Eighteenth Confession

Let's talk about evangelism.  It's one of the most misunderstood, misused, and inappropriately taught item in the church today.  Any church, every church, that I've ever seen that has a passion for souls has done this wrong.  I get a sense that it's taught wrongly because it's never been modeled correctly.  Especially in the church.  But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's talk about what Christianity is and isn't, and then we'll go into what evangelism is and isn't.  My view of Christianity has been a long time in coming on this blog, but I think it's time to unleash it.

Christianity is the belief that the world is messed up.  The reason it's messed up is because of humans acting selfish, greedy, jealous...and it's all our own fault that it's messed up.  We humans, as an entire race, are messed up, racing after our own desires and lusts.  We inherited this from our fathers and mothers, all the way back to time immemorial. We name this messing up sin, and it's our fault that we do it.  We can't help it.

Christianity then proves the existence of a good, loving God.  I could go into several proofs, like the existence of an ultimate source, but this is a light-reading blog.  For the moment, let me say that it had to be a rational proof to get me to believe; maybe I'll link to proofs later.  For this post, though, suffice it to say that a good God exists, and He offers every person a free choice: believe in Jesus Christ or don't.  Each way promises freedom; each way, in its own way, delivers its promise.  Each way is a bondage.  It is not an easy choice to make. 

Christianity has principles based upon a relationship with God.  At first glance, it looks like rules; on deeper inspection, it's really just how true love works.  For the times you mess up, there is grace and forgiveness, deeper than human comprehension.  You can turn away from either choice at any time until death, at which point you run out of time and options.

Christianity is NOT fire insurance.  Christianity is NOT about rules and regulations that, if you follow them, you'll have a good life.  Christianity can NEVER be reduced to an intellectual exercise; when that happens, terrible things happen, as history illustrates quite thoroughly.  Just a quick overview of what happens when Christianity stops being a relationship and starts being a thought process: The Dark Ages, The Crusades, hate crimes, and stupid Christians.

That's right:  I said it.  The really "smart" Christians are more often than not the ones lacking in common sense.  The kind that hand out tracts to random people, trying to recruit them into a church.   The kinds that are so convinced that their particular brand of Christianity is superior to others, they leave no room for error in their thinking and beliefs.  The kind of person that can't accept differences, prays for revival in their church, is pleased to hear when someone is vilified in the media, and uses their title of Christian as an excuse for their selfish behavior.

Evangelism is healing the world.  The Bible calls us "more than conquerors," which makes us the rebuilders of this world.  It's not shoving our way of life or beliefs into someone else.  It's not throwing out a tract to someone in the hopes that they read it and change their way of life.  It's not proving something, it's not something done out of a sense of guilt or obligation.  It's not done with an eye to increasing church membership numbers. 

Sorry about the length of this one; next time will be shorter, I promise.