All are welcome!

So, few weeks back, a friend of mine said in our group discussion, regarding of me having a lot of friends here in Denmark in a relatively short period of time. She pointed at how I could get my room in Copenhagen and it was for them a great deal to get a room for 3500 dkk in Hellerup. They were fascinated on how I could know someone from somewhere who knows a landlady that owns a vacant room. And the fact that I did not have prior knowledge of them whatsoever. Furthermore, she pointed at my cleaning job that I got from a friend that I knew from a church in Copenhagen. She bluntly said that we just need to be christian in order to have some sort of connection, link or networking, or whatever you wanna call it. According to her, I could have a good deal for my room and a job because I am a christian. At that point, I just laughed at her.

Interestingly earlier today, two of them approached me asking me to convert them into christians that would make them legal to come to christian forum, community or some sort so that they could meet a lot of people where they could ask for job and or rooms. I could not help but to laugh harder. One of them said to me that it would not be nice to come just to know people so that we could get a job. So that’s why I want you to convert us to be christians. This time, I did not laugh. I smiled and said to them that they could just go to any christian community. They would accept you for what you are. Even when you are not christian and that your motivation is to know people who might give you a job or an information about a place to stay.

They stared at me in disbelief. Again, I tried to convince them that if the christian community that they were talking about is really a christian community, it does not matter whether you are christian or not, and whatever motivation you have, as christians, they would (they should) accept you for what you are. I could see that I shattered their imagine of christians. So I added, as christians we are taught to accept and love people for who they are. We are not building somewhat exclusive community, “Christians Only” kinda community. So if you go to a christian community who does not accept you because you are not christian, they are not christian community fundamentally. Dont go and join them.

It was a hard fact for them to chew. And I could tell that they thought that I was trying to be nice to them. It’s a step. If I had another chance, I’ll break their wrong ideas of christians and christianity. What crossed my mind was what kind of christians that they met in their lives that they had these wrong idea of christianity. And as a christian I was reminded that really what we do explains to others what christianity really is. And I pray that I am giving the right explanation to the people around me.