Keep the donation, said pastor bob. Due to numerous welcome interruptions like this, it was 3 hours from start to finish to install a new tire on the rear of the trike. 2 hours worth of work, an hour in various conversations. Somewhere in the middle of...

 Keep the donation, said pastor bob.

Due to numerous welcome interruptions like this, it was 3 hours from start to finish to install a new tire on the rear of the trike. 2 hours worth of work, an hour in various conversations.

Somewhere in the middle of... the operation a person approached from behind me, got my attention, I was sitting on the asphalt, and handed A Fistful of $20 bills. Bless your soul is all I could say.

Somewhat immediately I think he said he was a pastor.

Prompting me to calmly indicate that he really might not want to have made this donation. And I went on to explain. And we had probably a 10 minute Exchange because we both found that we wanted to.

Right at the onset I said My Religion begins and ends with the teachings instructions and example of the man Jesus before he died. And Bob was not unhappy to hear this. He even seemed to feel in sympathy.

We are so steeped in our Notions that it takes a while before things sink in. After a while he said, but of course you accept the gospel, that we are saved only by accepting Jesus sacrifice? Everything I had said was to the contrary but not saying those actual words and he finally got it when I replied certainly not in the affirmative.

Now he was not fully happy with what I was doing.

But we pursued the dialogue because he wanted to mostly probably to try and educate me but not entirely, he was curious.

In reply I mentioned, my take from Jesus teachings in the gospels is really very very very different. That it's all about what kind of being we choose for ourselves, his being as a child of creator, a citizen of the kingdom, or the being that almost all of us choose a slave to stuff. I mentioned the instructions Jesus gave that if one throws a banquet to invite only those that cannot repay because you will then be rewarded in the resurrection of the just.

And that Jesus said unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees you will not enter into the kingdom. He took offense at none of this but with my second comment he said, yes, but where does that righteousness come from, inferring that it could only come from God. And he went on to say, somewhat rhetorically, so if you were in front of creator at the final judgment what would you say? Implying that there was nothing I could say that would justify my entry into heaven, something about which I have absolutely no interest.

It's a question I hadn't thought of before so I paused, and I said, I would say, do with me what you will. I'm glad that thought came to me I'm glad I shared it and I think it surprised him and he might think about it. Because his conception is in front of Creator you beg or hope the Creator will send you to heaven after this life. Again, something I don't believe in or have any interest in.

I thought about the conversation later on and today and I still think about it. And I thought about his question to me and a better answer that more accurately describes what I would say is, one or both of two things: I hope you got some Joy from seeing my pitiful efforts to do your will, to follow the example, the leadership, of Jesus, because I certainly did. The other thing I might say is, thank you so much for the leadership and example and teachings and instructions of jesus. My life was filled with joy and otherwise would have been filled with the joyless walking death of selfishness that our culture, our Christian culture, raised me to prefer.

In a way that I think he took no offense to as he was walking away I said, are you sure you don't want this donation back? Keep it he said.