Are you familiar with the theological terms propitiation and atonement and absolution? These are terms you normally only hear in church, and are unfamiliar to those outside. Yet there are terms they are familiar with that convey the same ideas, such as amnesty and immunity. Are you free to use terms like this to present my message? Do you want your audience to understand you? Specialized vocabulary can be used to exclude outsiders, but I want to include them. Consider my own words.

When you consider whether someone is young or old what do you use as a reference standard? Don’t you compare them to your own age? No matter how old you are, those who are older than you are old, and those who are younger than you are young. Since your age constantly changes this is not a fixed standard, but it illustrates the human tendency to be subjective and self-referential. Do you see the world around you the way it is or  the way you are? Do you desire to know eternal truth?

For atheists nothing is sacred. For some Christians, only those things that occur in churches are sacred. Churches buildings range in size from houses to warehouses, but they comprise a small fraction of the whole world. Does this Christian world view leave most of the world in the realm of the atheists? Christianity is not animism, but you do hold the doctrine of omnipresence, even as I said that I am with you always. Can you see the transcendent in everyday life? If you do you will never be bored. How would your life be different if you walked with this continuous awareness?

Are you a healer? In every culture those who practice medicine must have extensive training and meet strict and demanding criteria. This is particularly true for cardiac specialists who work on hearts. But in another sense, anyone who is willing can heal a broken heart. If you are willing to establish relationship and trust you can bring healing to those who have been hurt so much that they are in despair. An injured body requires medical attention, but who can bear a wounded spirit? Who can live without hope? I have enabled you to heal these things as much as a doctor can heal a body.