Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Direction, Please
I have so many thoughts to write about and I’m sorry I have not responded to your comments. They are very interesting, indeed! I feel I am without direction, thus no writing. I am reading Being the Body by Charles Colson and Ellen Vaughn, which is only reasserting what I know. Still, it is good to be affirmed. One thing the book has not stressed enough (but I’m not finished) is that the unity called for can only be based on the Word. We know that faith in Christ and the Resurrection is not enough. Many churches particular claim this Truth but do not stand on the whole Truth. As long as parts are being deleted and distorted, the Church universal will be fragmented. Colson and Vaughn stress the unimportance of ritual and sacrament type differences. These are things we can work around. God’s inerrant Word is stated as a foundational building block. I just don’t think enough can be said about this. At least an entire chapter! But, as I said, there is more to read…so I’ll fill you in later.
Before my break, I started writing this thing on evangelism. Since then, my son and I have had a running debate on humanity’s role in God’s world, which led me to look over my collection of Bible verses on the Cultural Mandate. I have much to say in regard to the comments left here for me to ponder and decided to just keep posting my rebuttals rather than comment. The last book I read, Gag Order, had some things I’d love to share. Moses is not forgotten as a continuation of Christianity is Jewish and I will probably have some things to write when I finish a seminar with Hillsdale College this coming Saturday on our founding documents! So, as you can see, I am overwhelmed! I have been praying for God’s guidance; in the meantime, here is Evangelism:
I have spent my entire life in and out of churches, wondering how to approach people with the gospel. I was born a shy person and even after being saved, although I spoke out more than ever, my approach was pretty much never a direct salvation message. More like, “Won’t you come to Youth Group tonight?” or “I’ve changed; I don’t do that anymore.” I don’t recall much success either. The answer was often no, or worse, mockery from my “Christian” friends because it seemed I was suddenly “holier than thou!” when I suggested we shouldn’t gossip or whatever. It must have hurt…I can still remember these things. But more than that, I very often sink into despair at how, after sermons galore, I can’t talk about my faith in a direct way.
One thing I know about me is that I am a deeply sensitive person. I can get inside the other person to some extent. This isn’t necessarily a good or bad thing. It can go either way. But I do know exactly why I don’t come on boldly with the Good News! I know a young woman who is still lost because a Christian came on too strong. She has shut out the Christian voice completely. The critics would have a word with me…that shyness is a self-centered fault and that I truly don’t care or I would try to save the lost from eternal hell! There is surely some truth in that but there is also the fact that impersonal, robotic messages of salvation are equally cold and ineffective! It is rare indeed that a person can share the gospel with obvious compassion and humility…particularly with strangers. My restraint is based on the sense that most people will very likely cringe because they just aren’t ready!
Worldview thinking has opened doors for this shy evangelist on two levels. The first was the revelation from Dr. Schaeffer’s idea that a person’s false worldview will have gaps that cannot and will not fit with our reality. He proposes our taking their roof off to expose the inconsistency. With compassion, their need must be shown to them and because sin has become passé, this is done by pushing them deeper into their own premises. For example, the nihilist who says we can know nothing must be shown that he is a walking contradiction. To know he can know nothing…is to know something. How can a nihilist even know he is a nihilist? Pointing this out is “taking the roof off” his bubble of knowledge, thus bursting it and leaving him with even less knowledge than he thought he had! This, says Schaeffer with utmost sensitivity, leaves the person completely vulnerable and perhaps even desperate. Now is the time to offer the Truth…now is NOT the time for shyness, leaving the person empty, with nothing to hold on to. Now he could be ready and open. Dr. Schaeffer warns this is not a formula to be abused as such. Nevertheless, with the Holy Spirit’s leadings, the situation is more natural and logical than slamming into the brick walls most people have surrounding them…the hard case shell of their own unique worldview!
Because of the length, the second basis for worldview evangelism later...
Before my break, I started writing this thing on evangelism. Since then, my son and I have had a running debate on humanity’s role in God’s world, which led me to look over my collection of Bible verses on the Cultural Mandate. I have much to say in regard to the comments left here for me to ponder and decided to just keep posting my rebuttals rather than comment. The last book I read, Gag Order, had some things I’d love to share. Moses is not forgotten as a continuation of Christianity is Jewish and I will probably have some things to write when I finish a seminar with Hillsdale College this coming Saturday on our founding documents! So, as you can see, I am overwhelmed! I have been praying for God’s guidance; in the meantime, here is Evangelism:
I have spent my entire life in and out of churches, wondering how to approach people with the gospel. I was born a shy person and even after being saved, although I spoke out more than ever, my approach was pretty much never a direct salvation message. More like, “Won’t you come to Youth Group tonight?” or “I’ve changed; I don’t do that anymore.” I don’t recall much success either. The answer was often no, or worse, mockery from my “Christian” friends because it seemed I was suddenly “holier than thou!” when I suggested we shouldn’t gossip or whatever. It must have hurt…I can still remember these things. But more than that, I very often sink into despair at how, after sermons galore, I can’t talk about my faith in a direct way.
One thing I know about me is that I am a deeply sensitive person. I can get inside the other person to some extent. This isn’t necessarily a good or bad thing. It can go either way. But I do know exactly why I don’t come on boldly with the Good News! I know a young woman who is still lost because a Christian came on too strong. She has shut out the Christian voice completely. The critics would have a word with me…that shyness is a self-centered fault and that I truly don’t care or I would try to save the lost from eternal hell! There is surely some truth in that but there is also the fact that impersonal, robotic messages of salvation are equally cold and ineffective! It is rare indeed that a person can share the gospel with obvious compassion and humility…particularly with strangers. My restraint is based on the sense that most people will very likely cringe because they just aren’t ready!
Worldview thinking has opened doors for this shy evangelist on two levels. The first was the revelation from Dr. Schaeffer’s idea that a person’s false worldview will have gaps that cannot and will not fit with our reality. He proposes our taking their roof off to expose the inconsistency. With compassion, their need must be shown to them and because sin has become passé, this is done by pushing them deeper into their own premises. For example, the nihilist who says we can know nothing must be shown that he is a walking contradiction. To know he can know nothing…is to know something. How can a nihilist even know he is a nihilist? Pointing this out is “taking the roof off” his bubble of knowledge, thus bursting it and leaving him with even less knowledge than he thought he had! This, says Schaeffer with utmost sensitivity, leaves the person completely vulnerable and perhaps even desperate. Now is the time to offer the Truth…now is NOT the time for shyness, leaving the person empty, with nothing to hold on to. Now he could be ready and open. Dr. Schaeffer warns this is not a formula to be abused as such. Nevertheless, with the Holy Spirit’s leadings, the situation is more natural and logical than slamming into the brick walls most people have surrounding them…the hard case shell of their own unique worldview!
Because of the length, the second basis for worldview evangelism later...
