My Life as a Cow

While I was in living in Montreal I had a conversation with a Hindu co-worker. We ended up talking about Heaven and what happens in the next life. He said his religion gives him a great opportunity to do better in the next life through reincarnation. Basically, if he does something wrong this time around he is graciously given another shot at it. Before I continue where our this conversation went, let me give you a quick history about my life.

I was born in Edmond, OK, right here in the Bible Belt of America. I’ve grown up in the Church of Christ. I went to High School and University at Church of Christ schools and everyone I knew and spent time with shared the same faith. The religious conversations I had growing up were not "what do you worship?" but "where do you worship?" I had never met an atheist.

When I moved to Montreal over seven years ago, I came across people of many different religions and found myself in religious conversations with people of different faiths. At my first job in Montreal, I walked into a co-workers office and she had a book on her desk titled “God is Dead."  I was caught off guard. I asked her what was up with that. She point blank told me she didn't believe in God. This was the first time I had heard someone say something like. I didn't know what to say to her next.

After several encounters with people in MTL, I began learning about apologetics. The discipline of defending a position. In this case, my faith. I had purchased a book online called "I don't have enough faith to be an atheist."  In a moment of genius I decided to get the book delivered to my work, since I was there most of the day. When the package came, I opened it up and left it on my desk for the rest of the day. My hindu coworker from earlier noticed the book and made a comment about it. I had let the comment slide... that time.

After a few weeks my coworker made a comment about the book again. I had read about half of it and was ready to comment. He started off telling me how he believes God is stuff. The sky, grass, buildings, etc. I learned from my book that this is a common world view called Pantheism.

We went on further in this direction but it left me wondering what he thought would happen to himself after death. He told me his religion has a reincarnation belief and he would get a second shot at this life and come back again as a cow or other animal if he was good.I asked him two questions that ultimately ended our conversation. The first was:

"If you don't have a God, then who tells you how good you have to be" 

and the second was a bit sarcastic 

"What activity do you do as cow that is bad? Eat the wrong type of grass?"  

Looking back on the conversation I was pleased with how it went. There were parts I wish I had said something different, but it was, however, one of my first real religious conversation at length with a non-christian. We had more conversations and through these I learned some key things about myself. I’d like to share three with you.

The first one is that every conversation gave me more confidence in my faith.

I may not have said the right things at the right times or had all the answers that he asked me, but I came out of each one knowing more than when I went in. Learning what others believe also makes me more confident in what I believe. When I hear about beliefs like reincarnation, everything is God, or there is no God, it builds my confidence in the one true God I have chosen to follow.

Another key thing I’ve learned is that there is always more to learn. It never stops.  

In my first encounter with an atheist I had nothing to say. With others I didn't know the arguments against their sometimes crazy sounding ideas. After reading some of my apologetics book I was able to have genuine back and forth with a Hindu. I had spent a lot of time in my life reading the Bible, but I hadn’t spent a lot of time learning how to share my Bible knowledge with others in an effective way.

The third thing I learned from these conversations is that I want to share my faith more.  

At the beginning of the cow conversation I was very nervous and shaking. I was stumbling in my answers and couldn't remember anything I had read. I said a quick prayer asking God to give me the right words, to be intelligent yet considerate and guess what happened?  I was able to make my co-worker think about the future he has chosen for himself as a cow. 

The best part about sharing your faith with a non-believer, or anybody for that matter is that you have God (the creator of the universe) on your side. 

And with God on your side:

• You have more confidence in what you are saying, 
• You can always learn more about Him through scripture, prayer or other religious materials, 
• And lastly with God on your side you can share your faith easier knowing he is always there with you.