A Conversation with Megan and Her Friends

Today, I went back to the intersection I was at on Sunday- Dover Center and Lorain in North Olmsted. This time, I arrived around 3:15. The first hour and a fifteen minutes was pretty quiet. I handed out a few gospel tracts to people passing by on the sidewalk.

One man in a car asked me, "Ready for what?" I quoted Hebrews 9:27 (It is appointed for a man once to die and then comes judgment.) I then asked, "Are you ready to be judged by God?" He told me that he was ready. He was stopped at the stoplight- looking back I should have gone through the law and gospel really quick to confirm he really was ready. One person from a car on Dover Center asked to see my sign (at the time it was pointed toward the moving traffic on Lorain).

At around 4:30 is when Megan and her friends passed by on the opposite side of Lorain Road. I saw them standing at the opposite corner waiting for the light to change so they could come to the corner I was at.

They asked me, "Ready for what?" I quoted Hebrews 9:27 and asked if they knew where they were going when the die. One girl flat out told me, "I'm going to Hell!" Great- I don't even have to go through the law! As if it were that easy...

I asked her if that concerned her. "Nope!" I asked her again if that honestly didn't concern her. "Nope!"

She told me she knew she was going to Hell and it didn't bother her. I told her that Hell was a "lake of fire." I again pushed her about it- "It doesn't bother you that you are going to burn in a lake of fire? A lake of sulfur?"

At this point it seems like they are just teenagers looking to entertain themselves by talking to me. I asked, "Have you ever put your hand in fire?" She told me she had and that it hurt. "Could you deal with that forever?"

She asked me where I was going. I told her I was going to Heaven. She asked me if I knew that for a fact- I told her I did. This is when Megan asked me, "Can I ask you something? What makes you believe in Heaven and Hell?"

I told Megan I had the inspired Word of God- the Bible. It has proven itself to be true through prophecies and through Jesus Christ.

Megan's friend told me that I don't have video evidence of Jesus rising from the grave. I told her I did not. She asked me if I had proof that Jesus was really the Son of God. I told her I did. I asked her if she had evidence that the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776. Just because there wasn't a video camera there doesn't mean it didn't happen. I told her there were 500 witnesses who saw the risen Christ after His death.

At this point I gave them all gospel tracts and encouraged them to read them. I thought they were leaving at this point, but our conversation picked back up.

Megan asked me if I had a Bible she could have. I told her I didn't have an extra one on me. She told me her brother took her's and used it to roll joints and smoke them. Her friend joked, "A holy joint?" I apologized I didn't have any but that I would get her one. I directed her to the Internet and a website that has the Bible online and I recommended the New Living Translation.

Megan told me she "didn't believe in God because if there was a God, He would make life perfect." She referenced all different types of evil in the world. I told her I understood, but also that the world was perfect at creation- it was through the fall and all the resulting evil was a part of it. I told her when Jesus returned, He would make it perfect again.

Megan asked me if I believed in reincarnation. I flat out said no. I asked her what she meant by reincarnation and she told me that "your soul lives in Heaven or somewhere for a little bit and if you did the right things..." I asked if she meant earning our salvation, to which she said yes, and I told her that is not what the Bible teaches. I told her the Bible teaches you are justified by faith in Christ alone. I told her part of that faith has to include repentance.

I asked Megan if she had trouble believing in God. I told her that all of creation testifies to God's existence. Take the human eye- it has 137 million light sensitive cells- do you mean to tell me that just happened by accident?

The other problem she had was who created God? I told her that is a problem a lot of people have. I told them that God created time and that God exists outside of time. It's not something that we understand, but I also don't fully understand how the concept of the Trinity works. I know God is three persons in one, but none of us fully understand how it is.

I encouraged them to read the tracts once more. Megan's friend told me that she doesn't really believe in Heaven and Hell, and she believes that just about everyone is going to Hell except for babies and a very few very good people. During her saying this, Megan interjects with, "What makes you believe in Hell?"

Aha- if there is a Hell, there must be a Heaven. I have not seen any witnessing conversations where the reality of Hell was certainty and Heaven was debated- it is always the opposite.

I told her friend that it didn't really matter what we believe to be true, it is what is true. I told her about these two guys that came by on Sunday that ignored the traffic light and rode into the intersection and almost got hit. Just because they believed they could use the cross walk at that time doesn't mean the car isn't going to hit them.

I gave Megan a card with our church's website on it and told her to read the "How to Get to Heaven" post. I asked them if they had a minute or if they had to run, and they said they had a minute, so I took them through the law and gospel presentation. They said they thought good people would go to Heaven, so I asked them if they would consider their selves to be good people. They said, "Good people who make bad choices."

After asking them if they had ever told a lie, stolen anything, blasphemed, lusted, and hated, I told them that God sees them as liars, thieves, blasphemers, adulterers and murderers at heart, and they need to face God on Judgment Day. Based on your breaking His law, would He find you guilty or innocent? Megan said guilty. Heaven or Hell? "Hell" I asked her if that concerns her. I told her it should. I told her Hell is described as being the weeping and gnashing of teeth, a lake of sulfur, a lake of fire. Someone said, "A lake of sulfur doesn't sound too nice!"

I explained how we need to repent of our sins and place our trust in Jesus for our salvation. I explained the parachute analogy- being on an airplane that is about to crash and having a parachute that can save you. Merely "believing" in the parachute won't save you- you have to strap on the parachute and jump from the plane. In the same sense, we need to strap on the Lord Jesus and jump from our sinful lifestyle.

Someone asked if Jesus would get mad if we spent our entire lives not believing in Him, or would He understand. I flat out told them that if they die in their disbelief, they are going to Hell. "That sounds kind of harsh!" I said, "But, you've broken His law."

Megan's friend asked, "So, it's kind of like jail?" I said,"No, this is forever!"

Someone said, "I did once believe there was once a God, and He was a good person, but I don't believe He is still watching over us."

They asked about other people of other religions and all the other gods. I told them those other gods don't exist. "So they're going to Hell?" Yes.

"But don't you think the people who believe in Hinduism and Buddhism think the same thing about us? That their god doesn't exist?" I told them those religions don't have the proof the Bible provides.

I said to them, "I'll tell you why Jesus is the only One who makes sense. You've all admitted you've sinned, and sinners can not go to Heaven. Jesus came to this earth and lived in the flesh with all the desires and never sinned once. He was put to death for our sins. If we repent of our sins and place our trust in Him, His righteous, His unsinful state can be applied to us and then we can be viewed by God as righteous and go to Heaven. All the other religions, you have to work your way."

I told them that narrow is the gate and few will find it. I told them that there are a lot of professing Christians who continue to live in sin- and I used to be one of them. I used to confess my sins and think I was OK. I then took them through the court room analogy of being before a judge. Just because I confess my sins to a judge doesn't negate the punishment I deserve.

"So, Jesus is the judge and we are in His court?"

I told them that if someone commits a crime, someone has to pay the price. Say, for example,
someone committed a crime and the penalty was a $1 million fine. There is no way I can pay the fine. The judge says, "Unless someone comes in with $1 million, you're going to jail for the rest of your life. At the last minute, someone comes in and right before the judge slams the gavel, puts down $1 million. The judge looks at the money and says 'you're free to go.' That's what Jesus did for our sins. He paid the fine for our sins, if will repent of our sins and place our trust in Him- we can go to Heaven, too."

I told them there is no way outside of that. It's not Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam.

Megan asked, "Do you believe if you don't believe in God, He will make your life worse?" I told her no, not necessarily. They asked if I believed in karma- I told them no, because there was no Scriptural basis for it.

I told Megan if she had any questions she could email me through the church website (via a form- my email address is not directly published on the church website). I showed them the Big Money tracts and asked them if they want those, also. They gladly took them.

Megan said to me that even people who have a worse life believe in God. I told her that's the problem with religion. A lot of them will tell you that you need Jesus because He will make your life better. The reason we need Jesus is because we are sinners and the only way we can get to Heaven is through believing. I referenced the Book of Acts and many of the Apostles' fate.

I told them to remember the reason they need Christ is not because they need a better life, but because we have all sinned and have all fallen short of the glory of God.

I asked them if they would be around this area regularly and they said yes. I told Megan I would get her a Bible and be out there Monday as long as it doesn't rain. I gave out 10 regular money sized gospel tracts and 3 Big Money tracts plus the 5 tracts I handed out earlier today.