John (aka "Jerry Garcia") - 44 years old

Pete D. & I headed out on a beautiful but warm day in Calgary to Kensington which always attracts all sorts of colorful people.

John was one of them, and he looked like Jerry Garcia--could have been his brother.   Baptized Roman Catholic, John calls himself a Wiccan and finds himself very comfortable there.   In reality, John has a hodge-podge of beliefs that are part pagan / part postmodern.

When asked for words to describe his religious experience, he simply said, "Seeker."   If he could ask God one question, it would be, "Why?   What is my purpose?"

I asked, "If he were to stand before God and God asked him why He should let him into heaven, what would you say?"

He thought about it for a moment and simply said, "No answer."

"What do you mean by no answer?"

"I just wouldn't have anything to say?"

"Do you believe that there is life after death?  What do you think happens when we die?"

He answered, "I believe in reincarnation."

"How do you define that?"

"I believe that we continue on.  I cannot conceive of myself as not existing."

"Do you come back as an animal, an angel, a human?"

"I don't know.  I suppose you could come back as any life form."

"So you could come back as a mouse?"

"Sure, wouldn't you like to see life through the eyes of a mouse?" he asked me.

"No, not really.  Especially if I'm being chased by cats all the time," I responded.  He shrugged.

"Let me ask you a question," I said.   "Maybe you can help me understand reincarnation.  [This is the "Columbo" tactic I learned from STR's Greg Koukl which helps you to get more information & hopefully put a pebble in someone's shoe that will cause them to think on it more.]  Who or what determines how you come back?"

"I don't know," he thought for a moment.  "Maybe you determine that yourself."

"You can determine you own destiny?"

"Sure.  Why not?" he said confidently.

This is a shortened account of about a 20 minute conversation.  It was impossible to nail John down on anything definite as most of his questions were vague and open ended.   As a seeker, he considers himself as "open,"  but he had my head spinning trying to follow his logic.   It felt like nailing jello to a wall.  Pete & I felt like we took this conversation as far as we could.  And that's okay.  Hopefully, we were able to drop a pebble or two in his shoe.  Knowing that God is sovereign in salvation & in control when you feel like your conversation is going nowhere.  

He did rate his goodness at a 7, and we gave him a booklet explaining Christianity & encouraged him to read through it.  He took it and said he would.  We thanked him for stopping to answer some questions, and he thanked us for the conversation.

Later in the day, Pete & I were talking about the importance of reflecting on these conversations in order to sharpen our thinking and better prepare ourselves for future conversations.  Looking back, when he brought up the issue of reincarnation, I should have asked him the question, "What do you base your beliefs about reincarnation upon?"

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Luke 19:10, "For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost."

Lord Jesus, would you seek out and save John who is very far from you and very lost.   Use the Gospel given to him today to draw him to the Saviour.