no need to argue

Last Friday, I ran across a 72 year old man sitting on his front porch. I ended up talking to him (or rather listening to him) for about 20 minutes. He talked about Jesus Christ and many of his interpretations of scripture. (And some of them were quite bizarre, as far as I'm concerned.) He introduced himself as a reverend and then told me he was a bishop. He said many things that actually made me sad, because there was no room for grace in his theology. I wanted to ask him what he thought happened when Jesus died on the cross, and what it meant that the curtain was torn in two? I decided that it was best not to question him or tell him that I did not agree, but just to be a listening ear. I did tell him that I was a believer and that he did not need to share the gospel with me. But seriously, I think he may have had some mental illness. I ended the conversation. politely, after he told me that the Lord gave him the ability to raise people from the dead. He said something to the effect of the police brought him some bodies in body bags and he unzipped them and welcomed the people back. I mean, how do you tell a 72 year old man (who obviously needs someone to listen to him talk) that you think he’s crazy.