Stories From the Field

Remember that how we live can make a real difference…

August 31, 2007 on 12:55 am | In Gym | No Comments

Last week I had another opportunity to build pre-evangelistic bridges with someone exercising on the treadmill besides me. Let’s just call him Amos.

In talking to Amos I discovered that he was a Singaporean, but his father was originally from another Asian country where Buddhism is prevalent. After some small talk I discovered that he claimed to be a devout Buddhist, so I sought to ask him questions that helped to surface some “sour notes” about his beliefs in the hopes of creating a greater openness to hear more about Jesus.

I said to him, “I noticed that people in Singapore mix their religious beliefs.” I mentioned to him that my wife’s parents aren’t pure Buddhist or Taoist but a mixture. I told him that I’ve also observed that people who call themselves Buddhist really don’t follow all the main teachings of Buddha. For example, I notice that many who call themselves Buddhist here in Singapore also seem to want to be the first in line for their lottery ticket.

I mentioned the experience I had with my Buddhist auto mechanic before my wife and I moved to Singapore three years ago. I asked my mechanic if the goal of Buddhism is to stop desiring, then how as a parent do you stop desiring to have children. The mechanics response was, “Well that is a problem.”

I also shared a similar experience I had with a Chinese lady here in Singapore who claimed to be a devout Buddhist, and yet she realized something was missing in her perspective when I simply asked her, “Don’t you desire good things for your children?”

After I gave him these examples, I waited to see what his response would be to determine whether there was enough openness to go further in the conversation. To my delight, the next words out of his mouth were “It does seem difficult to live without some kind of desire.” My follow up response to him was, “Not only is it difficult, it is impossible. For the moment you desire to stop desiring you are desiring something.” This comment brought a smile to his face, which told me he did get the point.

I then asked him the key transitional questions: “Do you know what Jesus taught about the issue of desire that Buddha was so concerned about?” He said no, and since his non-verbally cues gave me the green light to proceed I said to him, “Buddha taught that the answer to man’s problems was to get rid of desire, but Jesus taught the answer is to develop the right desire.

I explained that when we invite Christ to come into our lives He changes us from the inside out so that we no longer desire to do the bad things, but desire to do the good things that God wants us to do. I then waited to hear what he would say next before deciding my next response. Since he did not have a response, I further clarified the point I was making earlier about the discrepancies between one’s belief and behavior.

I said to him, “I find that with any religion it is easy to say you believe something. The difficulty is can you live it out.” As an example, I told him that when I talk to Muslims the first question I ask them is, “Do you pray five times a day.” I told him that I’ve talked to many Muslims who don’t pray five times a day, yet their own religion teaches them that to get to heaven their good works must at least outweigh their bad works. So their belief and behavior don’t always match. Yet, I also said the same can be true with those who call themselves Christians, but don’t’ live in the way that Christ asked us to live.

I said it is important to me as a Christian that I live my life in a way that is consistent with my beliefs, otherwise, I said, “How is anyone going to really know that I am a Christian?”

This is where I left the conversation because I sensed he was not ready to go further. Yet, I had given him some things to think about which may open the door for further dialog at another time. In reflecting on this encounter, I was reminded of the fact that how we live our lives as Christians can make a real difference.