Far, far away....

in a library somewhere, you’ll hear a quiet conversation that went something like this…..


[Emdee was silently reading from the World Scripture book]

Emdee: ‘Truth has many aspects. Infinite truth has infinite expressions. Though the sages speak in diverse ways, they express one and the same Truth’.

Emdee: But JC said ‘I am the way, the Truth and life!’

DOC: Do you believe in what JC said?

Emdee: Yes!

DOC: That’s good, so what’s wrong?

Emdee: Nothing wrong with what I believe, it’s them who don’t believe!

DOC: So what are you going to do? Shoot them? Ostracize them? Colonise them? Debate with them? Force them? Remember what Jesus’ comments were after his overly zealous disciples asked if they should call on fire to come down from heaven and consume those that didn’t receive them?

Emdee: No.

DOC: Jesus rebuked them. Read up Luke 9:51-56. Then Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:14-15 not to debate or strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers.

DOC: If you are rightly dividing the truth, then you need not be ashamed but that doesn’t imply that you force them on someone because that goes against how God created mankind in the first place. He created us with a free will. He gave everyone a choice to love or to reject Him. Why force someone to do anything?

Emdee: I don’t understand…

DOC: What is it that worries you Emdee? If the Bible speaks of Christ’s supremacy in Ephesians 1, that He is above all things and everything is under His feet and the Bible is inerrant, what’s the struggle then? Jesus said in John 6:44, no one can come to Him unless the Father draws that person, so it’s not really up to you is it? Jesus had made it plain, our job is to heed to the greatest commandment of God. Mark 12:30-31 says to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and love others as you love yourself. All the commandments hang on these. Don’t make it complicated.

Emdee: Actually I don’t exactly know what that passage really means…

DOC: It means to love God with all that you are including loving God in all that you do. I think that’s what it means when the Apostle Peter said in 1 Peter 3:15-16 sanctify the Lord God in your heart. It means setting God apart, like putting Him on a pedestal. In practical terms, it just means He becomes the centre of your life, your desires, your motivations, your will. Basically your everything!

When you get the first bit right, loving others as yourself becomes natural and easy and this is what will draw people towards Christ. You start to create love and peace which are characteristic of children of God, just as how it was described in Matthew 5:9. It’s not what you do on your own ability but it’s Christ in you working His will in people’s lives. And because you’ve become so engrossed with loving God, His love will just flow and people will start to respond without you batting an eyelash and taking credit for it.

Emdee: But isn’t loving means telling someone the right way so they don’t end up in hell?

DOC: There are other ways of loving people. These days it is not so much about what you say that matters. Reminds me of what St. Francis of Assisi had said, …’preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary use words’. Tell me Emdee, if you are preaching because you fear for their future and they don’t accept what you say, what is that to you?

Emdee: Then they will end up in hell! They need to be saved!

DOC: If they end up in hell what can you do?

Emdee: Hmm, not much.

DOC: Then it’s not really up to you then is it? Try not to complicate things. Make the main thing the main thing. Heed to the greatest commandment of all. I told you Jesus had made it really plain.