Proof

I went to an Intervarsity meeting yesterday. The IV group at UNH meets on thursday nights, and because of band rehearsal I haven't had a chance to go. We read the second half of Mark 1, "manuscript style", where they just give you a page of text with the verse numbers removed. It is something I have only ever heard of Intervarsity doing. Must be some kind of centralized training.
Here are two things I gleaned from the study:

Mark 1:35-37:
"And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he[Jesus] departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, and they found him and said to him, 'Everyone is looking for you.'"
I think that is fantastic foreshadowing for the next 2,000 years of history.

There are two ways to spin that.
1: Everyone is looking for Jesus.
2: Jesus' disciples keep trying to find Jesus and then telling him, "everyone is looking for you".
But Jesus keeps leaving and going to a solitary place to pray. These other people did not look for Jesus, his disciples did. Perhaps we too much have the mindset that everyone is looking for Jesus, when in fact, everyone is not, and it is the job of the disciples to tend to the ministry.



A little bit later in Mark 1, Jesus heals a leper. It's really pretty neat, because after he heals the man, Jesus instructs him to tell no one what happened, but to "go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for proof to them."(Mark 1:44)
Don't tell anyone that Jesus healed you, but follow the law that Moses wrote concerning leprosy. (Which is in Leviticus 14)

I think that we have forgotten some of this.
People who are not christians need proof of what Jesus does in our lives, whether it's curing leprosy or just some emotional healing. We need to show them proof in their terms.
Creating christian radio stations and an entire genre of books called "Religious Inspiraton" doesn't quite cut it. Heck, there's a whole section of Barnes and Noble for "Christian Fiction". What the junk is that?
Far too often, instead of showing people proof for Jesus on the terms of the law, christians show them the proof for Jesus by being lunatics.

Gay marriage is a terrific subject for this. Instead of being reasonable and showing the world that Jesus can heal broken families, the Church has for a large part fought a losing political battle that has alienated millions of people. The Church's definition of Marriage is not political. It is religious. Have marriage ceremonies in the Church. But for crying out loud, let gay people have hospital visiting rights.
Nonchristians do not appreciate you bringing your religious beliefs into politics, especially when it appears to impede the progress of social justice, which is something that Jesus particularly cared about. 

Bring the world some proof on their own terms, within their "law".