Public Enemy #1: Jesus

My Belief

I just recently finished a trip with a First Officer of Middle Eastern descent. He is a very arrogant man that is loud and set in his beliefs. At first I thought he was Muslim but later he explained that he is more of a cross between Atheistic and Zoroastrianism.  He explained to me that his country was taken over by Islam in 1979 and as a a result he has a deep hatred for God and religion. He explains to me that religion is stupid and anyone who believes there is a God is a fool. His view is that a person must use logic and common sense to live life. The thing that struck me was how angry he got when talking about faith based issues. One of his comments was, “I’m good, on my death bed I will just pray to Allah, Jesus, and Buddha on the way out so I will have all of my bases covered.” Bill Maher is who he claims as an example of how people should think.  He then went on to say how ridiculous it is to think that Jesus is the son of God. He got on a “soap box” tangent about how can God have kids and where are the rest of his kids…

At times like these I sort of feel like Peter. I’m not sure that is a good thing either. I’m not one to back down from confrontation. I would probably be the idiot that was dumb enough to call Mike Tyson a sissy if you know what I mean. So, I sort of squared up with this guy and gave him my whole spiel on faith. How everything in the world points to God if you just care to look for it. I also told him that he has more faith than I do because I have evidence to base my belief on and all he has is a big arrogant attitude problem. I turned his words around on him and told him, if your so logical than what evidence do you have to prove the Bible is wrong. He had nothing! I then told him perhaps you should do your homework before you shoot your mouth off. I didn’t say any of this in an angry tone of voice either. Everything was completely matter of fact. I told him that I don’t hate him for disrespecting my belief and that actually I would love to be his friend. He was not so into it. He thought I was dumb for putting my faith in Jesus and more or less let me know so. We would chat on and off for the rest of the trip, but I could tell he didn’t like me. I could see an air of superiority in him. He thought I was part of the religious Jesus freak nut jobs that were ruining the country in his opinion. As we parted ways I prayed the Holy Spirit would soften his heart and I thought of how one day soon Christians will be openly hated just like this all over the world.

Scripture

John 15:18-20  

¹⁸ “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. ¹⁹ If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. ²⁰

Application for life

Even though he was not found of me, I tried to be a friend to him. Jesus called us to love our enemies. This is how we can shine light in a dark world. He thinks I am in a dream world where Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny are real. Well neither of those are, but Jesus most certainly is. Soon every eye will see Him and ever knee will bow and those of us that have followed Him will be given the life we have hoped for. I can see the world turning against the cross more and more every day and it is my prayer that God will give me the strength to stand firm for Christ when ever the opportunity presents itself.