On Wednesday night, we did the same thing we did on Tuesday in a different location. Most were students my age, but a few people were older. We sang some songs, and then broke off into groups. This time, we just wanted to have conversation in English. I told them the reason I was here was to learn about Taiwan culture, and then to tell people about Jesus and what he has done for me. I shared the Gospel with my group, always trying to speak in simple English so that they understand, and using the evangecube and it’s pictures for help. After I was done, I told them I wanted to know what they thought, and for them to be honest with me. I again (like the night before with my other group) told them I have friends who don’t believe, who are new believers, and friends that have believed for a long time, and began asking specific people in my group their thoughts. I think about half of my group were believers. My group probably had 10 people. One guy, Argie, shared how he was raised to believe just science, only science, and that’s what he believed for a long time. But he wanted to practice his English, so he joined a free English class that used the bible to teach it, and through that, he became a Christ-follower. That was a great story for the group to hear.
Another guy, Elvis (these guys pick out the English name they want to be called, I thought it was funny he picked Elvis), said he has no religion.
But the guy I was struck by, the guy I’ll remember, was a guy named Jason. It was Jason’s first time. You could tell he was nervous to practice his English, but his English was very good. When I said, “What do you think Jason?” he said in frustration, “I just want God to show up in front of me and tell me he’s real! I just want him to show up right in front of me!” His response was so raw, so authentic, you could tell this was something he’d been wrestling with a while. So we began to talk. In my head, I thought of the passage of Scripture that talks about how people saw Jesus and still did not believe, and even if they saw more miracles, they wouldn’t believe. But I didn’t tell Jason that, I just thought it.
I began to talk to Jason about the credibility of the Gospel accounts, and how many put their lives on the line, saying Jesus was alive again, so alive they could touch him, feel him, see him, and they died saying this. I said I would not die for something I knew was a lie. I don’t think these guys made up the story about Jesus and then died. If they made it up, I would’ve thought, as they were going to get killed, they would have said, “Whoa! This has gone too far! I made it all up, please don’t kill me!”
I told Jason that it’s like a history book. When he reads his history book about history 300 years ago, he doesn’t say, “I don’t believe this because I didn’t see it.” I said he could trust the bible the way he trusts his history book.
He then wondered how we can know the Bible hasn’t changed through the years, and I talked about the manuscript evidence you can check with itself – you can line up manuscripts through the centuries next to each other, and see very little change, only discrepancies – not things that make big theological differences. So it’d be like one would say a horse, and the other a donkey – changes like that. Not changes like Jesus did or did not die on the cross. Things with big theological implications have remained unchanged.
I encouraged him to keep asking questions, keep searching for truth, and told him it was good he is so honest about his thoughts. I was worried that he may have felt a little cornered by some in our group, but I was praying for him. Mike Miller said he had the chance to talk to him afterwards (and Mike had no idea what went on in our group, he was not in it), and Jason said he liked it, still has lots of questions, but thinks he’ll keep coming. Pray for Jason. And pray for the others in our discussion group.
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