los angels, ca

I’m listening to doSul and so are you if your sound is on
(niza is the vocalist)

“who does God prefer,” my son, michael, asked me tonight, “the man who believes in and speaks about jesus and does no good but speak, or the man who does not believe but loves his neighbors and lives out his life this way?”

he and i were discussing this question tonight because of an interaction he was having with a nonbeliever on the internet.

“would God really condemn the good man, and spare the evil man because of what he believes?” he continued.

my son [nick named “halfmoon’s sky”] is a bit of a philosopher and apologist for the faith, even at the tender age of sixteen. three years ago or so, a couple of leaders invited me to dinner to meet a stubborn atheist friend of theirs. i took michael for the training opportunity. somewhere in the middle of dinner, the atheist created a scenario with a moral dilemma, and asked what was the right course of action. the look on the faces of these two leaders was a kind of…see this is what we’ve been talking about…expression.

without sensing the tension my son obliterated the question by challenging the questionable premises the scenario assumed. i have to admit i was a bit surprised. i thought i was going to be the one doing the training.

i’m reminded of the words paul wrote young timothy: “command and teach …set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.”

into the mystic…

© alex mcmanus, 2005