Please read my post from 05/20/07 and the response from Swing… otherwise this discussion won’t make much sense.
I don’t know exactly how to respond to what you said Swing… because I don’t know exactly how what you propose plays out. I don’t totally understand, so I’m going to have to shoot from the hip on this response. (I look forward to clarification so I can more precisely reply.)
First, I agree with the initial paragraph. We are not called into a little bubble of Christian sub-culture. We are called to be in the world but not of it (that’s from John 17:14-19). Jesus wasn’t trying to create a new sub-culture, he was working towards changing the people that were in the world.
OK, on a side note, as I am typing this, my wife made the comment, ‘wow, you type with all your fingers!’ and so I asked her how exactly she typed, and she said (holding up 4 fingers), its mostly using the two inside fingers on each hand; not really hunt-and-peck, more like tyrannosaurus rex…
And now for something completely different….
I also think I agree that its important to be culturally relevant. We must be able to speak to those around us. Jesus used agricultural examples to an agricultural society (sheep, goats, seeds, plants, harvests). We must be able to speak their language. We must be able to hang out with them and speak truth into their lives.
But here is where it starts to get fuzzy: those theories are nice, but how is that played out? How does that look like in life?
If this is, as Francis of Assisi said, "Preach the gospel at all times -- If necessary, use words," then I disagree with that. First, I don’t see that in scripture. Anywhere. Yes, it says we are to be witnesses, but I don’t see Jesus walking around and just giving everyone the ‘I’ve got it all together so please ask me why I am so happy’ look. He walked around and preached the good news to people. He was all about talking to people. In fact, the miracles that he did were only a conduit to be able to preach to people. He was always reluctant to do a miracle just for a miracle’s sake.
Silent witnessing, in my opinion, is a sorry excuse for people who don’t know enough about scripture or their own faith to share it and effectively give a reason for the hope they believe they have within. It’s a justification of people who are just not following the biblical command to share the good news of Christ with people.
Now, first, I’m as guilty of this as anyone else. There are people that I’m trying to get a chance to talk to but its just really not working out at the moment. I admit that. I should be more forward, but I haven’t yet been. I’m working on it. That said, I’m not throwing away all relation evangelism. I’m not advocating a bible-thumping regiment of door to door gospel bullies. I’m just saying that too many people in
Admittedly, he was harshest on the religious people, but he still went out and deliberately had spiritual conversations with people. He confronted the woman at the well about her sin. When the rich young ruler walked away after Jesus told him he had to sell all of his possessions, Jesus didn’t run after him and offer him a no-strings-attached non-confrontational relationship that would hopefully one day grow deep enough where Jesus could speak truth into his life. No! He let him go. Jesus wasn’t worried about offending people; he was worried about speaking the truth. Why have we gotten it in our heads that we can just hope that people will ask us about Him. Since when is the ball in their court? Jesus didn’t say to live our pretty little lives and wait for them to come to us. He commanded us to go to them! He commanded us to speak to them!
As for the not praying in front of other people… I think this kinda falls into the same category. Pausing before my meal to thank God for the feast is not something I’m just going to throw away. If that means that I do it silently, that’s fine, I’m ok with that. But just throwing it away because it might offend someone…. Besides, I doubt there are more than a handful of people in the
Sorry to get off on that tangent….
I don’t know how what you propose plays out Swing. But if it’s lifestyle evangelism (live a good life and hope people ask you about Jesus), I cant sign up for it because I don’t see it in scripture and I fear that its just another excuse that we have made up in order to justify our scriptureless actions and lack of holiness and purity. What say you? How do you see it playing out?
Next, you talked about living a simpler faith with religion stripped off? Again, what does that mean? How does that play out? I’m all for abandoning tradition for the sake of tradition… but it doesn’t sound like that’s what you mean.
(Also, just for an update, Brigette's uncle did die last week. The funeral was last Thursday. Thanks for your prayers.)
2 comments:
OK, fine, my comments: not saying I am right, just saying this is how I view things.
You say "Silent witnessing, in my opinion, is a sorry excuse...." The weird thing is, I fully believe in "Silent witnessing", yet I totally agree with you.
First (off topic, but relevant), I believe that non-Christians are by definition unhappy. It is impossible to be content without Christ; you may think that you are content, but it is usually a short-lived high from buying something, or doing some physical act, or saying something... things that demons lure you to do, and they give you a high from doing it, but it never makes you content... kind of like eating all-you-can-eat Chinese food... you can eat as much as you can, stuff yourself, but an hour after leaving the restaurant, you are hungry. Similarly, I think that all non-Christians are unhappy, they do things, trying to make themselves happy, but they can't seam to find contentment... and because they are unhappy, they look for happiness, either consciously or sub-consciously.
This is where silent witnessing comes in. A lot of people will be immediately turned off if you say the name "Jesus," yet by simply being truly happy around them... they notice! I used to work at UPS with a bunch of guys that had no faith. I never once said the word "Jesus" around them (unless I was singing), and yet everyone that worked there knew I was different... I could tell in the way they talked to me, and around me. There was even one guy that asked me out-right religious questions ("How do you think the world started?"). And I told him, simply, and non-preachy... I expressed my opinion using any necessary religion, but without injecting religion into it. I also know that Hurley has had at least one person walk up to him, and out of the blue, say "Tell me about your religion." Hurley didn't really know the guy, but the guy knew that there was something DIFFERENT about Hurely.... Hurley was happy while he was unhappy, and that made him curious about what made Hurley content in life.
Therefore, I throughly believe that there are some people that can ONLY be reached by silent witnessing... that if you say the name "Jesus" around them, they are turned off; but by showing them that you are content and they are not, they will come seeking.
That having been said, I agree with you that it is a sorry excuse for people that don't know what the heck they are doing with their lives. Many people use "silent witnessing" as an excuse to not witness to those that need verbal witnessing (myself included). The point is that I think that you need a mixture of both... you need to get people to trust you, and then you can slowly start to talk about religion.
OK, I officially hit a wall... my brain has stopped working.... umm... OK, night.
Matthew
Alright, I think that you're all discussing something very good, but you're beating around the real issue. There's a line of discussion here that is "what type of witnessing?" There's a line of discussion that is "what makes a Christian a Christian?" There's a similar discussion that is "what is different between a real Christian and a whitewashed tomb?" There's a problem with each of these questions: none of them involves Christ. Yes, they do implicitly, but they would be easier to answer from a different perspective. The Christian's primary purpose is not evangelizm. The Christian's primary concern should not be the lost. What did Christ say was the GREATEST commandment? Love the Lord your God...the SECOND is like it. Yes, proselytization is important, but it is second to the relationship that God has called us to.
What makes a Christian a Christian? A Christian has been redeemed into a child relationship through marriage to God's Son. A Christian's nature has been changed into one that is capable of pleasing God. A Christian is no longer interested in advancing his own prideful kingdom, but rather is a bondslave to the advancement of God's Kingdom. It's just like "what makes you married to Brigette?" Did saying your vows just right make you married? No. Does taking her out on a date every week make you married? No. Does some kind of warm fuzzy feeling make you married? No. Helen and I are married because we are committed to each other. Do we become unmarried when the warm fuzzy is lost in an argument? No. Do we become unmarried when I forget her birthday? No. Are we unmarried now that we don't get to share any aspect of our life together? It feels like it, but no. You are God's child without regard for feelings or interpretations or actions or anything. You are His child because HE adopted YOU, not because you did anything.
What is the difference between a real Christian and a whitewashed tomb? This question does not concern you. The only person that you can answer this question for is yourself. That answer comes in the form of a relationship. For anyone else, the only purpose this question serves is to determine who is saved and who is not. Jesus can answer that question for them, you an I cannot.
What type of witnessing is best? This question is almost entirely irrelevant. Yes, "silent witnessing" may be an excuse for lazy Christians, but "Bible thumping" is an excuse for obnoxious and under-educated Christians. Read 1 Peter 3:1 "without a word." Then read Rom 10:14. The question is not how to evangelize, but rather are you doing what glorifies God? One of the biggest problems that I have with the preachers in North Carolina is that they chase people away with that kind of obnoxious, over the top, preaching AT people.
FIRST seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, THEN (AFTER THAT) all these other things will be given to you.
Dude, you don't need to be thinking evangelism strategy. You don't need to be comparing the plight of the persecuted Church to your relative comfort. You need to be seeking God's face so tah you can know who He is. Not what He wants, not what He's saying to you. You need to focus all your energy on learning who He is. The same way that you focus all your energy on telling Brigette that you love her, and that you want to know her.
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