a
"He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the lovingkindness of the Lord."
Psalm 33:5
| The Deadly Doctrine of Rob Bell (3/14/10) | |
| Deadly Doctrine (3/9/10) | |
| Live Weak (1/25/10) |
You are here: Home 
Articles 
Erin, H.J., and Mr. Passivity
Erin, H.J., and Mr. Passivity
Tuesday night, while at Ocean City Maryland, my dad and I headed out on the boardwalk to have a couple conversations. Right away, my dad had struck up a conversation with some nearby young adults. I began looking around for somebody who I thought would be willing to talk. It wasn't long until I saw four teenagers (probably around 18) sitting on a nearby bench talking. I walked up to them, gave them each a million dollar bill, and asked if they wanted to make some money. They each said they did, so I went ahead with my plan.More than once I had used money to break ice with teenagers for gospel conversations, but this time I wanted to do something different. In the past I had flat out said to people, "I will pay you 5 dollars if you will talk to me for a couple minutes." This time, instead of using that approach, I used trivia to start the conversation.
It was almost identical to using trivia to draw a crowd in open air, only I already had my crowd of four. All I wanted to do was use trivia to break the ice, and break the ice it did. I found out where they were all from, got their names, and then jumped into the trivia. They were from Pennsylvania, so I asked questions such as, "What is the capital of Pennsylvania?" and, "What is the capital of Virginia?" After I had given away two dollars, I asked, "What is the religion of the Pope?" I knew I was in for a good conversation when one of the four young men said, "I don't know, I don't do religion."
I looked at him and noticed that his shirt had a large skull on it, which was surrounded by flames. Great. This kid clearly has a chip on his shoulder towards Christians. The second I bring up God he is probably going to pull out a gun and shoot me. It is incredible how fear makes you think such silly things.
After a little bit more trivia, I swung the conversation towards eternity. "Which of you four think you are a good person?" Jeff said he did. "OK, if you pass my four or five question test and you are really a good person, I will give you 5 dollars. Deal?" He agreed, so I took him through the good person test. He was a liar, a thief, a blasphemer, and adulterer, and a murderer at heart. So were his friends H.J., Erin, and the young man with a skull whose name I don't remember (I will explain why I call him 'Mr. Passivity' in a minute).
I asked each of them if they would go to heaven or hell if they died. They all admitted hell, except for Mr. Passivity, who nonchalantly said, "I don't believe in God."
"OK, let's just assume God exists. If God judges you by the 10 Commandments, would you be innocent or guilty?" He admitted guilty. After that I shared the gospel with each of them, and explained repentance and faith. I asked if that made sense, and three of the four said it did. You guessed it, Mr. Passivity didn't seem to care. He was slouched over on the bench, and wouldn't even look me in the face. A man who was listening in on the conversation was dead on when he said to me afterward, "Wow, the kid in the middle wanted nothing to do with you."
After I encouraged H.J., Erin, and Jeff to get right with God, I decided to try to engage Mr. Passivity directly. So I said to him, "So you don't believe in God. Do you think we all evolved?" Maybe you are thinking, Why didn't you ask him that right off the bat? I didn't because my main goal was to present the gospel, not to debate the existence of God. I didn't want to get sidetracked, and then all of the sudden I never get to the gospel. But, since I had already presented the gospel, I decided it was fair to talk to him a little bit about apologetics.
He answered that question with his usual passive tone ("I guess.") I said, "I am going to prove to you in 30 seconds that God exists." I then took him through the 'building builder' analogy. I asked if it made sense that creation proves that there is a Creator.
"Yep."
"So are you sure you are still an atheist?"
"Yep."
"How does that work."
"I told you I don't do religion."
"Well that is good because I am not asking you to!" I talked with him a bit more, and closed the conversation out by talking to Jeff a little more (remember Jeff was the young man who I took through the good person test for 5 dollars).
"Jeff, you are not a good person. You have broken God's Law and do not deserve His forgiveness, or this money. But I am going to give it to you anyway." I gave him the 5 dollars and said, "Just like you do not deserve this money, you did not deserve the sacrifice Jesus paid on the cross for you. But, despite our sin, He did it anyway. I am giving you this 5 dollars because I want you to remember that. You don't deserve this money, just like you don't deserve what Jesus did for you on the cross."
He seemed to understand the analogy, so I thanked them for talking to me, shook each of their hands' (including Mr. Passivity), and walked off. Please pray for these four young men. That H.J., Jeff, and Erin would get right with God. And that the other young man would lose his horrifyingly passive view that eternity does not matter, and consider the things of God.