On a recent occasion, I attended dinner with a (distant) relative. She’s a full-on believer, and unfortunately equipped with the desire to spread the happy news of Jesus the Savior. Knowing this, I studiously tried to avoid the subject of belief. But, apparently, there is no rest for the assumed wicked. I wasn’t quite done pouring her some water when she fired her first broadside:

You know, Jesus just wants to save you

At the time I ignored her; I started pouring wine for me.

But in retrospect I have to admit: I don’t get it. Let’s consider “Jesus wants to save you”. That’s indeed awfully nice of him. But seeing that he’s supposedly omnipotent, why doesn’t he just do it? God didn’t sit around and tell the universe at large: “you know, I’d really love to create mankind” – no. According to scripture he just bam! did it. Mucho macho style. So he can do it. If Jesus loves me so much, and wants to save me, why the hesitation? Why all the dicking around for millennia with just talk and no walk? If I see someone drowning I (hopefully) won’t be standing around yelling ‘I’d love to save you’ – I’d take action. It’s the moral thing to do.

So if Jesus really wants to save me he should stop talking and start chalking.