I met a very angry man
I had simply asked him casually: "Have you heard of the name Jesus Christ before?"
He replied: "Jesus Christ? Jesus Christ!?! Oh, you're trying to preach to me!" and for the next 20-25 minutes he ranted and raved against Christianity, without much of a chance for me to get a word in edgewise. This was in Mandarin, mind you, so I'm sure I missed a large part of it.
He had had a bad experience in Anglican High School when he was a teenager there many years ago. The discipline master then - a notorious fellow who nevertheless professed himself to be a fervent Christian - had accused him of sending a letter threatening to kill him (something which he denies to this day). His parents had been informed that if he (the discipline master) was ever found murdered, their son would be the prime suspect.
At that time he had been introduced to the rudiments of Christianity and prayer, and so he had prayed earnestly every night that the discipline master would not be murdered (apparently he was hated enough for this to be a distinct possibility) - but that he would be killed in a traffic accident instead! Imagine his shock and horror when it actually happened about three months later - the discipline master indeed got knocked down by a car and died!
He reasoned that if God was evil enough to answer such an evil prayer, he did not want to believe in such a God! It did not occur to him to condemn the one who had made such a prayer in the first place, nor the fact that God has every right to destroy a sinner at any time - whether someone prayed for it or not!
He is also very angry with his younger brother, who is a Christian. He had sacrificed much for his younger brother to do well in school and succeed in life, despite which his younger brother had apparently announced one day that he believed it was God who had provided for him and his success. He had felt very hurt and angry that his sacrifices were not acknowledged nor any gratitude shown for them. He believes very strongly that blood is thicker than water, but his younger brother would rather give to the church rather than help with the family finances.
[Incidentally, this is not the first time I am hearing this sort of story. I am sure it is an unfortunate spinoff from prosperity preaching and the need to "sow into the work of the Lord". Matt 15:4-6 is quite clear that charity should begin at home!]
"I am not against any religion!"
The interesting thing is that he kept making disclaimers, insisting over and over again that he wasn't against any religion, that they are all the same, that they teach people to do good. Having said that, he went on an all-out attack on Christianity, talking about the evil of the Crusades and especially the hypocrisy of many professing Christians he knew who do not follow what the Bible teaches (he had studied Bible Knowledge in school!), and the dubious practice of deathbed conversions, among many other things.
I kept trying to interject, to tell him that there were so many things he was saying which I agreed with, but that they had nothing to do with the the message of Christianity, which is one of free grace and not of works - but he was not interested in listening. Truly, "our gospel is veiled only to those who are perishing, for the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." (2 Cor 4:3-4).
Personally speaking
This episode resonates strongly with me because my own older adopted brother, who is unsaved, is also dead-set against Christianity because of an experience in Anglican High School! Apparently when he was there as a teenager, the then-principal (also a fervently professing Christian) was embroiled in some sort of a sexual scandal and had to resign as a result.
Law and Grace
I find that these two examples serve to illustrate the failure of a Christianity that emphasises precepts - do's and don'ts - rather that the message of grace and forgiveness, redemption and sanctification. God's law is good, and we should preach it - but only to prepare the way for grace, because it is our schoolmaster to lead us to Christ, once we realize that we will never meet up to its perfect standard - until our hearts are changed. Then it will be our delight to obey the law of God. Even then, it is only by being clothed in Christ, with a righteousness not our own, that we can hope to stand before the judgement seat of God and not be condemned.
There is no excuse, of course, for Christians to sin - we were saved to be holy and blameless before Him. But we will inevitably fall at times, and if the emphasis of our message is not one of grace, but of law and works, those who look at us will see hypocrisy, and we will be guilty of what the Jews were accused of in Rom 3:23-24 - "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you."




