Getting Back Into Christianity

THE YOUNG MAN spoke to me as I walked up the stairs to the library. He said something like: "How's it going?". "Just fine", was my stock response (I hate meaningless amenities). "How about you?", I replied. That was his opening. "I'm just trying to get back into being a Christian" said he. To me he appeared to be standing on the steps of a library, doing nothing. I vaguely wondered why he had left the faith in the first place, and since he had, why he was now wanting to give it another try, and why was he telling me about it? Wisely, I stifled my vague curiosity. I noticed a Bible and two bottles of soda pop at his feet, and wondered how much caffeine he had ingested, and whether he had actually read the book. I sensed he was seeking validation, and decided to give him what I could. "I have faith that you will succeed in this endeavor" was my response. I also sensed that he was looking for someone to talk to, so I smiled and kept walking. I had research to tend to. My faith in his gregarious nature was so secure that I was convinced that he would find as many people to talk to as he pleased. What would we have talked about? In retrospect, I almost wish I had said: "Just do it". Hd I lingered, he might have asked me about my religious views. Had he, I would have answered as I always do, with a quote from Einstein. "My religiosity consists in humble admiration of the infinitely superior spirit which reveals itself in what little we, with our weak and transitory understanding, can comprehend of reality. I cannot conceive of a personal God who would sit in judgment over creatures of his own creation. Morality is of the highest importance, for mankind, but not for God". What would most likely have happened was what nearly always happens; he would have been confused by the first sentence, because of its length and structure, but would have bristled at the two ensusing sentences, disagreed with me, and started an argument. I wouldn't have argued much. I would have used the term "anthropomorphic", and suggested that to a horse God is a super horse, and that to an extraterrestrial God is most likely an extraterrestrial on steroids, so to speak, and that any religion which conceives of God as anthropomprphic is inherently primitive, and of limited relation to reality. No, young man, I am not a Christian. But I consider Christian values well intentioned for the most part, having been borrowed from earlier religions, such as Hinduism and Confucianism. I might have suggested that he read "Why I Am Not A Christian", by Bertrand Russell, and "The Age of Reason" by Thomas Paine, and assurd him that indeed I have read the Bible, and I find that it, as Mark Twain said: "contains some noble poetry, clever fables, a great amount of obscenity, and no fewer than one thousand outright lies." I hope I would have congratulated him on his noble intent, and told him that the Christian faith is much in need of his support, for verily it is in decline, and seems to be evolving out of existence. He might lot have liked hearing this, but it is true.