8/16/25

One woman that talked with us on Monday was very similar to another that Nick and I had previously engaged with. As we were applying our new method, she walked through the group of us and expressed her repulsion to what we were doing - though not actually taking the time to see what we were doing yet. I believe she remarked something along the lines of us preaching made-up fairytales, but she was not actually intent on having a conversation. However, Nick, who was speaking at the time, slowly drew her back to further elaborate on her thoughts and beliefs about what she perceived us to be doing. She expressed negative experiences in her Catholic background as well as a skepticism of the legitimacy of the truthfulness/reliability of the biblical narrative. At this, Nick asked whether or not she would be open to adjusting her opinion if there actually was good evidence for these claims and beliefs. She let him share, but her initial prejudice against Christianity created problems as evidence can't overturn prejudice. It seems that, though a rough start, our conversation may have cooled some of the unchecked emotional barriers to soberly assessing the truth of Christianity. Emotions, though not inherently negative, can have devastating effects on us when we allow them to drive our lives and perceptions. This seems to be one of the more devastating realities of unchurched people I've experienced - that their negative experiences with a particular church (or the borrowed offense from other people) creates an impenetrable wall of emotion that blocks truth. I'm certainly not dismissing the weight of their experiences, as some are truly evil and demonic, but I'm merely noting the extreme effects that these experiences have on peoples' images and ideas of Jesus and His Church. I'm not afraid of people rejecting Jesus, but I am afraid of people rejecting Jesus based on a false image and understanding of Jesus and His Gospel. I trust that God is the just judge in all of this, but the issue of corrupted reflection is an issue of malformation - an issue of a people not being discipled by Jesus (Luke 6:40).

On the topic of rejecting Jesus, we've also had a conversation this week with someone who doesn't want to reject Jesus but also doesn't want to accept Him. It's an interesting conversation, but this time around it was primarily rooted in God's commands against homosexual practice. This isn't an uncommon point of contention people have with Christianity, but I actually find the principle at play far more often than generally considered- even within the church pews. I believe that there are a number of ways of productively navigating this topic in which clarity can be provided; however, it does currently seem to always boil down to an absent understanding of what it means for God to be God. What I mean is this: If a being truly bears the title of "God", then they will equally bear the authority of "God" - which would be absolutely supreme. Another way of putting this would be that your opinions and preferences are of absolutely no concern in matters of determining "right" and "wrong". I think that most people would agree with that statement, especially those in traditional Christian communities; however, I think the principle gets ignored in many other ways that directly affect the Church today. If we accept the above principle - that due to the ontological nature of God, we are subject to obey Him completely and without regard to our potential disagreements with His rulings - I would expect to find communities of people hanging everything on the teachings of Jesus and openly opposing apathetic or outright rejection of His commands being expressed within the Church. While I'm not saying this is never the case, I do find the opposite concerningly common in my own experience.

It seems that we often have an ironic application of this principle - that we improperly judge those outside the Church for their rejection of God's authority and yet permit open disobedience within the church, perhaps improperly in the name of grace and forgiveness. What I am not saying is that all Christians have to be morally perfect in order to be a Christian (this seems easily refuted by 1 John 1), but rather that acknowledging Jesus as LORD means necessarily submitting to His authority. It's very easy to point fingers at the clear disobedience of those practicing homosexuality, but it seems that a double standard arises when we assess the clear disobedience found in Christians who willingly accept their behaviors of hatred, unforgiveness, worry, jealousy, idolatry, sexual immorality, selfishness, drunkenness, etc. You could simplify this down to the Great Commands and the Great Commission. How accepted is it for Christians today to, in their pride, prioritize their preferences and desires over God's, lower their neighbor below themselves in pride, or completely disregard the command to make disciples of Jesus who obey His commands? It seems that we have a terrible tendency, as the American Church, to apply a double standard to the ontological authority of God. It's not so much a question of how well you can obey everything commanded, but rather a question of the heart: do we desire to obey the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit regardless of our personal opinion, or are we only following Jesus when it is fashionable and fun?

This Sunday, Nick, Viany and I will be providing our second Archways training - this time at Friends Community Church in Brea! This is a training in conversational evangelism that aims to equip every-day Christians in utilizing common conversations for our commission command :) Please join us in praying that this training would be practically helpful for those participating and that they would eagerly take these principles and apply them to their everyday lives!