My Conversation with Jesus

The other day, I had an interesting conversation with a man named Jesus. No, not Jesus the carpenter from Galilee, but Jesus the maintenance guy from Palm Beach, FL. He had come over to our home for a repair.

Talking about Religion

Somehow, we ended up discussing religion. I asked Jesus if he knew the other Jesus (the one born in a manger). He answered, "There are too many religions in the world. How would I know which one is true?"

I wondered how many other people got to that question and just stayed there, not bothering to examine the truth claims of those religions and using common sense and the law of logic to narrow down the list.

Examining Different Religions

So, I got to thinking of the different religions: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Judaism, Bahá’í, Confucianism, Jainism, Shinto. And those are just the top 10! I asked Jesus if he thought it was possible that only one of them could be right? He paused to think about my question.

The Math Equation Analogy

I gave him an analogy. "Imagine you were in a math class. Imagine the professor gives out a very difficult math equation for the class to solve. Many people are going to get it wrong. Does that mean the correct answer does not exist?" Jesus nodded his head in agreement.

Islam's Beliefs

I asked Jesus, "Do you know what a Muslim believes he must do to enter heaven?" He followed, "If they do enough good things in life, then possibly they might enter heaven."

"It’s still not guaranteed. Yes, that’s what Islam teaches. Now imagine you were accused of murder and sent before the judge to plead your case. What if you told the judge, ‘I’ve been a good husband to my wife. I treated my customers fairly. I gave money to the needy. I’ve even fed the hungry. Please, look at all the good I have done and find me innocent of this crime.' How do you think the judge will respond?"

"Well, if I committed murder, those excuses wouldn’t work. He might sentence me to death," Jesus responded.

Guilt of Murder

I replied, "Yes, the Judge would have to do that because he’s a righteous and fair judge. If he did anything less, he would not be a good judge. Did you know that Jesus (the carpenter) said 'Whoever hates his brother is a murderer'? We have all hated someone, so that makes us murderers. The Bible even says that if you look at a woman lustfully you’ve committed adultery in your heart. If you stood before a judge, you would be found guilty. Me too. We are all guilty. But, Jesus (the carpenter) paid the penalty for our crimes so we could be free. What kind of god is Allah that when a Muslim gets to heaven god dismisses the life-long list of crimes because he also did good things? That is not justice. That is not a good judge. This is not a good God."

Christianity's Beliefs

Every other religion would have mankind try to reach up to God, but with the Christian faith God reaches down to humanity. In other words, "God so loved the world that He gave his only Son..." It was this sacrifice, God’s Son on the cross, that is the payment for our sins. It has nothing to do with our own merit. We can never be good enough to earn our way to heaven. This would not be a good judge. He must punish man for his sins, if He is good. I could tell he was really thinking about this. Then he asked, “But how do we know the Bible is true?” I responded, “Well, that’s a great question. One way is to examine the evidence. The Bible is a historical document, written by eyewitnesses or those who knew the eyewitnesses. We can examine the manuscript evidence, the archaeological evidence, and the fulfilled prophecies to see if the Bible is reliable.” Jesus nodded his head and said, “I never really thought about that before. I’m going to have to do some research on my own.”

As Jesus was finishing up the repair, he looked up at me and said, “Thanks for the conversation. I’ve never had anyone talk to me about religion like this before.” I smiled and said, “Thanks for the repairs and the conversation. It was great talking with you.”

As he left, I couldn’t help but think about the impact that one conversation could have on his life. It was a reminder to me that we should always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in us, and to do so with gentleness and respect.

A seed planted

My conversation with Jesus (the maintenance guy) was a thought-provoking and engaging one. We discussed the validity of different religions, the concept of absolute truth, and the evidence for the reliability of the Bible. I was impressed by his willingness to engage in such deep and meaningful conversation, and I hope that our discussion will lead him to further exploration and discovery of the truth. It's important to have these conversations with people and to approach them with gentleness and respect. Who knows, maybe one conversation could have a significant impact on someone's life.