The debate

The man in Jeans and t-Shirt returned home one evening to find the man waiting for him

The man was elderly and semi-literate

The man was sitting in a tailor’s shop right underneath the flat of the young man in Jeans and T-Shirt

The elderly man greeted him

He was polite and courteous

“I will like to see you said the man, I will like to rub minds with you”

He didn’t understand what the man wanted

They obviously had nothing in common

The man was wearing a skull cap and local attire, the man could barely speak English

The man was from a different worldview all together

The man wanted to provoke a religious discussion

It was the last thing he wanted

Religious discourse in his country usually ends in an impasse

People already believed what they will and that was that

It wasn’t as if he had not had one or two religious arguments before

From experience, he knew it was most usually a waste of time

He told the man as much, politely, “Sir, I am happy to discuss anything with you but not religion”

The elderly man smiled

“I was told by the tailor here that you know God personally

This tailor was under my tutelage in our own religion for many years and now he was beginning to ask questions and doubt many things (Few weeks after you moved in here)

He boasted in your God and your Jesus and you!

I had to see for myself what he saw

I told him you sold him a dummy and he said I am invited to come and speak with you

So here I am

You will either speak with me or I will keep coming here until my student is returned to the right path”

The young man in Jeans and T-Shirt smiled!

He had been told about the old man

A strong religious teacher who had never lost a student to another religion

The problem here was Christianity was not a religion

It had never been

God is not a subject scientists can put in a petri-dish and study

Theologians are at best “experience” collectors

Nobody can study God

Nobody can ever comprehend him

Unless he makes himself known to a person, The best such a person can do is talk up his or her experiences of God

He looked at the elderly man

“Can we meet tomorrow at 4pm?

I will ensure I close from work early for the meeting”

The elderly man was happy

He would be able to address the injustice once and for all

And it will be in the presence of his misguided student

The next day, at 4pm the meeting started

The elderly man opened the discussion with the similarities between Christianity and his religion

He was well informed

Though he spoke in their common language

He brought forth a lot of logical facts which could only have been amassed through years of study and experience

The young man listened intently

Then the elderly man talked about Jesus

He called him a prophet

One that must be honoured according to his own beliefs but not to be accorded a God status

He argued that it was an error of monumental proportion

To call Jesus the son of God

He said nobody had seen God before and therefore it is illogical to bequeath upon the seen, the status of the unseen! What if you see god tomorrow and God has 10 heads? Would Jesus still pass as his son?

He asked

The elderly man moved to the issue of Trinity

He quoted some scriptures and insisted they referred to the coming of another prophet and not the Holy Spirit as claimed by the Christians

He talked about Jesus and Judaism and posited that Jesus practiced Judaism and not Christianity

He talked about the law and how Moses had a lot more in common with life and his own religion than Jesus did when Jesus only spoke about loving God and loving your neighbor

He spoke about Abraham, the first son and the promised child and the unfairness of Christianity to claim Isaac was the child of promise when indeed it was the other son

He spoke for almost two hours and from the point of reasoning, he made a lot of sense

The young man in Jeans and T-Shirt looked at the elderly man

Sir, he said, if I told you something the Holy Spirit just told me and it is true, would you take it as proof that I know this God and Jesus is truly the son of God?

The elderly man eagerly said yes!

He loved the direction the young man was headed

If the young man said anything, even though it might be true, he would simply deny it!

The elderly man told the ypoung man in Jeans and T-Short to go ahead

Young man in Jeans and T-Shirt: Sir, you have at home now a daughter, she was involved in a motorcycle accident months ago and you have spent a lot of money but the injury on her left leg kept festering. Doctors have told you that leg had to be amputated! You had tried everything even traditional medicine to no avail. You have invoked demonic powers through herbalists and it had failed. What if I told you, that right this minute as I am speaking, I can heal your daughter and by this time tomorrow she would be walking on her own two feet!

Elderly man: If you do this, I will renounce my faith and serve Jesus forever

Young man in Jeans and T-Shirt: it is done!

The elderly man did not say goodbye, he bolted out of the door and half walked, half skipped out of the tailor’s shop

The young man in Jeans and T-Shirt stayed with the tailor for a while

The tailor was a bit confused about what had happened

His old master had argued succinctly on the side of one religion and the young man in Jeans and T-Shirt didn’t provide any logical argument to counter the postulations of the elderly man

The young man in Jeans and T-Shirt explained to the tailor that the gospel had two parts

1. The great commission
2. The power of the Holy Spirit

The great commission was the purpose of the believer while the Holy Spirit was the power of the believer.

Some Christian denominations run with purpose without power (claiming the Holy Spirit and the manifestations of his power had ceased with the apostles) while other Christian denominations run with power without purpose (Not living and abiding by the word of God as they ought to) but He is breeding a balanced breed of Christians!

Full of power and led by purpose.

What he did with the elderly man was prove through the demonstrations of the power of the Holy Spirit that religion is only a mental thing, not a spiritual thing

Once the elderly man got that, all his arguments will be thrown in the dust bin

Answering the questions are not as important as answering the deepest longings of the questioner! This is the most important thing when you engage an unbeliever

You can win the argument and lose the soul

Of what benefit would that be to the kingdom of God

But if you walk with power and purpose, you will see through the façade and aim directly at the heart of the matter

The next day, at 4.30pm, the young man in Jeans and T-Shirt was welcomed by a very grateful elderly man and his beautiful daughter). The word of God had gone forth as spoken and healed the lady completely

The elderly man was in tears

She was his only child and he now believed God deliberately orchestrated events in order for him to meet the young man in Jeans and T-Shirt and save his daughter

Are you still willing to give your life to Jesus? Asked the young man in Jeans and T-Shirt

Yes! Chorused the elderly man and his daughter

The young man in Jeans and T-Shirt prayed the prayer of salvation with them and they were brought into the ineffable love of Jesus.

PS: Every religion and philosophy is built on words, logic and a lot of nonsense

Jesus is the only answer to the nagging questions of the spirit, soul and body

Do you desire to win souls? Do you desire to spread the gospel? You need power!

You must desire the Holy Spirit, You must pray in the Holy Ghost, you must study the word

Above all, let the spirit lead you!

The Holy Spirit will accomplish more with your silence than your sermons, if you will yield to His leading

The Spirit of Jesus is willing, are you?

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