Yancey- Exploring a Parallel Universe

Phillip Yancey is one of my favorite authors. He writes with wit, wisdom, fairness, insight, and humanity. A recent article is titled, Exploring a Parallel Universe.

In it, he describes how people he encounters think of evangelicals. In each instance, there are sure proclamations that evangelicals "hate us". Yancey then asks if the one who made this statement actually knew any evangelicals. The response is usually, "no".

I have run into this same phenomena at church and at my university class. Many of the church members and university students grew up in the church, and really do not know anyone who is not already a Christian. So when discussing what "they" think, one hears a whole lot of generalizations not grounded in reality nor experience.

This pains me. And I think it pains Jesus. Jesus came to be with sinners, with people with different moral values, with people who had no interest in God. Actually, the people Jesus seemed to spend time with in the gospels were people who had no interest in the God popularly portrayed by the Pharisees, not the God and Father of Jesus.

My friend and colleague, Scott Farmer, used to say, "There is no impact without contact." This is absolutely true! We cannot affect people with the love of God without being in a vital relationship with them.

I loved this little section of Yancey's article:

Only one person in the reading group has expressed interest in matters of faith. One evening Josh told us about his sister, now a conservative evangelical. She had been a drug addict, unable to hold a job or keep a marriage together. "Then one day she found Jesus," Josh said. "There's no other explanation. She changed from night to day."

Josh asked me to recommend some books by C. S. Lewis or someone else who could explain the faith in a way that he could understand. "My sister sends me Christian books, but they're totally unconvincing," he said. "They seem written for people who already believe them." I happily complied.

Reflecting on our conversation, I remembered a remark by Lewis, who drew a distinction between communicating with a society that hears the gospel for the first time and one that has embraced and then largely rejected it. A person must court a virgin differently than a divorcée, said Lewis. One welcomes the charming words; the other needs a demonstration of love to overcome inbuilt skepticism.

One more reason to like C. S. Lewis! What an apt metaphor!