When my friend “Ahad” from Afghanistan walked into St Rollox the yesterday, he looked over-dressed and slightly uncomfortable in a suit too big for him. He seemed even more confused when he saw that I was in jeans and a t-shirt. He had spoken to me last week after football and asked if he could meet me to learn more about Christianity…

As it turns out, that was his first time inside a church. It was a big step for him, so he had asked one of his Afghan friends what Christians do when they come into a church. His friend told him, “Christians like it when you dress up nice for church; they like it when you wear a tie.” So Ahad borrowed the suit from his pal.

I doubt that Ahad’s had been to any of the churches in the area, all of which are quite casual. It was a nice thought: Ahad simply wanted to be sure that he was coming into a church showing due respect.

It led to a good discussion about the God that Christians worship. Which quickly turned to questions such as, “Okay, what is the Christian rule about...

…drinking alcohol?”
…eating pork?”
…fasting?”
…how many times we pray each day?”

Ahad found himself frustrated that I could not answer him with “rules”. Attempting to explain that Christians find their principles for living through engaging with the Bible, following Jesus’ example, seeking the direction of the Spirit in each situation… Ahad would stop me and say, “Yeah, okay, okay, but what is the rule for all Christians? Forbidden or allowed, yes or no!?”

The discussion showed how different our starting points are. While Christian ethics is a complicated subject, much of it can be boiled down to what God reveals to Samuel when David was to be anointed: “But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the LORD does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart" (1 Sam. 16:7).

God’s judgement based on the “heart” in this story shows that God’s concern is that the whole person, not simply our actions, but the motives, emotions, and thoughts behind those actions (cf. R Bergen, NAC Vol. 7, p.179). I explained to Ahad that becoming a Christian isn’t submission to a particular moral code, but a decision to turn from our previous ways and to follow Jesus. It’s something that involves the transformation of not only our actions, but our heart. For Ahad, this was a difficult concept to grasp… but he took a Bible and is now coming along to the South Side church plant and a seekers Bible study at St Rollox.

Pray for Ahad who is clearly interested in learning more about Jesus and really trying to understand a concept obeying and following God that is very different from what he grew up with.