There is a terrific little pizza/wings place in downtown Greer that I love to frequent (Wild Aces if you want to check it out). This is amazing, since I spent most of my young life avoiding downtown Greer, or what was left of it, at all costs. But the Greer "Renaissance" is worth a look if you haven't seen it, as it is a smaller, more easily accessible and genteel version of Greenville.
Most of the people at the restaurant know me, and know that I am a minister. I stopped by to pick up some food for the fam last week, and had to sit around waiting for my order to be completed. In the span of about 30 minutes, I encountered three employees who were very happy to engage in conversation.
The first was a cook who was taking a break, and ask me what I thought about the TULIP principle. You can find an explanation of that principle at this blog--a pretty decent summary. We were trying to figure out the acronym and what it really means for all of us who are believers in Jesus Christ.
The next guy started up a discussion about the "True Love Waits" concept and why it didn't/doesn't work. (For the record, I took a lot of flak 20 years ago for telling people that it wouldn't work). We discussed people who had signed "The Pledge" and engaged in every imaginable sexual activity other than intercourse. Kind of defeats the purpose, doesn't it?
Before I finally got my food, I talked with a former "PK" like myself (that's "Preacher's Kid" if you missed it). We talked about the difficulties of growing up in that world, and how hard it is at times to realize that you are a Christian who disagrees with some of your Christian upbringing.
This is all within thirty minutes of ordering a few pizzas and a plate of garlic parmesan wings.
It's amazing. I walk into a restaurant to order some carry-out, and I end up having three deep and meaningful theological conversations. I go to church on Sunday morning, and the deepest conversation involves the scores from Clemson and Carolina games. (Or, for a few of us, Furman and Wofford games).
In one form or another, I've served in the ministry for 23 years. In all of that time, I am fascinated by the fact that some of my deepest theological conversations occur far outside the walls of the church. In the church, we tend to think that we have it all figured out. We have the keys to the kingdom, the theological answers that people need but have yet to find. And when you have all the answers, there really is not a lot of need for discussion.
Outside of the church is a far different story. It's amazing the conversations that get started when you are willing to admit to people that you are a minister. People will suddenly open up with all kinds of questions, problems, and ideas that they would never share with anyone else. But inside the church walls, people cover their true identity and hide their questions/doubts like they are a part of Al Capone's vault.
This is why our study of scripture and theology matter.
It is something of a sad statement that we are not more open within the Body of Christ that is the church. But even still, we have to keep our thoughts and theology sharp, because plenty of people out there are willing to ask questions. The challenge for us is to be open and honest and willing to take on those challenges when they come.
Contrary to what we often hear in Christian circles, the world is not completely hostile to Christ. They are simply hostile to a Christianity that is uninformed and unwilling to answer questions.
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