“The aim of argument, or of discussion, should not be victory, but progress.”
Joseph Joubert - French Essayist and Moralist
Josiah Venture believes that the antidote to the anti-Christian culture here in the Czech Republic is discussion. They have lots of experience with the Czech people and they have decided that discussion groups is the best way to reach their hearts. I found this to be true in the small time that I was with them. It seems like they are completely unmoved by someone preaching at them from a pulpit. I think this might be because of their post-communism background. They are almost bred to resist what they are told.
So each of Jared’s talks are short and left very open-ended as to lead into our discussion groups. At first it was very hard to get our students to talk, but after we established relationships during meals, classtime, and sports they opened right up.
A typical discussion group starts with snacks and me asking the group what they thought of the talk and asking if I can help clarify anything. They almost always say “Yes, I understood because it was translated.” They don’t understand that I meant “do you understand the content and what was said?” Then I ask very open ended questions like, “What do you think Justice is?” They have interesting answers. They all pretty much answer these with regular answers. Then I usually share a story from my life that illustrates a facet of the gospel. For example I talked about how I cheated on a test and got a better grade than all my friends who studied and didn’t cheat. That wasn’t fair, they totally understand that. Then when I ask them to share if they think justice will be served after I die the conversation goes into Czech. All I can do is pray for them and seem like I am interested. They are kind people and sometimes apologize if they talk in Czech for too long.
The most interesting night is when we talked about the existence of a soul. We effectively determined that humans have a soul. Only one girl didn’t believe in a soul after our first round of questions and answers. I reminded them of our emotions and conscience and they were sold. That felt like a serious victory.
Then we asked them what they think happens to the soul when you die. There was some very interesting answers. Jon [Honza] said he believes in reincarnation as other people. Ola [just like “hola” in Spanish] said she doesn’t know, but reincarnation sounds good to her. Mirka [pronounced “Meerka”] said that she believes in her own “religion” that when we die our souls simply go into space and when we our friends or family need us then we come back and help them out by going inside of them. Zuzka [pronounced “Zoo-ska”] is the one who didn’t believe in a soul. She said that when we die, it is the end. That’s a very sad thought. Petra believed in reincarnation also and Michal [”Meek-hale”] and Lussy [like Lucy] are relatively new Christians and basically said they believe we go to heaven. They forgot to mention that we are judged, but that’s OK.
I was getting ready to ask a different question and push further when Zuzka surprised me and asked me what I believed.
It took me by surprise but I wasn’t about to let a perfect chance like this pass me up. I shared almost all of my beliefs. It is very hard to communicate via translator. I have to take lots of breaks which isn’t good for a discussion where everyone talks out of turn. A couple of the more antagonistic girls [Petra and Zuzka] would talk right after it was translated and I am not sure if I ever finished all of my beliefs but they had some very interesting questions. They asked me if a very, very bad person accepted Jesus right before he died would he still go to heaven? I told them that as long as it was a serious decision and they actually loved Jesus they were forgiven of everything and they would go to heaven. She then asked if he only accepted Jesus to go to heaven if that would work. I told her that it probably wouldn’t be a real decision and it was probably a get-out-of-jail-free card and it is up to God not me.
After that the entire conversation was in Czech and none of it was translated for us. My translator [Otmar or as I affectionately call him, Oatmeal Brains] is still a new Christian [within a year] and it sounded as if he was talking down to her and she wouldn’t take it. It got very heated and it was a little discouraging that Ola and John and Mirka who seemed to be a little bit interested had to be there listening to the argument but God is in control of everything and I knew that all I could do is share my faith [which I had already done and actually did 2 more times to my group on different nights] and pray [which I have done for a minimum of an hour a day and that’s all I did during the talking in Czech].
The other interesting happening was during class actually. I was doing a simple conversation excercise to get the kids to talk. I ask them a question, they answer it and they ask me one, I answer it and they respond to what I say. I asked Ola what her favorite thing to paint is. She said people. Then she asked me the meaning of life. What a weird question! I don’t know if she was joking or what, but I saw it as an opportunity to share a bit of my faith. I said, “My purpose is to love God, and love people.” She said, “which is more important?”
“Love God.”
“When you love people, is it also loving God?”
“Totally. You got it.” I was so happy to have her respond so perfectly [except I believe her English was a bit more broken than I represented and that might have been some tranlator interruptions]. She is definitely interested. I asked her what she thought the meaning of life is and she said she will tell me later. She didn’t want to say it in front of everyone. I’m gonna bring it up later, but I haven’t had a good time yet. I am gonna talk with her and Katelyn about it before I leave Cesky Tesin I hope.
That’s all for now. I have lots of great pictures but I can’t upload em yet. Maybe tomorrow.
