The window is open, it feels like fall, it's quite a nice day. And I also finished my two Acts of the Apostles papers, which I was dreading. That makes me happy. And I may even see Mike today since he's coming down onto the campus for registration. Who knows?
During chapel there was a speaker who spoke on winning souls over to Christ. While I'm not a huge fan of the terminology (it makes reaching out seem more like an objective of arithmetic, not about inviting people into the Kingdom), I think his message was a good one (well, most of it). A lot of us (especially me) in America are secluded from the rest of the world, locked in our little hovels with the computer screen glowing, ignorant of the disasters and horrors across the world, ignorant of thirty thousand children who die each day of starvation. His message waned away from the whole witnessing thing to how we are the Light and we are called by Christ to care about the world and help out our brothers and sisters in humanity. That part really touched me and I am convinced I need to take some steps to follow Christ's teachings in this area; perhaps this can tie in somehow with my last post?
But there was a point where I disagreed with him. When he finally got back on track with the whole reaching out and witnessing thing, he said something to the extent of, "Condemnation must be a big part of our speech." His point was, "Christ admits there is such a thing as condemnation. So, if we are like Christ, we must tell people they are condemned. We have to make sure they know." I'm not going to really get into details, but as I look through the Gospels, Christ hardly ever tells people how condemned they are, He rather invites them into the Kingdom. Does this rule out the truth of condemnation? Not at all. But using condemnation as a tool for witnessing isn't the right way to go. When Christ does sing about condemnation, it's usually against the religious people, not the "pagan, godless sinners". He seems to love being around the "heathens" and living life with them. This is interesting.
Public Speaking is one of my favorite classes, probably because of the teacher, a black preacher here in Cincy. He is the typical Southern Baptist preacher; he reminds me of C.G. Allen. Yet there is one thing he said regarding witnessing that I disagree with. He said we needed to know our scriptures so we can be ready to pull them out and throw them at people when the time comes. His way isn't condemnation, it's gentleness and meekness, but he relies completely on the scriptures. I think, and this is just my opinion, that because most people who aren't Christians don't put much stock in the Bible, should we really be using the Bible to show them the Kingdom? I know this sounds heretical, but it's simple logic. You can't convince someone of something if they don't trust your sources. I think a new and better way for reaching them needs to be discovered. After all, isn't that what Paul did in Acts 17?
These are just my thoughts for today. They are here today and gone tomorrow, but they're still my thoughts.
During chapel there was a speaker who spoke on winning souls over to Christ. While I'm not a huge fan of the terminology (it makes reaching out seem more like an objective of arithmetic, not about inviting people into the Kingdom), I think his message was a good one (well, most of it). A lot of us (especially me) in America are secluded from the rest of the world, locked in our little hovels with the computer screen glowing, ignorant of the disasters and horrors across the world, ignorant of thirty thousand children who die each day of starvation. His message waned away from the whole witnessing thing to how we are the Light and we are called by Christ to care about the world and help out our brothers and sisters in humanity. That part really touched me and I am convinced I need to take some steps to follow Christ's teachings in this area; perhaps this can tie in somehow with my last post?
But there was a point where I disagreed with him. When he finally got back on track with the whole reaching out and witnessing thing, he said something to the extent of, "Condemnation must be a big part of our speech." His point was, "Christ admits there is such a thing as condemnation. So, if we are like Christ, we must tell people they are condemned. We have to make sure they know." I'm not going to really get into details, but as I look through the Gospels, Christ hardly ever tells people how condemned they are, He rather invites them into the Kingdom. Does this rule out the truth of condemnation? Not at all. But using condemnation as a tool for witnessing isn't the right way to go. When Christ does sing about condemnation, it's usually against the religious people, not the "pagan, godless sinners". He seems to love being around the "heathens" and living life with them. This is interesting.
Public Speaking is one of my favorite classes, probably because of the teacher, a black preacher here in Cincy. He is the typical Southern Baptist preacher; he reminds me of C.G. Allen. Yet there is one thing he said regarding witnessing that I disagree with. He said we needed to know our scriptures so we can be ready to pull them out and throw them at people when the time comes. His way isn't condemnation, it's gentleness and meekness, but he relies completely on the scriptures. I think, and this is just my opinion, that because most people who aren't Christians don't put much stock in the Bible, should we really be using the Bible to show them the Kingdom? I know this sounds heretical, but it's simple logic. You can't convince someone of something if they don't trust your sources. I think a new and better way for reaching them needs to be discovered. After all, isn't that what Paul did in Acts 17?
These are just my thoughts for today. They are here today and gone tomorrow, but they're still my thoughts.
6 comments:
anth, what does Hensel mean by "hurry up the cakes". Love, Mom
No one really knows what he is talking about...
Anthony I totally agree with you on that post. You are a great warrior for Christ.
You are growing so much man. I agree with you about our use of Scripture. It is highly unlikely that a non-believer would see much validity in something they have yet to put faith in. That is why we need to focus on conversations, not conversions. When we put our focus on conversions we turn people into notches on our spiritual belt, just another trophy for the cause. But if we focus on relationships (conversations) we focus on the example of Christ. He ate, drank, and shared time with people. If he was only concerned with conversion, he could simply have arrived, shouted "Believe in me." and then left. That isn't the truth of the Gospel, the truth is that God values us, each of us, just as we are, where we are. And because of that, we should do the same.
"Can I get an 'amen'???"
Amen :)
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