There is this person I know who has a very negative view about a lot of things. One of those 'things' is Christianity. Sometimes I think he has been so misled by the things of our sadly post-modern world that institutionalised religion just isn't ethical anymore. He is a baptised Christian himself, but only in name. Let's call this friend K.

Some days ago, K had a friend, J, who was going through some rough patches. K told me about it. So what I thought was that I'd go over to J's house and pray for him, since K and I happened to be in the area. But immediately K said,

"No. Cannot."

Why? I asked.

"He doesn't want to see anyone now."

We argued for a while. I kept saying that I just wanted to pray over J. J is a back-slided Christian. But nothing in the time that I had known J had indicated that he was against Christianity. In fact, he seems to be the sort of person that hasn't closed the door to God completely.

K just didn't like the idea at all. He didn't want me to pray over J, saying that J needs time alone, and, besides, J doesn't go to church any more. He doesn't need your prayers. He needs time alone.

Fair enough. He needs time alone.

But what is the issue here? Why was I upset? The reason is this: K is so opposed to Christianity that for me to pray over his friend J is a bad thing. He thinks that I will try to 'brainwash' J into going back to church and becoming a nerdy-churchy person. Already, K is upset that he has 'lost' me to this church.

This really upsets me personally because I feel that K is one of the many people who forsake God because they feel as though they do not need a community. They make up their own beliefs and doctrine about God and live according to their own rules, not realizing that God wants them to show the community His Love, which means that they are by default made accountable to the community in church. They are ultimately responsible for sharing their life with other Christians.

I really prayed about this and asked God to give me grace in this situation. Because at any time now, I'm about to burst out at K, though I know whatever I say to him isn't going to convince him of how negative he is toward God and hence why he feels that God doesn't exist for him, or that his version of God is different from other Christian's version of God.

I will probably say to K that his thinking is arrogant. Arrogant because he thinks that God exists for him and so he makes his own rules to live by. If he really believes that he exists for God, he would've known to obey God and therefore become responsible to his community in Christ. K is so smart that he thinks he can come up with his own principles.

A few days before this incident, P, an old friend of K, called K. He told K, "I really don't see God in you at all." K came complaining to me about how hurt he was to have receive this criticism from P. In fact, I'm actually ashamed that out of fear of losing my friendship with K, I had not said it earlier. I have to admit, as well, that I did not want to believe that K has long forsaken God, even though K doesn't admit/believe that he has.

Ah, God, what to do? K's my friend. I don't want to see him drown in his own arrogance.