[ Note: This post appeared in the Lawrence Journal-World. I was asked to write it for the Faith Forum section. ]
What is the most misunderstood aspect of your job?”
Two big misunderstandings come to mind.
First, I’m not after your money.
Some people think ministers prey upon sincere, but naïve believers so they can con them into giving money. To be sure, there are some greedy ones out there (mostly on TV). There are groups teaching that God is like a big vending machine—if you give money to such-and-such ministry, God will give you health and wealth. This is a distortion of true Christianity.
Please don’t lump us all together. Most ministers I know personally are not getting rich. They typically make great sacrifices or take on second jobs so they can keep serving God and people. Churches like ours make no demands on people financially. We believe in free-will giving motivated by gratitude for what God has done for us.
Second, I don’t want to shove anything down your throat.
Some people think Christians (especially ministers) want to force their beliefs on people. I do want to “share” what I believe, but I have no interest in “forcing” my beliefs on you. If this sounds like semantics to you, please do a Google search on “forced to convert”. There’s a very real difference between “share” and “force”.
Anyone who believes anything passionately will want to “share” his views (like those who will “comment” on this Faith Forum). That’s not “forcing”. That’s not malicious. We all do this. In my case, I believe the Bible teaches that heaven and hell are real, and that trusting Jesus Christ for your eternal destiny is the only way to avoid hell and be in heaven. If that’s true, then “sharing” this with people is the right thing to do!
I—like most Christians—try to “share” my beliefs respectfully at the right time in the right place out of love for people.
