"Saint" James

For my blog today I thought I would tell you about a homeless man I met on our Venice Beach outreach named "Saint" James. He always makes sure to add the "saint" part when talking to me.

It's actually a miracle I even know his name. The first time I ever saw him he was sitting in the area where we were holding a mini-service for anyone interested. Basically, two of the short-term participants get up and tell part of their testimony and we offer to pray for anybody who wants it. Afterwards we hand out about 80 sack lunches. While we were handing out the lunches I saw him sitting by himself, dressed nicely in a t-shirt that said "Addicted" with a giant marijuana leaf under it. I thought it might be interesting to talk to this man. He has been wearing this shirt everytime I see him.

I extended my hand to him and said, "Hi I'm David," which led him to wave his hand at me, indicating he wanted me to leave. "We don't need to be introduced," he replied.
"Oh no, why not?" I asked.
In a very angry and confrontational tone, he said, "Because you Christians are so arrogant coming out here claiming that Jesus died on the cross and that he's the only way you can have eternal life. You can't say that anymore than any Jew or Muslim could say that."

Based off of his tone and attitude towards Christianity, I instantly knew this would be an interesting conversation. Before I even got to Venice Beach, I had prayed that the Holy Spirit would guide me to conversations and within those conversations as well. As soon as the conversation began, I felt the Holy Spirit saying to me, "You're not going to win him with your arguments or reason. If anything you will win him with your love and respect." It seems as if he hadn't met any loving Christians from the things he was saying.

He continued on with his tirade on Christians, insisting that we cannot claim to be heading in the direction of heaven because we haven't done anything to help the AIDS crisis in Africa. (He also claimed that George Bush Sr. is the antichrist and that he was the one who created and sent the AIDS virus to the African continent. He was full of many conspiracy theories, to say the least.) I told him that I agreed that Christians could be doing much, much more to make an impact on the earth in the name of Jesus, and that the AIDS crisis is one of those areas where Christians have the opportunity to spread the love of Christ. I also told him about my good friend Matt Taylor (and several others) who is a committed Christians that is studying for the express purpose of helping AIDS victims. This seemed to surprise him.

I hear this argument from unbelievers all the time:
There are desperate situations in the world,
Some Christians don't seem to care about these situations,
Therefore Christianity is not a valid belief system.

While it breaks my heart that people get the impression that Christians don't care about the world, sometimes it is a reality. I must say, it is not the majority by any means. But there are some people who profess to be Christians and have no desire to care for the world. However, it is faulty logic to believe that because Jesus' followers have sometimes fallen short and been hypocritical that Jesus is not truly the Son of God and the only way to salvation. His Word still stands, whether mere humans follow it or not.

I continued to explain to him that I understood his problems with Christians, but I also took the chance to explain to him why all 85 of us out there that day were there because we cared for our homeless brothers and sisters and we wanted to make a difference in the world. I urged him not to lose faith in Jesus Christ because some of his followers have lost their way. It is the same reason my parents explained to people as to why we chose to remain at New Life Church in Colorado after our pastor, Ted Haggard, fell into sexual immorality.

The conversation continued, and he told me how he based his life on the book of Revelation and how he himself was fulfilling one of the prophecies. He also told me how he doesn't believe the rest of the Bible. Obviously, that didn't sit right logically in my head, so I asked him, lovingly and respectfully, "How can you base your life on the book of Revelation and the writings of the apostle John and still say you don't believe Jesus died on the cross when that same apostle John said in his gospel that He did in fact die on the cross?" To this question he had no answer except for a theory that John was forced to lie in his gospel. We talked about this a little further, and I saw his confidence in that theory begin to wave. But he still did not change his mind at this point.

It was here that God taught me a very valuable lesson. Apologetics, the rational defense of the faith, is designed to plant seeds. You will never argue someone into the Kingdom of God. That's not what God's love created us to do. His love will win someone to the Kingdom of God. Intellectual assent, while it is an important aspect of faith, is not a pre-requisite for belief. Apologetics will merely break down faulty logic and weak arguments in order to create space for the Holy Spirit to convict the heart. The mind will either serve as a bridge or as a roadblock to the heart. For James, it was a roadblock.

At the end of the conversation, and after some friendly discussion during which I encouraged him and thanked him for his passion to see the end of the AIDS crisis, I extended my hand once more and said, "Now what's your name?" He took my hand and smiled, "James... Saint James."

I continue to pray for James and for the Holy Spirit to work in his life. I hope that I helped to remove some roadblocks to faith in Jesus for him, but I know that the rest is up to God. 1 Peter 3:15 says, "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect." That last part is true wisdom... it's exactly what I needed to remember that day because, as I felt God telling me, I will not win someone over with my reason or logic, but with my love and respect.

I saw "Saint" James again today, and we had a nice conversation about his week and his dreams of being a writer. Please join with me in prayer for James as you finish reading this.

Living in faith...