Thoughts...and some answers.
Being a Baptist, and being Reformed at the same time, I always encounter my fellow brethren of the Reformed stance being rather...hostile, shall I say, to the credobaptistic stance. It might be said that their hostility is something hard for me to imagine- I take the position of "do baptism your way", and, even if I disagree with my Presbyterian brothers on the application of this sacrament, I have no qualms with them doing it. I guess it's different for different people. I myself am hostile toward several theological stances...
And now to answer some questions:
1. What do you see as the heart of the gospel?
What is the heart of the gospel? Well, it has been pretty tricky a definition all these years. For me the heart of the gospel, as defined in 1 Corinthians 15 is this:
1Corinthians 15:1-4- Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you--unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.
As N.T. Wright says, "That Jesus Christ is the crucified and risen Lord and giving allegiance to him is the gospel."
2. And what is the right way of doing evangelism?
This is the part where I have my disagreements with. The right way of doing evangelism is to take into account that none seek God and all have turned away from him (Romans 3:10-12). They can't simply be coaxed or persuaded into the kingdom of God, no, the Holy Spirit does that and we simply explain the gospel to them. I think evangelism should be done in an apologetic kind of way, using reason and destroying their presuppositions as Paul did in Acts 17:16-34. That, I think is the right way of doing it.
Of course, it wouldn't be fair if I did not ask you in return these two questions, so, I ask you now:
1. What do you see as the heart of the gospel?
2. And what is the right way of doing evangelism?
Eagerly waiting your reply ;-)
And now to answer some questions:
1. What do you see as the heart of the gospel?
What is the heart of the gospel? Well, it has been pretty tricky a definition all these years. For me the heart of the gospel, as defined in 1 Corinthians 15 is this:
1Corinthians 15:1-4- Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you--unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.
As N.T. Wright says, "That Jesus Christ is the crucified and risen Lord and giving allegiance to him is the gospel."
2. And what is the right way of doing evangelism?
This is the part where I have my disagreements with. The right way of doing evangelism is to take into account that none seek God and all have turned away from him (Romans 3:10-12). They can't simply be coaxed or persuaded into the kingdom of God, no, the Holy Spirit does that and we simply explain the gospel to them. I think evangelism should be done in an apologetic kind of way, using reason and destroying their presuppositions as Paul did in Acts 17:16-34. That, I think is the right way of doing it.
Of course, it wouldn't be fair if I did not ask you in return these two questions, so, I ask you now:
1. What do you see as the heart of the gospel?
2. And what is the right way of doing evangelism?
Eagerly waiting your reply ;-)
This entry was posted
on Thursday, June 16, 2005 at 3:09 PM.
|
