Tuesday, April 14, 2009

A Lesson Learned from An Atheist

So Sunday at church last week the pastor tells us he wants us to watch a quick session of "Penn Says" with Penn Gillette.

Now Penn is a self proclaimed atheist. He was talking about this guy that came up to him after a show and was very complimentary and very genuine. He said over and over that this was a good guy. The guy then gave him a Bible and had written a personal note to him on the inside.

Penn goes on to say that he doesn't believe there is a God and he disagrees with everything this guy believes but that he was a genuinely good guy and he respected him.

Here's the part that got me. I don't have the direct quote but he basically said that if you are a Christian and you don't proselytize then he has no respect for you. If you truly believe in a heaven and a hell and that people are going there if they don't have salvation and you don't tell everybody you meet then you are a hypocrite and how much do you have to hate someone not to want to tell them what you believe?

Wow.

He talked a little more about not telling people because you think they don't want to hear it or it is socially awkward and how many times he bets that happens by those who claim to be a Christian.

I found it really thought provoking and we were all challenged to consider his words. How many times do we not share our faith because we think it might be socially awkward? Or we think the person doesn't want to hear it?

If you want to see the clip you may want to scroll down and pause my music so you can hear better.

2 comments:

Amber said...

Wow. That's heavy stuff. Thanks for sharing.

Sherry Gann said...

As a former atheist I have to say that I agree. I think a very important factor to take note of here is that the guy didn't just come up to Penn and start asking if he knew Jesus or if he was saved or anything like that. He made a genuine connection, then offered him the Bible as a gift--no strings attached--take it or leave it. When I was an atheist I almost always hated when people would try to talk to me about God--especially strangers, but if someone that I respected gave me a Bible, passage, pamphlet,...whatever, or invited me to church occasionally, I respected that.