Long post, ahoy!

I forget who told me this story. Probably one of my roommates, but none of them are owning up to it now. It goes something like this:

"I was in the student center, sharing my faith and inviting people out to Bible Talk. There was this table with a few guys, and we were talking."

Me: "OK.",

"Yeah, so, we're talking, because these guys are atheists, and this one guy says, 'Dude, if I saw Jesus right in front of me, I still wouldn't believe. I would think it was a hallucination."

"Wait, what? Really?"

"Yeah, that's what he said."

"That's sort of...extreme, isn't it?"

I can understand it, a little. I mean, people saw Jesus in the New Testament all the time, and most of them didn't believe in him. Even when he performed miracles, people didn't always believe in him. Even less actually wanted to follow him. So I can understand the idea of seeing Jesus in person and still doubting. It's feasible, though I can't say it's very logical. But to make that claim, and be proud of it! That gave me some trouble. I don't know what my friend said after that, but it probably threw him off.


There's this dude in my class. Super friendly guy. He tapped on my shoulder one day and asked if I had done the homework. Apparently he transferred in with credits in a 1000 level CS course and thought he could handle 2000 level. As time has gone on, he's realized that his class was garbage. I'm doin' alright, so I agree to help him out with homework and stuff.

On Monday, we had an assignment due at 11 PM. I'd already finished it, so in class he asked if I could help him out because he was stuck.

"Sure, but I'm basically going to be busy until 7:30 because I've got class and then Bible Talk." Bible Talk is something my friends and I do, where we invite a bunch of people to hang out for a half hour and...talk about the Bible. It's more of a discussion than a lesson, though. One guy leads it by asking the group open-ended questions or getting their opinions regarding biblical and life concepts. It's fun, and it's a cool way to engage people who otherwise might not give critical thought to what the Bible says. This semester Tim and I are exploring the actions and character of Jesus.

We're already friends on Facebook, where he makes it very obvious that he doesn't believe in God. But he seems like an intellectually honest fellow, or at least someone who enjoys dabbling in worldviews, so I ask him anyway: "Actually, dude, would you want to just come with me? It starts at 6:30, then people usually hang around to talk for a bit. Then we can just set up anywhere and do homework."

"Yeah! Sounds good man."

So he comes. Gets there early, actually. People are generally pretty taken aback their first time joining a group like this and tend to just listen, but he actually makes some contributions to the conversation. It was pretty great. Afterwards he got into some conversation with one of the other guys before we finally headed out to work on his homework.

It took hours.

We were chatting occasionally, and he would ask me the funniest questions. What do I think of the rapture? Do I think I could be moral without being religious? What about Young Earth theology? I learned that his grandparents are both ministers so he grew up heavily religious, which makes his openness even more surprising to me because generally people who become areligious after coming from a home like that tend to want nothing to do with faith, if you'll forgive my generalization. At least, that seems to be the prevailing trend in the Georgia Tech students I've met.

Eventually, this comes out, right after he asks about morality:
"Yeah, man, I think I've actually met one of your friends before. But I didn't see him tonight."

Me: "Yeah? Where?"

"I was eating in the Student Center with some friends, and he came up and tried to invite us to Bible Talk. We said no, but then he started asking why, and...well, I sort of let him have it."

"What happened?"

"I told him, if I were to meet Jesus right now, I still wouldn't believe in him. I'd think I was hallucinating or something."

...
...
...
I can't even. I didn't say anything to him (he had more to say, about how he felt like he'd done something illegal when he said that, stuff along those lines,) but I was laughing and singing inside. What a twist! This guy, who outright refused to come talk about God, was reaching out TO me, and ended up coming out to the same event he had avoided. I barely did anything.

:3

I've spent way too many hours not doing homework, I'd better chip. Later, kids.

The general trend does seem to be that people who were raised religious and left their faiths are opposed to or very skeptical of religion. I know I was definitely like that, and I've met others who feel that way. I feel like it would be like if your family constantly forcefed you a food you didn't care for, and over time you grew to dislike it or hate it. Even if you haven't had it in a long time and other people tell you how great it is, it's hard to want to try it.
» randomjunk on 2014-01-30 10:23:15

RJ hit that nail on the head. I think it's hard to be neutral after being raised under an extreme, in general.

That plot twist was dope though, good job setting that up. I have something I want you to read. http://theoldvillage.wordpress.com/2004/01/28/douglas-adams-shares-a-true-story/

re: They need to stop showering. All of them.
» Unicornasaurus on 2014-02-04 12:25:32

re: Despite the fact that I'm continuing it, I do know that it's wrong and I'm not proud of it. Hopefully you never meet anyone who is in my position.
» LostSoul13 on 2014-02-08 11:09:52

re: I keep inadvertently giving you advice... 38
» Unicornasaurus on 2014-02-09 10:14:57

re: Das weird.
» Unicornasaurus on 2014-02-10 10:04:02

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