Hey, you have a nice smile.

I have a dear brother in Jesus who believes that Noah’s Flood was local, that God used evolution to create the plants and animals, and that the Hebrew word translated “day” in Genesis chapter 1 could be any length of time whatever.

Of course, I’m flabbergasted. Amazed, astounded, staggered, surprised, startled, stunned, confounded, dumbfounded, stupefied, dazed, shocked, blown away, bowled over, and I was going like uh. Of course I think his ideas are dumber than a box of hammers. Of course I think that his ideas are so dumb they could throw themselves at the ground and miss.

But he loves Jesus, is very intelligent, very well read, and a wonderful guy. How do I tell him the things he believes are nuts?

We’ve gone around and around on this. We’ve managed to hang on to our friendship and most of our good manners. I know he’s out to lunch. And, funny thing, if you asked him, he’d say the same thing about me. I think that’s the textbook definition of “paradoxical.”

So. What happens? Do we end our fellowship until he gets his head on straight? Gladly, no. We fellowship around the finished work of Christ at the cross and the empty tomb. That’s it. We can argue about the rest (and believe me, we do). But on this one thing, we are agreed, and that’s the most important. Jesus died for the sins of the world and God raised him from the dead. Salvation in his name is now available to whosoever wants to surrender to the Lordship of Jesus. Whosoever.

Even screwballs like my friend! And his screwball friend, me!

Until next time.