Rahwa - 26 years old

While attempting to find relief from the heat of the day under the shade of some trees in Kensington, we bumped into Rahwa. She was on her way to an appointment, but could spare two minutes to answer some questions.

Rahwa said she was a Christian, and had been born a Christian. Asked to describe her experience, she simply smiled and said she loved Jesus. [I like that answer. Anytime anyone mentions Jesus in their description of their religious experience, I tend to get excited.  But read on....]

She'd like to ask God, "What is the meaning of everything?  Why are we here?"

If God were to ask her, "Why should I let you into heaven?" she would say, "Because I have a good heart."

[Insert the sound of throwing a wrench into an engine. Answering this question would be the perfect time to be thinking about Jesus, not your own goodness.  Boy, I wish we had some time to ask her about that and seek clarification.  What do you think about some of the things that Jesus said, namely that there is no one good except God?  Why do you believe you have a good heart? etc.]

She'd rate herself an "8" on the goodness scale.

I thanked her for her time, gave her a copy of the booklet explaining Christianity, and encouraged her to read it.

I must confess, I don't know what to think of folks who follow Jesus, but claim to have good hearts.  That's so diametrically opposed to not only the clear teachings of Jesus (cf. Mark 7), but also of the entire Scripture (cf. Jeremiah 17:9).   Our culture often disciples us well on how to speak about ourselves and many professing Christians have adopted that language.

To be fair, perhaps if Rahwa had more time, she would have been a bit more precise in what she meant by that.  

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Romans 5:6, "For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly."

Lord, while I'm thankful Rahwa claims to love you, I hope she does know the true Jesus and doesn't cling to a different gospel.   Help her to understand that you died for the ungodly--while we were yet sinners, you died for us.