Good News

I've decided to start writing about the good news, and how it has influenced my life and also shaped my worldview.  I am an amateur at very best so I do not even pretend to speak authoritatively (except where I directly quote from scripture!)  I am inspired every time I read, or more likely for me, every time I  listen to the audio of, a book that classically defends the tenets of our faith.  As one voice among many, these are my thoughts about the ancient, already won duel between God's word, and the confusion that arises from "alternatives" to it.

Recently a coworker and I went to lunch and the question came up "what did you do last Saturday?"  Without thinking twice I responded that I had played softball with my church, and began to mention some other things I had going on.

A few seconds after I began to notice his very visible agitation over something.  He seemed distracted and was making several subtle gestures that would lead me to believe he was uncomfortable to remain in the conversation.  Somewhere amidst the aggravation he commented "well, I was going to show you some jokes but they're pretty crude, you might be afraid you'll go to hell or something if you read them."

As it turns out, I was in fact not afraid of going to hell, so I told him to let me take a look.  The jokes were probably not what I would show a seven year old before Sunday School, but I had seen worse.  You can probably guess what they were about - it's never anything original.  To my co-worker, Christians are people who are superstitiously afraid of going to hell, so they abstain from "naughty" things that might tip the scales against them.  They don't know what the balance sheet will read at the end of their lives, so they try to just be good and stay away from off-color jokes.

How is that the "do more good than bad to stay out of hell gospel" is so prevalent?  Especially since it is the exact opposite of the actual message and philosophy that Jesus and the apostles conveyed.  It amazes me that in our society the gospel is so misunderstood.  It reminds me of a much more important blog post in which a very well known preacher called Jesus "the most misunderstood man in history."

Yesterday I attended a food shelter service event where those who would stop by would hear the salvation message before they were given food and other basic items like clothes and whatever else they may find on the shelf of donations.  I was invited to join in the evangelism as part of a training so I could do the same.  Again, I was amazed at what I heard and the unity of the responses. Time after time the people professed that they were already Christians.  When asked what they would tell Jesus if asked why He should let them into heaven, they said "well I'll tell Him I've tried my best to be good."  After they delivered the wrong answer, the gospel would be explained in a way that more closely ties to something you would find in, say, the Bible.  The more puzzling thing is most of them also professed to regularly attend church!

God bless those who with boldness and patience day-in and day-out plea with people to make the only decision that will ever do any lasting good for them.  Lately, I've been looking more into Biblical examples of sharing the gospel, and often I see a different example set from what I commonly have been taught to use.  As a friend reminded me though, the Bible is very clear that people would be saved by the same savior through different life situations and ways of realizing their need for Him.  So I say that not in any way to promote one technique, I just wanted to share what I find in the word to strengthen me about how to share the experience that has changed my life.

I also desire to share what I find in scripture and how it contrasts with "post-modernism."  What I refer to when I use that word is an ever changing (for the worse) set of politically correct morals located somewhere between complete insanity and the shadow of what used to be called truth.   I believe I'll find two things: 1) There is nothing modern about post-modernism and 2) the same cannon of scriptures used throughout the ages are just as useful for correction regarding this topic as they were confronting the worshipers of Artemis.

I look forward to getting some thoughts out of my head and out on virtual paper, and also learning along the way and coming to understand my own need to grow more clearly!