God in Them

I’ve always thought that those weren’t saved didn’t have a lot to offer to the world. The best chance they had to offer something was maybe using a good movie clip in one of my messages sometime. But really I only thought it was brilliant because I found the clip and it worked with what I wanted to say, so I was the smart one and not them.

Since going to York and doing some reading outside of my belief system and most importantly interacting with those outside my faith, I realized that the thoughts and beliefs that I have exist everywhere. For the most part, most of the smart things I believe that I thought were championed by Christians somewhere originated with someone that wasn’t.

Some of the more profound things that I’ve heard about the Old Testament came from my Jewish professor at York. Some of the most profound things I’ve read about international development and economics came from books that I’ve read whose authors would far from consider themselves Christ followers. Lately I’ve been awe-inspired by TED videos. Ted is a conference where great thinkers go and share their findings in quick lectures. Watching these fascinates me because over and over again I see people from every faith truly offering something valuable to the world. Here are a few of my favourites that I think really relate to Christian values.

Slowing down in a World Built for Speed
The Paradox of Choice
Do Schools Kill Creativity?
A list of videos on the environment
New Insights on Poverty and Life around the World

So what does this tell me? Well I think it tells me that God is up to something outside of the self defined church. Good things are happening in all faiths, and all over the place people are starting to come to the realization of what is good and see that its something to pursue. If only we as the church wouldn’t be so prideful and would partner up with people like this, because we have long dropped the ball in leading, then the world would be a better place.