End Goal

I remember in middle school, hearing someone pointing out how Christianity had so many rules, and were implying how God made up all these rules as if he had no reason besides to test us or something. I really believed God must have had a good reason, but did not have alot of scripture memorized nor the skill to articulate very well.

I remember learning that God prohibited Jews from eating pork, and that at that time there was not really a good system for getting rid of all of the bacteria in pork. In my 6th grade mind, I thought - "Hey that's a pretty good reason. I bet God actually has good reasons for his commandments".

I came across the following verse while living in Prague in 2009:

"And the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day"

Deuteronomy 6:24

I have been challenging my sophomore girls, and myself along side them, to know how to articulate issues from a secular, or even anti-Christian perspective. The answer is not always only that the Bible says so (don't eat pork), or Jesus tells me in my heart (conviction), but can also be "hey, this will make you sick".

We will not always be surrounded by people who share our belief the Bible is true. We will also not always be surrounded by people who share our belief that Jesus is Lord. Could we possible start from a point of Truth and Goodness, keeping in mind people have a bad taste in their mouth of "God" and "Christianity" no matter how innacurate it might be?

Take an issue maybe more controversial than eating pork. Abortion, poverty, government, economics, education, religion. Are we educating ourselves to know the actualy issues, or are we crossing our arms and saying "Lalala I'm not listening to you, the Bible says this". But what this verse is saying, is that the Bible is telling us this for our good. Do we believe that? That it's not just a test that some are failing and we are arogantly showing that we aren't?

Most of what we do will have been done in vain if we are not keeping the end goal in mind, letting that drive us rather than the drive itself. Are we out to fill our broken world with really good people? Or is our aim each individual person experiencing God's goodness and recognizing their desire and need for Him.?Are we eagerly searching for these opportunities to help them make the connection? Are we living a life reflecting God's goodness in our relationships?  

I love what Jeff Ventilla says about living piously and competently. Are we competent on these issues, or have we just been told "we as Christians disagree with them".

Application of this in my life, has been in regards to other religions. I know Christianity is true, and therefore if another relition contradicts it, it is not true. But do I know where it contradicts? Have a really studied to see what is contradicting? Would this not be a necessity if I am to ever to approach an intentional conversation with this person?