Spain: Communicating Theology With Love

May 5, 2009 in Blog Comments off

Seminary was a transformative time for me. While many say their faith decreased during their seminary years, mine actually did the opposite.

 

I grew closer to God main in part to the godly men God placed in my life at the time my seminary career was starting who told me to never ever allow my studies to take away from my own personal study and devotions in God’s word. One even suggested that I turn my homework time into personal devotions. This had a profound effect on me and is one of the reasons I am where I am today.

Tuesday was the first class I taught at SEFOVAM, the name of the seminary where I am teaching in Madrid, Spain. The class was on how to reach emerging generations. Although there are major cultural differences between the US and Spain, one thing is for sure, a college student is a college student no matter where you place them.

I challenged them as they thought through their approaches to reaching emerging generations (18-24+) to consider five major struggles students face: trust, tolerance, brokeness, aloneness, and truth. Most of the content I am teaching on in this section comes from a book called No Perfect People Allowed by John Burke. The students in this class were very vocal about some of the topics I was presenting to them.

We opened up with a story about a girl who was sexually abused by her dad. I asked them how this experience would shape her view of God (both positively and negatively), her relationship with a future spouse, or even her relationship with other women. They immediately resonated with the story sharing some of their own experiences in dealing with people like this.

I told them that it is important that as we reach out to those in this generation, we have to realize that they have a hard time trusting people, and even God himself. I said that when talking with them about God it is important that we not sugar-coat the truth; that we give them the reality of who God is whether it is hard for them to accept or not.

The reason is because young people live in a world where everything is faked, performed, and unreal. They are searching for authenticity. Therefore it is critical to tell them the truth of who God is, the good and the bad (from their perspective at least).

I modified the situation with the girl who was sexually abused and I asked them to consider the situation where the girl is now a Christian and is no longer acting out promiscuously. I asked them to tell me what they would say to her.

One guy said that he would tell her, “The reason why all the bad stuff happened to you is because you were separated from God.” This allowed us to go a little deeper into the sovereignty of God. I then asked him, “Well what would you tell her, if she later meets a guy in your church who then rapes her?” Yes, this is seminary folks. We have to talk about reality no matter how difficult it is. At any rate I told them that we have to tell her up front that God loves her, cares deeply about her pain, but at the same time, he may not necessarily stop additional hurt and pain in her life.

Since God is sovereign and can do whatever he wants, when he wants, this sometimes means that he will allow some things that are pretty painful into our lives. This is where a lot of people have a hard time seeing God as being loving. I can understand that. But the truth is, regardless of whether we want to believe it or not, God is just as loving when he allows good as he is when he allows evil.

I challenged them to make sure they always communicate this basic fact even though their listeners may have a hard time with it. However, we should not just “communicate” it, we must communicate it in love.

I shared with them a personal story about a friend of mine who is not a Christian. He and I were having a conversation on day and he was stating his frustration about how God could allow “good” people to go to hell. I responded, “The reason Christians believe those people will go to hell is because Jesus said the only way to heaven is through him. And anyone who did not place their trust in him would ultimately go to hell. I know that is hard for you to accept and you may not agree with me on that but I hope it would not keep us from being friends. I know that I value my friendship with you and I hope you value your friendship with me.”

Even though we did not agree, he really appreciated the fact that I valued him as a person, that I talked to him as a human being and did not just preach “at” him.

I challenged the students to think carefully about what they say, communicate truth, but communicate it with love.

This class reminded me of my time in seminary when we would these kinds of difficult discussions about God. I always found them to be deeply challenging and ultimately life changing for me. I hope it is the same for these students as well.

We can only pray.