Life Questions with Internationals in New Zealand

change-your-mind

This past week I had the opportunity to field test my seven essential questions of life with a group of non-Christian international students at Waikato University in Hamilton, New Zealand. The students came from 12  different countries, mostly Asian and African. There were about 35 students present. Since many were not native speakers of English we simplified the questions and reduced them to just five:

1.  Where do we come from?

2.  How do we achieve power/success?

3.  What is our destiny?

4.  What is the nature of humankind’s problem?

5. What is the solution to that problem?

I took about 10 minutes to explain the five questions with some Powerpoints. We then divided the students up into 7 groups of five and had them answer in small groups with a secretary who wrote down their answers. After about 30 minutes they reported back in and we got to hear the diversity of answers.

Origins was fascinating. Many believed in big bang/evolution but quite a number told stories from their own cultures. Two Filipino students mentioned a myth of how humankind emerged out of a bamboo stalk.  Some Indonesians spoke of gods from whose bodies the primeval humans emerged. Africans told stories of primeval gods who created the earth in a pattern very similar to the biblical narrative. This question really seemed to engage the international group.

The question of power took two different directions. Some focused on personal success through education, contacts and effort. Others took a spiritual direction, some focusing on control of the spirit world, others seeing harmony in community and submission to god(s) as the way of success. No one mentioned survival of the fittest, the lynchpin of evolution. Destiny followed a similar pattern of various kinds of hope, heaven or hell (even Buddhists believed in this) or reincarnation.  No one mentioned death and dust as a destination.

The human problem had many suggestions but everyone seemed to come back to the selfishness and greed of humans. The solutions to this problem followed two patterns. One was education and development. Most, however, opted for some kind of return to motivating faith and trust in God. Though Christians certainly added their voices to that suggestion, it was clear that many non-Christians felt the same way.

To wrap up, I asked if they would mind if I shared how I answer these questions. The response was positive and I shared the testimony of my atheist engineer father, converted at age 55 and how his answers to those 5 questions changed radically when he recognized that knowledge and technology could not solve the problems of humanity.  In the follow-up discussion one young woman from China declared her decision to follow Christ. Hopefully there were others as well.

This approach seems to work well in the international student context. We had some lively and interesting discussion. Everyone got to share within their small groups. It seemed a very natural and appropriate way to share the Gospel the elicited much on-going conversation.  I also encouraged the believers to pursue these kinds of conversations with their friends. To that end I have distributed copies of my new booklet on worldview evangelism to all the Christians who were present. If you are interested in the booklet send me an email at dcashin@ciu.edu.

best picture of Dr. Cashin

Dave Cashin is professor of Intercultural Studies at CIU and presently on sabbatical in New Zealand.