Campus for Christ puts on a good face
This afternoon, I had the pleasure of speaking with two Campus for Christ representatives for about twenty minutes. Odd as it is to say, I do in fact mean "pleasure." These were two people who were remarkably well-informed about obscure Bible stories I had no reason to expect they'd know (stay tuned for Saturday's Daily Breadcrumbs essay, for example). Most missionaries who've approached me in the past have had a very limited Bible knowledge, at least in terms of the books they've presented to me. These two people were willing to discuss all sorts of stories contrary to the main Christian themes of the Bible.
Furthermore, they were willing to accept scholarly opinion about the writings of some of the Biblical books (eg: Moses might not have written the whole Pentateuch; Isaiah's 3 sections may have been written by different people, etc.) There is no surer way to invoke my hatred than by denying what scholars have proved (or at least, mostly proved) in terms of Biblical authorship.
Finally, these two people were genuinely interested in the differences between Christianity and Judaism. The main difference is not, as most people assume, belief in Christ, but rather belief in original sin. The need for belief in Christ is a direct result of the belief in original sin (without original sin, you don't need a saviour to free you from it). These two Campus for Christ representatives appear never to have taken this into account before, but on the other hand, they seemed very happy to learn about this difference.
I honestly would have liked to speak to them longer, but I had class. I gave them the link to Daily Breadcrumbs and to my paper on Isaiah, so they may be getting in touch with me at some point in the future. In any case, it was a perfectly enjoyable twenty minutes.
Furthermore, they were willing to accept scholarly opinion about the writings of some of the Biblical books (eg: Moses might not have written the whole Pentateuch; Isaiah's 3 sections may have been written by different people, etc.) There is no surer way to invoke my hatred than by denying what scholars have proved (or at least, mostly proved) in terms of Biblical authorship.
Finally, these two people were genuinely interested in the differences between Christianity and Judaism. The main difference is not, as most people assume, belief in Christ, but rather belief in original sin. The need for belief in Christ is a direct result of the belief in original sin (without original sin, you don't need a saviour to free you from it). These two Campus for Christ representatives appear never to have taken this into account before, but on the other hand, they seemed very happy to learn about this difference.
I honestly would have liked to speak to them longer, but I had class. I gave them the link to Daily Breadcrumbs and to my paper on Isaiah, so they may be getting in touch with me at some point in the future. In any case, it was a perfectly enjoyable twenty minutes.