What do you believe? No really. Do you believe in God? Is there an afterlife? Who is Jesus to you? Was he merely a man, or was He who He claimed to be – the Son of God in human form? These are important questions regardless of your current beliefs, and I have had the opportunity this spring break to talk about these kinds of questions and these kinds of issues. I am in San Diego right now, Coronado specifically, on a mission trip through the Navigators on the UW campus. This week, teams of people have been assigned to do various things in San Diego – like help with Habitat for Humanity, clean the river, help serve breakfast to homeless people, help with a local church, and talk to people about their spiritual beliefs on the San Diego State University campus.
I am on the campus team, and it has been incredible being exposed to a completely different culture within the United States. People here are very willing to talk about their spiritual beliefs, but they seem to be apathetic in their personal opinions. Taylor McInerney, a freshman on the trip, talked to me for a bit about her experience on campus today. “People don’t take time to think about eternity here and what else is out there for them.” We, as well as the other twelve students on our team, were amazed at how little the students here think about spiritual questions and their beliefs about God. They are, in general, very content with not knowing what they think and with their uncertainties about an afterlife.
My partner today was Abigail Palmquist, a sophomore from UW, and we met a few incredible girls on the San Diego campus today. We decided our favorite part of our day was meeting new people and talking about hard questions with them. One girl we met, Melissa Meeks, was willing to talk to us for half an hour about her background in Catholicism and her mixed feelings about God. She grew up with a “fire and brimstone – you’re going to Hell” type of church that she longed to get out of when she entered college. She is now a senior and has not asked herself these kinds of questions since she left the church. She asked us about our beliefs as well, to which we shared our belief that Jesus came to die on the cross for our sins, so we could one day live forever with God if we accept His sacrifice for us. She was extremely interested in the relationship aspect we have with Jesus, which was different from what she knew to be a set of rules and a religion.
Taylor had a similar experience in being able to share her faith. She felt that, “everyone was willing to listen. Apathy did play in our favor in that way because it let us share our beliefs with them. Everyone was really open-minded. We would keep talking, and they would keep listening.”
My partner Abigail and I talked about the importance of figuring out what we believe. We were both raised in a home where “religion” or beliefs weren’t pushed upon us. Abigail especially grew up in a home where her parents encouraged her to find out what she believed and why. She grew up in Turkey, where 99.9% of the population is Muslim, so her beliefs did not match most of the people around her.
Taylor and I thought it was interesting how the spiritual atmosphere in Wyoming differs so much from the feel here. Taylor said, “It’s like it’s swapped spiritually. In Wyoming, where it’s super dry, people are flowing with living water [referring to God’s work in people]. Yet here, it’s tropical, but so dry spiritually.” Growing up in Wyoming where many people are Christian is such a different environment when compared to here in San Diego, where there is a melting pot of different cultures, spiritual beliefs, and religious backgrounds.
I absolutely love the diversity and have learned a lot through my interaction with people here. It is very different but very mentally stimulating. Their questions have made me challenge my own beliefs in a good way. One question I heard today was, “Could you ever not believe in God?” I really had to think about my answer to that question. Personally, my answer is no. God is the center of everything I believe and the motivation (albeit I fail a lot of the time) for the things I do.
Taylor said she has enjoyed sharing her beliefs because “We [Christians] are called to share. We need to give a reason for the hope that we have.” It is so true. We value sharing our beliefs with people we know – not to be annoying and right, but to claim our beliefs for our own. It is important to know what we believe and why we believe it. We are all at such a beautiful time in life where we get to figure out who we are and what we believe and where we want to go and what we want to do.
I, for one, believe in Jesus. Taylor does too. She says, “Jesus loves people, and He wants to change lives, and He does. He gives people hope and something more. No matter what the level of apathy, people are looking for something more, something bigger than themselves.”
What do you know? What do you believe? What is your something more?
The group of UW students that got to talk to San Diego students about Jesus.
