Has someone ever shared with you a belief that you just found absolutely ridiculous? I’m talking about an idea that didn’t make sense? How did you respond?
I recently had one of those experiences. We are renting a house from a couple that came to America from India. The backyard is filled with all sort of exotic and unique plants. Some were brought from India. One plant is a tall tree with long bean-like pods that are added to soup. We have a number of trees and under each tree are a few new shoots that are growing from seeds that have fallen.
A few weeks ago I had an Indian man come to the door and ask if he could pick some of the beans off the tree. I said sure and helped him pick a bag full. Afterwards he asked he could come back and take one of the shoots for his yard. He explained that he had tried to grow a tree from seeds but had failed. I explained to him that I would ask the landlord to make sure it was OK for him to take a couple of the small shoots. So when the landlord came on Tuesday, we walked through the yard and I asked about the shoots. Our property-owner said, “No” and went on to explained that he believed that if you dig up a shoot the tree from which it came from would die. He continued to say that it might sound weird but that is what they believe.
I wasn’t sure how to respond. I almost laughed. My first thought was, how ridiculous, “Your belief is silly.” Science can easily demonstrate that the tree would not die. But as I have spent more time considering what was said it occurred to me that throughout history man has had some pretty ridiculous beliefs. Jesus followers living in a non-Christian culture need to be prepared to hear some pretty peculiar beliefs. Do we laugh? Do we argue and explain them away? Or do we carefully consider how we interject the real and living God into our relationships? 