Jesus at my door
Last Friday I was cleaning the cat box in the bathroom when there was a knock on my door. When I opened it I found a woman clutching a clipboard and what was very obviously a bible to her chest.
Uh oh, I thought, then looked on the bright side - at least she wasn't working her way through clown college by selling magazine subscriptions.
"Hello," said the woman. "I'm sorry to bother you, but we're going through your neighborhood to see if people have any questions we can answer about the Bible. Do you have any questions?"
I considered asking one of my fun, toughie questions such as "Which scriptural passage is James 4.5 referring to?" or "In 2nd Thesselonians it states that God sends powerful delusions to some people that they may believe lies. Does this mean my atheism is bestowed by God, and that he wants me to go to hell?" But she seemed like a nice woman, and seemed a little uncomfortable standing on my doorstep in the first place, so I decided that there was no profit to be gained from being ungracious - she was, after all a guest (albeit an uninvited one).
Instead I told her that no, I had no questions about the Bible.
"What about life? Do you have any questions about life in general?" she asked.
Now I have plenty of questions about life. But it seemed to me unlikely that the nervous woman at my door was going to be able to answer questions such as "why do I suffer from depression?" and "Why did my friend Jill get cancer and die horribly at age 17?" in a manner that was going to comprehensively change my understanding of these issues. So again I smiled and said no, I had no questions about life in general. The conversation turned to the weather, and the recent earthquake (both topics seemed to make her more at ease than deep questions about life) and then she took her leave.
Thinking about it, I could not help but be a bit puzzled by the whole thing. First, it seemed a little odd to me that anyone might think that the best way to have their questions about the bible answered would be by talking to a strange woman who appeared on their doorstep. Christianity is a pretty accessible religion in the United States - far more so than, say, Buddhism. If one has compelling questions to ask about the Bible, or Christianity in general, one usually need not go more than a few blocks to the nearest large building with a cross on the outside to ask a professional, or go to a library and look at the answer in one of the many hundreds of books written about the Bible. Or look it up on the internet. Trusting the opinion of a stranger who comes to your door on matters of theological importance - which (according to Christian doctrine) concerns the welfare of your immortal soul, seems pretty suspect to me.
Second, the mindset of the woman (and her companions, of which there were three knocking on doors nearby) seemed rather weird. What would she and her friends be thinking that would make them believe that canvassing a neighborhood, bibles and clipboards in hand, was a good use of their time? They couldn't be getting a high percentage of real, quality witnessing time in. Most people in the United States have at least a passing familiarity with the Bible in some form or another, and as I mentioned above even for those that don't but are curious, the religion is extremely accessible. How many people are there really sitting around their homes in the afternoon wishing that some kind-hearted soul would stop by and explain that troubling passage from Ephesians that they have been struggling with?
Uh oh, I thought, then looked on the bright side - at least she wasn't working her way through clown college by selling magazine subscriptions.
"Hello," said the woman. "I'm sorry to bother you, but we're going through your neighborhood to see if people have any questions we can answer about the Bible. Do you have any questions?"
I considered asking one of my fun, toughie questions such as "Which scriptural passage is James 4.5 referring to?" or "In 2nd Thesselonians it states that God sends powerful delusions to some people that they may believe lies. Does this mean my atheism is bestowed by God, and that he wants me to go to hell?" But she seemed like a nice woman, and seemed a little uncomfortable standing on my doorstep in the first place, so I decided that there was no profit to be gained from being ungracious - she was, after all a guest (albeit an uninvited one).
Instead I told her that no, I had no questions about the Bible.
"What about life? Do you have any questions about life in general?" she asked.
Now I have plenty of questions about life. But it seemed to me unlikely that the nervous woman at my door was going to be able to answer questions such as "why do I suffer from depression?" and "Why did my friend Jill get cancer and die horribly at age 17?" in a manner that was going to comprehensively change my understanding of these issues. So again I smiled and said no, I had no questions about life in general. The conversation turned to the weather, and the recent earthquake (both topics seemed to make her more at ease than deep questions about life) and then she took her leave.
Thinking about it, I could not help but be a bit puzzled by the whole thing. First, it seemed a little odd to me that anyone might think that the best way to have their questions about the bible answered would be by talking to a strange woman who appeared on their doorstep. Christianity is a pretty accessible religion in the United States - far more so than, say, Buddhism. If one has compelling questions to ask about the Bible, or Christianity in general, one usually need not go more than a few blocks to the nearest large building with a cross on the outside to ask a professional, or go to a library and look at the answer in one of the many hundreds of books written about the Bible. Or look it up on the internet. Trusting the opinion of a stranger who comes to your door on matters of theological importance - which (according to Christian doctrine) concerns the welfare of your immortal soul, seems pretty suspect to me.
Second, the mindset of the woman (and her companions, of which there were three knocking on doors nearby) seemed rather weird. What would she and her friends be thinking that would make them believe that canvassing a neighborhood, bibles and clipboards in hand, was a good use of their time? They couldn't be getting a high percentage of real, quality witnessing time in. Most people in the United States have at least a passing familiarity with the Bible in some form or another, and as I mentioned above even for those that don't but are curious, the religion is extremely accessible. How many people are there really sitting around their homes in the afternoon wishing that some kind-hearted soul would stop by and explain that troubling passage from Ephesians that they have been struggling with?