To belong

I read this article the other day that said that postmoderns (whatever those are) have this need to "belong before they believe." I guess that means that it is important for people in our time to feel like they are welcomed and accepted before they start believing in Jesus. I don't know, maybe we're splitting hairs here, but it seems like this has always been true. Maybe it's just that we have forgotten the belonging part somewhere along the way.

Jesus told his disciples that the way people would know that they were his disciples was if they loved one another. He didn't say people would know by their statements of belief or how convincing their arguments were.

I think, also, that people just felt comfortable around Jesus. They felt welcomed by him even if they weren't what we would call Christians. The Bible doesn't say this, but I don't think Jesus converted all of the people with whom he partied. That makes me think that they liked having Jesus around and that he didn't push anything on them, but just made them feel like they were loved no matter what.