Who gets the lifeboat?

An atheist, a Darwinist and a Christian survive their unfortunate plane crash in the middle of the freezing, churning ocean.

They quickly assess the situation and their unsettling alternatives: Just one of them can practically fit onto the single, precariously floating piece of wreckage. With hypothermia and sharks closing in, only one of them will survive.

"I would dearly love to live and spread the Gospel," admits the Christian. "It's possible that many more people could learn of God's love and have an eternal life in heaven, if I were to meet them and share my faith in the years to come."

The other two start to retort, but the Christian holds up her hand to quiet them.

"Still, I'm in a better state than you two are. At least I know that in death I'll be assured of my heavenly home, thanks to God's Grace and my belief in Jesus. So, as much as I love life, I yield my place to both of you. Perhaps there is still time for at least one of you to get right with your Maker."

Not to be outdone, and before the other survivor can speak through chattering teeth, the atheist speaks up.

"I, too, would dearly love to live, if for no other reason than to refute everything you say and believe about 'god.' I would gladly spend all my remaining time and money just to follow wherever you go and cast doubt upon anyone weak minded enough to listen to you."

A wave crashes over his head and he spits out a mouthful of salty brine.

"But by you forfeiting your place," he shouts above the wind, "you save me the trouble. Let us both perish and we will soon learn who is right, after all."

It takes only a moment for the Darwinist to seize his chance and scurry onto the unsteady piece of wreckage.

"Thank goodness!" he cries out. "While you two were blathering, I stayed focused on what matters more than anything else - survival! Now my genes will survive and yours will not. Even more important, my ideas will go forth and inform others of the truth of evolution. Who knows, because of this horrendously close call, my body may even now begin to transform and pass along an inclination to survive long periods in the ocean. I may become the precursor to a line of humans with gills to breath and a thicker layer of skin to stay warm. Forgive me if I have no remorse for your passing, but natural selection has rightly done its job in deeming me fittest to survive. And survive I will--me and generation upon generation of my kind."

Another wave crashes, pushing the atheist closer to the Christian. Despite the peril, he looks her in the eye and chokes out a few more words.

"Alas, the dignity of your own decision has made this insipid lout seem all the more unworthy. Would it offend you greatly if I were to reach up and pull him back into the waves to die beside us?"

She gasps and slips below the water, but the atheist bravely reaches down and pulls her back up.

"Not all all," she manages to sputter in reply. "In fact, we should still have a few moments left to speak of forgiveness."

"Very well," the atheist shouts, reaching up to take hold of the Darwinist's leg, "but I am no more interested in forgiveness now than I was during the rest of my life."

A flash of lightning cracks ominously overhead.

"Not for you," she replies, a smile barely formed on her frozen lips.

"You mean..." he smiles back in one final, accepting, enlightened moment of understanding.

"Yes," she sighs peacefully, "because I was about to do the same thing."

And less than a minute later, with the thunderous crash of a gigantic wave, three new souls were greeted by the warmth of heaven.

What do you believe?

"That not the way we play it"

I know this is an imperfect analogy. There's nothing remotely game-like about the seriousness of Spiritual matters. But I think, therefore I write...

We had out of state guests visiting last weekend. After two busy days visting local sites, we decided to spend a quiet evening at home.

I suggested an easy-to-learn card game that works well with a larger group. Two of our five visitors recognized the game by a different name and soon the cards were shuffled and ready.

We briefly explained the object of the game to the others.

"Oh, that's not the way we do the scoring," one guest said, as I explained the point system.

We compared notes and the basic outcome would be the same, so confusion resolved.

Several other times during the game we stopped and discussed for the same reasons,

"That's not how we learned it," or "that's not the way we play it back home."

But each time we cordially worked through the detail, realizing that our differences didn't actually alter the game's core purpose or outcome. In fact, some of their traditional elements were very appealing to me. I'd even like to incorporate some of their ways the next time I play.

The apostle Paul encouraged,

"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit--just as you were called to one hope when you were called--one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all."

Ephesians 4:3-6

The Bible instructs us to be humbly considerate...while remaining true to our core beliefs.

If our guests were to have said, "We play this with 32 pieces resembling medievel characters on an 8 by 8 checkered board," they would have described a totally different game and core outcome. If they had said, "We play the very same game by the very same name, but in addition to the deck of cards, we must also have domino's and dice on the table," I would be wary and scrupulous to determine whether the same name masked critical differences.

My belief in Christ is rooted in His own words of encouragement and instruction in the Gospels of the Bible.

"One Lord, one faith, one baptism."

Give thoughtful and prayerful consideration when people speak of a different Way.

What do you believe?