Has anyone else been hearing what I find to be the "new kick" for the Church. The are you a good person, have you ever lied, what does that make you? Oh a lier. Have you ever (all the other commandments)? Then you are a sinner and deserve hell. Speal. I have had enough of it. Really one more person tell me that I am going to hell, maybe that will change my heart and show me the way to build a relationship with the Savior Jesus. I wonder, is his GIFT of eternal life really free or do I need to read the fine print. The fine print that tells me to go out and tell everyone that I encounter that they will be going to hell in a hand basket. Every morning this week I have made a plan to tell everyone I encounter in the way i know how that Jesus loves them and wants to be their friend as well as their Lord and Savior. So Pray for me, I may not be doing it in the "NEW KICK' kind of way, But I will do it in the way that best fits who Jesus is in me. If the Spirit leads me to the "NEW Kick" kind of way, well then its a good thing I have been hearing it everywhere I go so I will know how to best condemn him or her to hell. Click on the first "new Kick" in this entry and you will see what I am talking about.
posted by Joy | 7:53 PM
3 Comments:
brentlyo:
A few comments...you suggest that 'Jesus did it' (which seems to be refering to the Way of the Master style of evangelism). I couldn't disagree with you more--unless that is, you are refering to Jesus' 'way' of dealing with the religiously misinformed (i.e. Pharisees and Jewish teachers). Let's talk the New Testament for a minute--break out the book and tell me where Jesus confronted the average Jew on the street with the concept of hell? Show me where Jesus shared theological propositions with the so called sinners and tax-collectors of his time? I don't mean to be putting down your suggestions, I simply want to point out that while the Way of the Master style of evangelism is popular, and at times effective, I would hardly wish to suggest that Jesus himself 'did it.' Jesus spoke about hell often, but not to the so called 'sinners.' Instead, the message about hell was directed towards the religious leaders that were preventing the 'sinners' from experiencing the kingdom of God (something Jesus also spoke about often). Secondly, you suggest that the Bible 'states that most people think they are good and if you think you are good why do you need a savior.' Again, I cannot find where this might occur in the bible. First off, if you are refering to the Pharisees, that is a miscategorization of what they were all about. Secondly, if you are refering to the book of Galatians, I would also have to disagree with that categorization of the book of Galatians. People in the first century were not concerned with trying to 'earn their way to heaven' by doing good works. This concept is more from the time of the reformation when Luther argued against the 'works' he saw in Catholicism--check out Luther's commentary on Galatians! Sure, the N.T. talks about 'good works' but it didn't mean what it meant to Catholicism in the time of the reformation, and it doesn't mean what we mean in America in the 21st century! So, I guess I simply disagree with your assesment of the Way of the Master in relation to the New Testament. P.S. Did Tozer really start Crown College? I'm a Crown graduate, and from what I could gather, Tozer didn't even start ministering with the CMA until three years after St. Paul Bible College was started (now Crown College). Again, I don't mean to be an antagonist, but I thought I'd pipe in my two cents having been a Crown graduate an all. Maybe I'm wrong?
This seems to be a fiery subject, so how could I avoid it? Anyway, I am going to step out and say, I think the Way of the Master style of evangelism is USUALLY counterproductive in our culture. The thing is, Christ told us to make disciples of all the nations, not just converts. A convert who prays a prayer or gets scared for a couple of days is not one who is devoted to Christ. Now, I am not saying it is never productive or that it doesn't work well in other cultures, but it doesn't USUALLY work here. I think catlover is right. The most affective way to share Christ is to talk with friends about Christ and act like Christ to everyone else. If someone came up to me and started telling me about my sin and hell, I would be pissed off, not because I think I am not a sinner, but because they would be extremely ANNOYING!
Brestlyo,
I think you are right to point out the difference between what we say and how we say it. I think it would more piss me off because of the way they say it. I agree that we need to know we are sinners before we can understand our need for salvation. Here is the problem. In some cultures I think that works. In our culture, I feel like people are overwhelmingly empty to start with. Christ usually only pissed people off if they were arrogant enough to think they were going to heaven based on their works. Anyone else who knew about their emptiness he was completely compassionate. I just think the average person on the street struggles more with their own inadequacy than with self-righteousness (I could be wrong and I know there are plenty of people out there who are arrogant about their faith). However, even those who are arrogant are usually condescending about street evangelists and so the street evangelism doesn't do any good. Two things to note: 1) It doesn't seem like Christ was intent on converting those he pissed off because they were already so self-righteous that their hearts were hardened and 2) Christ had so much wisdom and understanding that he could rip through any trap and deceit these people could put forth. Today Christians are sadly known to be irrational and bull-headed. So, if street evangelism is there to help people, I think it is imperative that we do it with compassion and do it in such a way that the people know first and foremost that they are not condemned if they would only accept Christ's message and life for them. Otherwise, if pointing out sin is meant to rebuke or humble the arrogant, I think we better be more prepared than most street evangelists are to defend the faith and refute evil arguments.
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