"I Don't Believe"

You know that you are being far too predictable when you walk into one of your favorite restaurants and one of the waiters you know least knows quite well what you are going to order! That happened to me yesterday.

I had no sooner sat down at one of my favorite tables in my favorite restaurant when Lucas approached me holding a glass of cold iced tea. I looked up at him and laughingly remarked: “Oh, oh! I’m way too predictable, aren’t I?”

“We know all about you here!” came his quick-witted remark. “So, would you like the salad bar and baked potato?”

It was obvious he was enjoying the occasion. But…I must admit…so was I. It’s kind of cool when people even care to know something about you—even if I am way too predictable!

“Hi, I’m Carmen. What’s your name?” I always like to get a waiter or waitresses name. Names are so important and, yet, in the “work-a-day” world of the service industry most customers could really care less. My mission demands that I care more!

“I’m Lucas,” he replied.

“Well, Lucas, nice to meet you. And you are absolutely right; the baked potato and salad bar is just the perfect combination for me!” The friendly manner in which our conversation had started signaled, to me, the strong possibility that God might have prepared an opportunity for a far more substantive conversation than simply my particular preference for sb and bp (just my lingo for salad bar and baked potato).

As Lucas left to place my order, I asked God for both wisdom and words for the anticipated, forthcoming conversation. Throughout the next forty-five minutes or so, Lucas would graciously check back with me ensuring that my every need was met. He was a really good waiter and his periodic “check ins” allowed the groundwork for me to more readily engage him in spiritual conversation a bit later on.

Eventually, my meal being finished, Lucas brought me the bill. As I returned it with payment, I showed him a copy of a tract I often carry with me (Connecting with God). “Hey, Lucas, did I ever give you one of these?” I questioned.

“No,” Lucas replied thoughtfully as he gave the small booklet a good look. “I don’t believe so.”

“Well,” I continued, “let me explain what this is so you don’t think I’m just ‘throwing’ something at you.” I paused, and then continued, “I would like to suggest there are two, key questions in life that everyone deals with: ‘Is there a God?’ and, if so, ‘Is He knowable?’”

Lucas looked at me with puzzlement. “Is He what?” he questioned quizzically.

“Knowable,” I responded. “In other words, if there is a God can you have contact and communication with Him? What do you think?” I waited, the smile on Lucas’s face indicating that the answer he was about to give was probably not the answer he thought I might anticipate or wish to hear.

“Well, I guess I would have to say I don’t believe.” Lucas was a very thoughtful guy and I could tell he was formulating an explanation for his answer. He continued. “And, I suppose that, if there was a God, you really couldn’t know Him anyway. When you observe the vastness of the universe and its galaxies and the stars…why it’s incredible. Yes…I think any kind of God who made that would be beyond our comprehension as human beings.”

I actually think that is one of the better answers I’ve been given as to why God may not be able to be known. Still, however, I wanted, now, to challenge Lucas’s thinking: why the very evidence he was pointing to suggesting that God may not be knowable may be the very evidence to suggest God’s existence.

“Yes, Lucas, you do have a very good point there. If there is a God behind all that we observe, it would be easy to think that He is so transcendent that our ability to comprehend Him would be limited. But, don’t you think the vastness and complexity of our universe and world may suggest something about its origin? If we buy the Big Bang model, everything—time, space, matter and energy—came into existence at once! I mean, is it really logical to assume that all this complexity and order and seeming purpose for things developed as a result of mindless, purposeless chance—all this from nothing? Unless, of course, you buy into one of the ‘multiverse’ models [where an infinite number of possible universes are posited thus a universe with all the constants, etc., we observe is viewed as just one of the potential options].”

“No,” Lucas chimed in quickly, “that whole ‘multiverse’ thing doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. The evidence just isn’t there.”

“So, in my thinking,” I continued, “it seems more rational to suggest that at least some form of Intelligence is at the very beginning rather than purposeless, mindless chance. And, your premise is a good one; that such an infinite Cause would be beyond our comprehension—both in form and magnitude. May I, however, suggest one caveat that may affect your premise?”

“Of course,” Lucas readily replied. He was obviously a very sharp young man (earlier I had discovered he was a finance major at our local university).

“Your premise is correct unless this Intelligent Cause, or God, had somehow chosen to reveal Himself to us. Lucas, have you ever investigated the claims of Jesus Christ and the role He said He played in knowing God?” I realize that it may seem I was moving quickly here but I did not sense that Lucas’s commitment to an atheistic worldview was set in cement. Furthermore, when talking with wait staff, I am careful not to have my conversations interfere with their work (which is also why I tend to eat in between typical meal times).

“No” Lucas replied as he discreetly shook his head in a manner affirming his verbal response. “But, I will tell you, I really think Jesus had the right idea! I think he was (pausing)…enlightened. He said things, like ‘love your neighbor,’ that were just right.”

“Mmmm,” I audibly expressed the fact of my mental contemplation. “You know, Lucas, you have made a very important point. Yes, I would agree that Jesus was right in the things He said and did. In fact, the very idea of ‘rightness’ indicates that most of us recognize certain things to be right and certain other things to be wrong. One must wonder from where that standard of right and wrong originates. So, may I leave this booklet with you?”

“Absolutely,” Lucas responded positively. “I actually really enjoy talking about such things.”

“Great!” I wrote my name and number on the booklet. As I was handing it to Lucas I simply stated, “Lucas, if what Jesus said is true—that He came to reveal God and to enable you and me to know Him—then history has never recorded a more remarkable story. I’ll look forward to picking up our discussion later.”

“Thank you. And I too.”

By this time new customers were beginning to filter in for an early dinner. And I was grateful that my predictability had allowed Lucas and me to begin a conversation on such friendly terms. Just imagine, a conversation about eternal “food” all initiated through a discussion about my sb and bp!