March 3, 2006, in reply to my ‘ad’ on Craigslist directing people to an online article about the Christian message of Easter, I received this email.
Jesus is a myth, just like the Easter Bunny. Please stop posting your crap on Craigslist, you’re not getting my money.
That was the complete message…short and to the point. I had no earthly reason to expect that anything would come from replying to him, but I did anyway. My reply definitely could have been the end of the story or perhaps the start of a war. It wasn’t. In fact, the story is still being written. Here’s how I responded.
You’ll get no argument from me about your opinion of Jesus being a myth. Not because I agree with you but I accept your right to hold that opinion. I do have a question though. It’s hard for me to relate to your statement since as an adult, I’ve never doubted Christ’s existence so I was wondering…how did you reach your conclusion that Jesus was a mythical figure?
It took me almost 9 days to send that response, and his reply came back the same day.
Hello Scott, I appreciate your adult approach in this matter, most posters on Craiglist would be yelling or screaming. Since you’re not screaming, I’ll answer your question as best I can.
He posted a rather lengthy explanation of his spiritual background, which prompted questions in my mind. I asked if we might address some of those questions and he declined. After finding out we were about the same age, I switched gears and went in a different direction.
If we’re not going to continue our spiritual discussion (and I haven’t given up hope of that), how about I add you to my address book and fire off an email a couple of times a year to say hi? Who knows, we might become friends as we head into old age together.
I was pleasantly surprised by his answer.
We can chat/discuss some more, it won’t hurt anything, and I can always use another friend.
Twenty-five days had elapsed between “Jesus is a myth…stop posting your crap…” and “We can chat…I can always use another friend”. I think God must have been at work in my new ‘friends’ life; I know He was in mine.
What was my Christian message of Easter?
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