The God Who Is There by D. A. Carson

Author:D. A. Carson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Evangelism, REL030000, REL067030
ISBN: 9781441213853
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2010-05-31T16:00:00+00:00

Concluding Story

It may bring things together if I conclude with a story I have told on a number of occasions. My first degree was in chemistry and mathematics at McGill University in Montreal. Somewhere along the line I befriended a wonderful Pakistani gentleman. He was twice as old as I was. He had come to McGill to do a PhD in Islamic studies. (McGill had, and still has, a very fine Islamic institute.) He had left his wife and two children behind in Pakistan, so he was lonely. Over time I befriended him. After a while it dawned on me that he was trying to convert me to Islam. I thought that I should return the favor, but I soon found myself out of my depth in debate, for he was a trained Muslim theologian while I was studying chemistry.

I remember walking with him one night down Mount Royal along University Avenue to Pine Avenue to catch a bus. He had agreed to come to church with me. He wanted to see what it was like. As we walked, he asked me, “Don, you study mathematics, yes?”

“Yes.”

“If you have one cup and then you add another cup, how many cups do you have?”

Well, I was taking some mathematics courses, so I said, “Two.”

“If you have two cups and you add another cup, how many cups do you have?”

I said, “Three.”

“If you have three cups, and you take away one cup, how many cups do you have?”

I said, “Two.” So far I was hitting on all cylinders.

So he said, “You believe that the Father is God?”

“Yes.” Uh oh, I could see where this was going.

“You believe that Jesus is God?”

“Yes.”

“You believe that the Holy Spirit is God?”

“Yes.”

“So if you have one God plus one God plus one God, how many gods do you have?”

I was studying chemistry, not theology. How was I supposed to answer that? The best I could do was say, “Listen, if you are going to use a mathematical model, then let me choose the branch of mathematics. Let’s talk about infinities. Infinity plus infinity plus infinity equals what? Infinity. I serve an infinite God.”

He laughed good-naturedly. That was the level of our discussion and friendship. About November it suddenly dawned on me that he had never read the Christian Bible. He did not own one; he had never held one in his hands. So I bought him a Bible. He asked, “Where do I start?”

He did not know how it was put together. He did not know about the Old Testament and the New Testament; he did not know about the Gospels. And I did not know what to suggest to him. So I said, “Well, why don’t you start with John’s Gospel?” I showed him where it was, right after Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

Coming, as he did, from Asia, he did not read books the way I would read a book. (How many pages can I get through tonight? The more the better!) No, he had a style of reading that proceeded slowly with many pauses for reflection, rereading, and wondering.

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