by Michael Skinner

Created on: March 22, 2009   Last Updated: March 28, 2009

"But what was the big deal about building a church?"
She asked.

It was then that I knew that certain concepts were likely to be lost in translation. She was from North Korea. I was born in Mobile, Alabama. I had recommended "Lilies of the Field" starring Sidney Poitier as a good movie.
It never occurred to me that anyone would question building a church as a good and necessary thing. A decent thing. A hallmark of civilization and one of those good references to put on your spiritual resume.

This was not the only time there was no meeting of the minds on the subject of religion. My girl friend was taking business courses at a local hole-in-the-wall "university." In the midst of some discussion on business ethics several of her classmates who claimed to be Christian as much as told her that as a non believer from an atheist nation she was doomed to burn in hell.

The whole situation was wrong on several grounds.
I was not comfortable with having to come to the aid of rednecks trying to beat someone into submission over Christianity. I had to explain to her that if they were truly believing Christians then they were actually trying to do something good for her in their eyes. I said this even though I did not entirely buy it.

One of the problems was that every time I turned around my girlfriend was pointing out some uncharitable thing her fellow students were doing or not doing. It was difficult to understand for instance, why someone who ran around professing to be Christian didn't take care of responsibilities like doing their homework and showing up on time. As evangelists like Joyce Meyers are forever pointing out, people are watching

While this might seem unfair, believers in whatever faith have to admit, you often claim to have, or to know, or to be something special.
If you are lazy and slothful and never do anything you commit to, what are observers to think?

All of this defending the indefensible was taking something of a toll. There was that and there were theological conundrums of my own that I could never get past. For instance there was the notion of Almighty as a poor workman. It is said that a poor workman blames his tools. If we were made by God to be, as some suggest, his instruments in this world, then it seems odd that we should be subject to eternal damnation if God doesn't care for the way the tool works. If a man did that we would think he was not right in the head. Or, since surely good people are praying good prayers all the time, why don't all amputees

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