Voices From Across The Street

If I am a Christian, I have one primary purpose in life: To help others find reconciliation with God. (2 Corinthians 5)

To help others find reconcilation with God, it helps to understand why they are estranged. Everyday at work and in the community I have conversations with people who once considered themselves to be Christians, but as they grew older found themselves walking away from church and even from the belief in God. The following is a story written by one such person. I post this to awaken us to what often goes through the mind of the person in this postmodern culture who walks away from the Christian faith.

The Forest

I suppose that I must have been born in The Forest, because I don’t remember being Anywhere Else before it. All of my earliest childhood memories were there, and I grew up living there with my parents. The rest of our family and all of our friends lived there, too – in fact, everyone we knew lived in The Forest! I was happy there; it was safe, and comfortable, and everyone else seemed happy too. People even talked, a lot, about how much better The Forest was than Anywhere Else, and how glad and thankful they were to be allowed to live there. So I was happy and thankful too.

When I got to be old enough, my parents and a lot of other people helped me to understand exactly who I should be thankful TO for my wonderful life in The Forest. They explained to me that besides for the father that I lived with, I had another father – and he was also The Father of everyone else who lived in The Forest! We couldn’t actually see him or talk to him in person, although it was said that people living in The Forest a long, long time before sometimes did – and we were very lucky, because some of those people had written down stories about their experiences with The Father so that we would know he was real. Also, we could talk to The Father anytime – and even though he wouldn’t talk back so that we could hear him like we heard other people, he had promised that he would always listen to us and he would answer by showing us signs or giving us special feelings deep inside.

There were lots of stories that I learned growing up in The Forest, about The Father and important things that had happened a long time ago. I listened to them and learned them all, even though they didn’t always make sense. I trusted that my parents knew best and that whatever they told me must be true. Besides, everyone else believed the stories too, so I figured that if I didn’t understand parts of them it was just because I was still young and had much to learn.I’d always been told that the Other Places – basically, anywhere outside The Forest – were not places that anyone in their right mind would WANT to go. They were said to be scary, ugly and dangerous places, especially dangerous to anyone who lived in The Forest. Sometimes, people we knew talked about loved ones who had left The Forest and never came back. They were always very sad, and hoped that the loved ones would someday come back. Sometimes they talked to The Father and asked if maybe he could find a way to help bring their loved ones back. Sometimes they did come back, and everyone was very happy again. Some of those who came back told us, very seriously, that they had discovered for themselves how true all the bad things we heard about the Other Places were. They always seemed very happy to be back in The Forest, and warned the rest of us not to be fooled like they had.

Sometimes they talked about Someone Else that we couldn’t see or talk to, sort of like The Father, except for that he was very bad and instead of loving us and watching out for us, what he really wanted was to hurt us and make us want to leave The Forest. They said that he even had friends, like The Father, who had some special powers, and that they were especially dangerous because they were always trying to find ways to trick us into thinking bad thoughts and maybe even wanting to leave The Forest.

I was pretty scared of them. Sometimes I had nightmares about them coming to get me, but my parents told me not to worry because The Father’s special friends were stronger and would surely protect me from any harm. Other than when people would tell stories about it, I didn’t really think too much about the Other Places until I got older. And I became very, very curious.

One day, I just couldn’t contain my curiosity any longer. Even though I felt very guilty, I went to the edge of The Forest and found one of the paths that led to the Other Places. At first, I just peered out through the dense trees and caught a glimpse of what was on the other side. It didn’t look scary or ugly, but I felt very bad because I was doing something wrong and so I went back home. But I found myself drawn back to the path, and after I’d peeked out at the path beyond The Forest a few times, I decided that maybe it would be okay to walk out just a little way.

I was very, very surprised! And it was confusing, because as I made my way down the path, it wasn’t really ugly or scary at all. I even met some people who said they had been living out there for a long time, and they seemed very happy. They didn’t seem to have any desire to live in The Forest, even though they knew where it was and that they would be welcomed there. I didn’t know quite what to make of this; I’d always been told that everyone living on the outside was very unhappy, even if they didn’t realize it. But these people didn’t seem to be pretending, or deluded either.

For quite some time, even though I still lived in The Forest, I began visiting the Other Places more frequently. After a while I started finding out some very interesting things, things that didn’t fit in with everything I’d been taught in The Forest but that made a lot of sense. The more I learned, the more I wanted to learn, and so I continued further and further down the path, seeking out new information along the way, until one day I realized that I had gone too far to go home to the Forest. I was a little scared, but I knew that I could always go back eventually if I wanted to.

As time passed, I discovered that all the stories I’d learned growing up in The Forest really were only stories and hadn’t really happened. At first, it was hard to understand why everyone there believed them and taught them to their children, if they weren’t true. But I figured out that there were a lot of people who were born in The Forest and never left The Forest, so they truly didn’t realize that the stories were made up. When they grew up and had children of their own, they naturally passed the stories on because they had been told that it was the right thing to do. I even found out that there were OTHER Forests besides the one that I had come from, and that the people who lived in them did exactly the same thing! Their stories were usually a little different, but they believed in them just as much.

As I traveled further down the path, I eventually began to wonder about something other than the stories. At first it was just a little question in the corner of my mind, and I didn’t really want to think about it too much because I’d always been told it was a silly question, one that only bad or stupid people asked. But I couldn’t help it, and I didn’t think I was bad or stupid. So I let myself think about it, finally. After all, I’d come so far that The Forest seemed to far away to ever return to, even if I’d wanted to. There was nothing to fear. And I realized that The Father was only made-up, too.

At first this made me feel a little foolish, but I realized that it wasn’t really because I was foolish that I had believed in him. I’d simply believed – and trusted, as children do, in what I was taught. If I hadn’t followed the path out of The Forest, I would probably still believe. I knew that I had passed the Point of No Return. So I turned and looked back, toward the place I’d come from… The Forest. Although I could no longer actually see it, it was still there in my mind’s eye, as clear as ever. Looking back in the direction of that now far-away place, I found myself imagining that I could see The Father standing there at the entrance. Of course, I’d never actually seen him, but even so I could visualize what I’d always thought he would be like – with warmly welcoming arms for his children, and an aura of gentle kindness.

Just for a moment, I was sorry that he wasn’t real. But I knew what I had to do, and so I raised my arm to wave goodbye. As I waved, he began to fade away. It was to be expected, of course, since he was just a vision, but it still felt a little like saying goodbye to an old friend. When the illusion had faded entirely, I turned back around and continued down the path, toward whatever was yet to come. I was seeing the world around me with new eyes, strange and wonderful at the same time, and I had the sudden sense that if I wanted to, I could fly.