaurs? and told him he’d find it interesting.
Afterwards, Sarah and I were discussing the conversation and how it was obvious that he really didn’t know what he believed. In fact, most people don’t. You can tell by the way they keep changing their minds—even as they are talking with you. They don’t have solid ground to stand on. We do, as we continue to stand on the Word of God and Jesus Christ –our never-changing, absolute Truth.
“How firm a foundation ye saints of the Lord is laid for your faith in His excellent Word. What more can He say than to you He has said — to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled.”
Hi Grace!
That is so wonderful that you and Sarah got to talk to that guy! I love how the Lords opens up doors every where! I recently just got to share the Lord with a lady at a hotel in New Orlean, Lousiana. I love witnessing in hotels!
Have a blessed day!
Haley
I agree with you, most people don’t know what they believe. Once, I was talking with a girl who probably said God was 10 different things/spirits/feelings through out the course of our conversation. It makes me very thankful that I know for sure what my belief & trust is in. Thanks for sharing Grace!
Hello Grace!
You are absolutely right about people not knowing what they believe! In fact, this ‘Catholic’s’ comment about what Catholics believe about earning salvation is false. The catechism* says that in order to be happy with God in heaven you must know Him, love Him, and serve Him—know Him as your personal saviour, love him with all your heart, and show that you understand his word by doing it (serving). Catholics think that the only way to salvation is Jesus, but that after you know Jesus you must go out and help others to know him also.
Saint Joeseph Baltimore Catechism, by Father Bennet, revised edition chapter 1 point # 4
I was completely unaware that people still lived with such mentalities, after all, the Middle Ages ended several hundred years ago. ‘Never changing, absolute truth’? Have you not realized that there are billions of people in this world, hundreds of different religions and cultures, all living together on this planet subject to the exact same laws of nature as you, yet you think you are SO special that you know the ‘absolute truth’ and the ‘world of God’ and everyone else ‘wrong’ and you are ‘right’? Do you realize how many other religions would claim the exact same thing as you? ‘We are right and you are wrong.’ They have their holy books and gods and just as much faith as you do. What makes your faith more valid than theirs? Did you ever think for a minute that you may be on the ‘wrong’ side of things? Of course you haven’t, because you need to follow blindly to every single word in the Bible, or else none of it makes sense to you. You can’t comprehend the fact that the answers to life and this world may not be so simple and laid all nice and neat in a book. Leave the complexities, beauty, and wonder of this diverse and amazing world to people with minds that can taken in everything and appreciate ALL that God created. You just keep your blindfold on and keep reading the same book over and over again. I feel sorry for you actually, it must make life quite dull.
Monica,
Thanks for taking the time to express your thoughts. I’m at a conference in Orlando right now, but I will reply as soon as I can.
-Grace
Thank you for sharing these witnessing stories! It is a blessing.
We are looking forward to seeing you all tonight at your both!
We are preparing to leave soon, and I’m sure you are preparing for the convention as well, so I’ll talk to you tonight!
I prayed that everything will go smoothly! 🙂
In Him,
Carissa and Hannah
Hi Grace,
I was looking for information on the Orlando homeschool conference when I found your website. I really enjoy the witnessing stories so I shared your website with my Neice Ariana and she thought she might know some of the people in some of your pictures. Small world! I just got back from the fl. homeschool conference it was a great experience. I looked for the Bright Lights booth, were you there? If so I’m sorry i did not get to meet you.
May God keep His hand on your ministry,
Mary
Hey Grace,
If I decide to homeschool my 5yr. old maybe I can teach myself how to spell niece. I’ll do a better proofing job next time.
My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
2 Corinthians 12:9
Mary
Monica:
Thanks again for your comment. You asked, “what makes you think your faith is more valid than theirs?” Good question! Yes, I have thought about it a lot. As I’ve studied, I’ve seen that God doesn’t ask us to just have “blind faith” but He gave us an abundance of evidence. Here are a few things that make Christianity different from other systems of belief:
1) Jesus is a Savior. Other leaders (such as Buddha or Mohammad) set rules or taught people, but they were not capable of actually saving people from the penalty of sin. Jesus offers a “cure” that no religion offers. Christianity isn’t actually a religion (list of rules and belief system) but instead it’s a relationship with God, the Creator.
2) Secondly, Jesus, the Christ, is the only one who has ever conquered death. He did this by first dying and then rising from the dead. Many have tried to deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but none have been able to refute it. There were many eyewitnesses, the circumstantial evidence supports it, and the men who were closest to Him died for the claim of the resurrection. Men don’t die for what they know to be a lie. Here is a website which explains the overwhelming evidence for the resurrection of Christ. http://www.josh.org/site/c.ddKDIMNtEqG/b.4172665/k.4AD0/Evidence_for_the_Resurrection.htm
3) Through Jesus, God gives eternal life as a free gift. All the religious systems of the world require men to save themselves by being good. But we can’t save ourselves by being good because we could never be good enough. God’s standard is perfection. Rather we are pardoned when we ask the Lord for mercy.
4) Christians have confidence about their future. A person who trusts one of the religions of the world does not have this assurance, because he never knows if he is good enough. As Christians we recognize that we are not good enough ourselves, but we have a Savior who is qualified and entirely capable of giving us what He has promised. Because we know God keeps His word, we have assurance of eternal life. He promised: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.” (John 5:24)
5) The Bible has credentials that no other book has. Besides it being historically accurate and never having been disproved in even one point, it contains hundreds of prophecies that have been fulfilled through history. Not one prophecy has failed. Neither has the Bible changed. (We have thousands of ancient copies that confirm this.) It was written by more than 40 writers over 1600 years and yet is entirely consistent, proclaiming one message and without contradiction! That is because, though it has many writers, it has only one author – God Himself. There are many critics who want to avoid God and discredit the Bible and who that there are errors and contradictions in the Bible. But they can’t prove their arguments. There are good answers for the attacks of the critics. If God can create the universe He can certainly write a book and He can preserve it against enemy attack. And it is logical that God would do so. The Bible is the only book in the world that is God’s book, not man’s. It has changed my life, and I see it powerfully changing others’ lives every day.
-Grace
Thank you Grace for sharing your wisdom of God’s Word. Your absolutely right and it is a blessing to see that you know what you believe and you stand firm on it.
May we NEVER waiver from His spoken Word. The more we read it, the more God reveals to us.
God Bless you,
The Pollock Family
If that’s the view of Monica.. then I am happy to say that I will gladly keep my “blindfold on” and read that same book over and over.. I am sorry to know that that is your view on the Word of God..
Thank you for sharing this instance in witnessing with us Grace
God Bless you,
Your sister in Christ
From Trinidad and Tobago