Gloria

Gloria has really taken charge of her own faith. Before she left for winter break, she was unsure if she was truly a believer. I asked her to share her experience with me. I came to the conclusion that she was a genuine believer. I also asked her the "3 Questions" I'm kind of known for asking students.

1. Do you believe you have sin? Do you believe you have offended God and disobeyed Him?
2. Do you believe Jesus can erase your sin through his life and death? Do you want his forgiveness to cover you?
3. Do you want to commit your life to God and be faithful to Him always and only?

She answered yes to all the questions. And was kind of shocked that how easy the whole process was. I told her if she believed all those things to be true and wanted to commit her life to Jesus, then all she had to do was believe it in her heart and affirm it with her mouth. She did. She's been blossoming ever since!

(Gloria is on the right. Yvonne is on the left.)

Starting in March, she and others have been reading James together. Coco asked, "How can God make us stronger and give us peace?" Gloria wanted to share a personal story.

Gloria shared about how she always felt guilty going to the temple and bowing down when she believed in God. She never felt like she could stand up to her parents. After she made her confession verbally, she felt much more strong spiritually. She told us how she stood up to her parents over the winter break. She felt great peace and power. Like she could do anything! She feels stronger and stronger each day. She was not disrespectful, but lovingly said no, that she would not go to the temple and bow down. She would not burn incense. She would not give offerings.

Listening to her story and her witness to the other students almost brought me to tears. She has such a sweet soul. She's so gentle and kind. She could've been disowned from her parents, it could've caused a lot of drama and conflict. But she stood her ground. This is a great difficulty for many brothers and sisters in Asia. Many festivals and holidays are focused around the afterlife and worshiping ancestors or temple activities.

I'm excited to continually be a part of Gloria’s growth and just watch her blossom. I'm not doing anything. It's all the Spirit alive inside her.

Mandy

This story is from a couple weeks ago with my Sunday afternoon Bible study with Mandy and Sherry. Mandy is on the left and Sherry is on the right.

Sherry asked the question "What do Christians think about luck?"

I said Christians don't believe in luck. Or they shouldn't. They believe everything is God's plan. Whether it is good or bad. Some people might say that Bryant and I meeting was lucky; being in the right place at the right time. But I believe it was God's plan that we should meet each other.

Then Mandy asked if she could share a personal story. I said of course.

But before I tell you a story she told I should give you a little background. There are more than 55 people groups in China. Meaning they're all Chinese, but there of a different ethnic backgrounds. Their language, culture, customs festivals, and traditions all differ a little bit. There are two groups that seemingly always are having conflict. Xinjiang people and Han people. Xinjiang people are closer to Muslim culture than Chinese culture. Han Chinese people are the majority in China.

On to Mandy. She told us about how she was traveling to another city with her father. They were in the train station. Literally the next day there was a riot where Xinjiang people killed many Han. In that exact same train station at the exact same place that her and her father where the previous day. She also told Sherry and I that every time she travels she prays that Father would keep her safe. She went on to explain and express that she doesn't think it's just luck that they weren't killed. She doesn't think it's just luck that they were there the day before not the day of this riot. She is sure and confident that that was the Lord's providence that they were kept safe.

It is always fun and such a tremendous joy to see fellow sisters share their own life experiences with non-believers!

Keep praying for Sherry. When I asked her this week, "If there is a scale of 1 to 10. One is you don't believe there is a god. And Jesus wasn't real. Ten is you believe fully in the Bible. Where are you?"

She said, "Five. I think I am a five. I don't know what I think yet."

Brea

Our meeting started as usual. We got right to work. Or I did. This is our thing: I make some baked good. She videos me and asks questions. Then we wait. I make coffee. And we eat the baked good. Then it gets to the good stuff. We talk about God, Christianity, beliefs, philosophy, boys, life, friends, etc.

This Saturday wasn’t any different. Or at first glance, anyway. We, as in I, made the cheesecake and since I was out of coffee beans, she brought coffee for us. 

Then the conversation began. But let's back up. June 2014 she had told me she had made a decision to become a follower of Baha’i. I have to admit, I don’t know the ins and outs of Baha’i, but what I do know doesn’t make sense. Since June, I was under the impression that things were pretty set in stone and I wasn’t sure how much I was going to invest in her. But a recent discussion in my Bible class made her feel insecure about our friendship. A student had asked me what I thought about Baha’i. I made sure to preface what I said with, “This is just my opinion.” I went on to say how ridiculous it all seems. Baha’i says all beliefs lead to the same god. How can one, two or even three different beliefs being saying the same thing? A lot of belief are based on works; doing good things, being a good person. But Christianity’s base is in faith. It’s not what we do, but what Jesus has done for us. He’s sacrificed his perfect body, mind and soul for us. We deserve punishment and banishment from God, but he took that for us. We are therefore exempt. 

As we began to talk, she revealed she was still searching. She feels lost and frustrated. She doesn’t want to be in the middle. She wants to make a choice. But she wants to make the right choice.

Heaven and Hell.

Christianity is clear. Those who believe in Jesus and follow Him are going to be with Him forever in Heaven. Those who don’t are going to a Lake of Fire, aka. Hell.

Baha’i has a more fluid belief about eternity. There is no hell. The more developed your virtues (honesty, kindness, etc.) are the closer you are to God. The less developed your virtues are the further away from God you are. The more developed you are, the more complete your spiritual body will be. I posed the question, “So, there is no punishment for people?” Her response was, “Being far from God is a punishment. It’s like Hell.”
Me - “But people that don’t care about God and virtues, don’t care if they are close or far from God. So, there is or isn't a Hell?”
Brea - “It’s like Hell, but God is sad if the people are not close to him.”
Me - “But if the people don’t care, it doesn’t matter if they are close or far away from God.”
Brea - "But it will make God sad."
Me - "But they don't care if God is sad."

Virtues/Good Works vs. Faith in Jesus and what He has done

Of course we had to hit this topic. She insisted that developing kindness and honesty and other good character qualities was not self-centered. She said developing those virtues was actually focused on God. I told her it sounded like Baha’i was centered on self-development.

But Christianity was centered on what Jesus had done for people. His sacrifice compels people to show him honor, praise and please Him. But ultimately, what we do is “filthy rags” to Him.

She reiterated that the development of virtues is about God. I asked how.
Brea - “Because we want to become better people. So, then we can deserve God.”
Me - “See that is a huge difference in Christianity. We deserve death because of our sin. Baha’i doesn’t say anything about being enemies with God. It doesn’t say that people have disobeyed Him. We don't deserve to live. We deserve death. But God is gracious. He erases our sin, if we believe in Jesus’ sacrifice for us.”

Different messengers with one message from one god

Baha’i says that different “deities” or religious leaders (Muhammed, Jesus, Buddha, etc.) have the same message to share and are different messengers sent for one god. I started with the statement that all those different leaders had different messages. Muhammad said you had to follow the pillars of faith. Hinduism says try and try again until you reach the highest level of enlightenment. Jesus says I love you and I want to take your punishment for you so that you can live. None of those are the same message.

Brea - “But the essence is the same.”
Me - “What essence? They all have a message, but all their messages are different. They can’t all be real or true.”
Brea - “God is the essence of all those messengers.”
Me - “Then why does the message change? In Christianity, God is the same. God is constant. He is faithful. He is loyal. He doesn’t change. People do. He sent many messengers, prophets. They all said the same thing. The Bible is consistent. But different religions have different messages. That's why they aren’t the same.”

Kathy

My sweet friend Kathy is kind of a heart breaker. To be honest, she's pretty cute and has quite a charming way about her. We've been meeting one-on-one for about a year and a half now. Her growth has been slow, but strong. Once her mind is made up, there's no changing it.

Her most recent dilemma is falling in love with someone who isn't a believer. This isn't the first time this has happened. She's spent a lot of one-on-one time with him and they talk pretty often. I warned her about this before because too much one-on-one time with a boy could lead to some confusing feelings for her and/or him.

She knew all the pros and cons of course. And most importantly, that she shouldn't date him because he wasn't a believer. We've discussed this topic of dating or not dating him for two weeks now.

Tonight, she told me the man was super persistent and she felt like she needed to either date him or cut all ties with him. I told her that was a good idea. I also told her I thought it would be a good idea to make a deadline. She said a week. So, I did a quick prayer for her while walking home.

FOUR HOURS LATER

She called to say she made her decision. I was a little worried about what she was about to say. BUT she told me that she made the decision to seperate herself for him! I was sooooooo excited! I know it's a hard decision to make when your feelings are all out of whack, but I was sooooo proud of her. I congratulated her and then she told me she felt like a "stone has been taken from my heart." She felt relaxed and happy about the decision.

Well done, Kathy, well done :)