“Would not openness to other religions relativize the truth claims of Christianity? How can Christians be [attentive, respectful, and patient toward] persons of other faiths without undermining their own convictions not only [regarding] the validity of Christianity, but the importance of efforts to reach non-Christians with the good news of Jesus Christ? Is there any way to combine strong conviction with genuine [respect and patience]?” (Runyon, The New Creation, 215.)
I would respond that there is a way to combine conviction with genuine respect and patience. It comes from appreciating the fact that God made each person with a unique and free will, and they have the right and ability to choose to live and believe that which is incorrect. It is up to us as Christians to communicate in love the truth of Christ to them while respecting their right to believe what they want to believe. At the same time, we must live our lives in a way that communicates the Gospel of Christ; we must choose to follow his call for our lives, we must live according to his word, we must be transformed by his way, so that we do not conform to the cultures around us, but transcend them. We must live, act, and do what we believe, and we must be readily available to communicate the power of the Gospel.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Monday, October 17, 2011
Motivator #9
“What, if I were to see a Papist, an Arian, a Socinian casting out devils? If I did, I could not forbid even him, without convicting myself of bigotry. Yea, if it could be supposed that I should see a Jew, a Deist, or a Turk, doing the same, were I to forbid him either directly or indirectly, I should be no better than a bigot still.
“O stand clear of this! But be not content with not forbidding any that casts out devils. It is well to go thus far; but do not stop here. If you will avoid all bigotry, go on. In every instance of this kind, whatever the instrument be, acknowledge the finger of God. And not only acknowledge, but rejoice in his work, and praise his name with thanksgiving. Encourage whomsoever God is pleased to employ, to give himself wholly up thereto. Speak well of him wheresoever you are; defend his character and his mission. Enlarge, as far as you can, his sphere of action; show him all kindness in word and deed; and cease not to cry to God in his behalf, that he may save both himself and them that hear him.” (Wesley, “Against Bigotry,” Sermon 38, IV, 4-5.)
I think this is a problem that a lot of people can run into. An individual may see the way a particular person is communicating the Gospel of Christ, decide that they are not doing it in the "correct" or "appropriate" kind of way, and we respond in an act to shut down what they are doing. I think often times God uses a variety of people to reach a variety of people in a variety of ways that make no sense to most. God has uniquely gifted individuals to reach particular individuals; we hinder the message of God when we try to stop its proclamation just because it is not in our particular style or taste.
“O stand clear of this! But be not content with not forbidding any that casts out devils. It is well to go thus far; but do not stop here. If you will avoid all bigotry, go on. In every instance of this kind, whatever the instrument be, acknowledge the finger of God. And not only acknowledge, but rejoice in his work, and praise his name with thanksgiving. Encourage whomsoever God is pleased to employ, to give himself wholly up thereto. Speak well of him wheresoever you are; defend his character and his mission. Enlarge, as far as you can, his sphere of action; show him all kindness in word and deed; and cease not to cry to God in his behalf, that he may save both himself and them that hear him.” (Wesley, “Against Bigotry,” Sermon 38, IV, 4-5.)
I think this is a problem that a lot of people can run into. An individual may see the way a particular person is communicating the Gospel of Christ, decide that they are not doing it in the "correct" or "appropriate" kind of way, and we respond in an act to shut down what they are doing. I think often times God uses a variety of people to reach a variety of people in a variety of ways that make no sense to most. God has uniquely gifted individuals to reach particular individuals; we hinder the message of God when we try to stop its proclamation just because it is not in our particular style or taste.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Motivator #8
“What makes Wesley’s theology distinctive is his ability to hold together in a working union two fundamentally important factors in the Christian life that have often been disconnected, the renewal of this relation (justification) and the living out of this relation (sanctification), neither of which is possible apart from the other.” (Runyon, The New Creation, 222.)
I think this is an important concept to understand because it is essential to understand the difference between justification and sanctification. These two concepts are not the same thing, and they are very closely related, and I believe a basic understanding of the two is essential if we are to communicate the Gospel to a lost world. We must explain the two part work of pardoning of sin and purifying the heart for works of service. Without a clear understanding of both of these, we preach a message that pardons for sin, but does not change the lifestyle. If all we get is the pardon, and not the purification, we sell the power of the Gospel short.
I think this is an important concept to understand because it is essential to understand the difference between justification and sanctification. These two concepts are not the same thing, and they are very closely related, and I believe a basic understanding of the two is essential if we are to communicate the Gospel to a lost world. We must explain the two part work of pardoning of sin and purifying the heart for works of service. Without a clear understanding of both of these, we preach a message that pardons for sin, but does not change the lifestyle. If all we get is the pardon, and not the purification, we sell the power of the Gospel short.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Motivator #7
“The renewal of the creation and the creatures through the renewal in humanity of the image of God is what John Wesley identifies as the very heart of Christianity.” (Theodore Runyon, The New Creation: John Wesley’s Theology Today (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1998), 8.)
“John Wesley is convinced that God’s Spirit is at work everywhere in the world extending God’s prevenient graciousness among all peoples.” (Ibid., 33.)
I think this is a call for us to be prepared to give our account of the power of Jesus Christ living in the lives of all who might be called to believe. The spirit is working in the hearts of all humanity, and it is our job to be able to proclaim the message of Christ at any moment that the spirit might move. The harvest of souls is plentiful because the Holy Spirit is going out before us; it is up to us to harvest that crop and cultivate it to produce fruit. We are called to go out as the Spirit goes out, live our lives according to his word, and lead people towards the paths of righteousness.
“John Wesley is convinced that God’s Spirit is at work everywhere in the world extending God’s prevenient graciousness among all peoples.” (Ibid., 33.)
I think this is a call for us to be prepared to give our account of the power of Jesus Christ living in the lives of all who might be called to believe. The spirit is working in the hearts of all humanity, and it is our job to be able to proclaim the message of Christ at any moment that the spirit might move. The harvest of souls is plentiful because the Holy Spirit is going out before us; it is up to us to harvest that crop and cultivate it to produce fruit. We are called to go out as the Spirit goes out, live our lives according to his word, and lead people towards the paths of righteousness.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Motivator #6
The following statement comes from The Myth of God Incarnate, edited by John Hick, an influential book in the debate over religious pluralism. The book denies the incarnation of God in Christ the New Testament affirms, and hence sets the stage for one way of responding to religious pluralism. Will the New Testament permit Hick’s “solution”?
The Christians of the early church lived in a world in which supernatural causation was accepted without question, and divine or spiritual visitants were not unexpected. Such assumptions, however, have become foreign to our situation. In the Western world, both popular culture and the culture of the intelligentsia has come to be dominated by the human and natural sciences to such an extent that supernatural causation or intervention in the affairs of this world has become, for the majority of people, simply incredible.
I don't think the New Testament permits the solution Mr. Hick has provided. I think the New Testament speaks to the power of God exemplified on this Earth in ways that cannot be explained by the human or natural sciences. If we believe that God is all powerful, and that he given to us in the person of Jesus Christ, then it is not a reach to believe that the supernatural is possible both in the Early Church days and in our day today.
The Christians of the early church lived in a world in which supernatural causation was accepted without question, and divine or spiritual visitants were not unexpected. Such assumptions, however, have become foreign to our situation. In the Western world, both popular culture and the culture of the intelligentsia has come to be dominated by the human and natural sciences to such an extent that supernatural causation or intervention in the affairs of this world has become, for the majority of people, simply incredible.
I don't think the New Testament permits the solution Mr. Hick has provided. I think the New Testament speaks to the power of God exemplified on this Earth in ways that cannot be explained by the human or natural sciences. If we believe that God is all powerful, and that he given to us in the person of Jesus Christ, then it is not a reach to believe that the supernatural is possible both in the Early Church days and in our day today.
Week 5 Reading Excerpt
From this week's reading, originally cited in a 2003 edition of Christianity Today in regard to Mary Poplin:
"In January my mother wanted to go to North Carolina to where she had grown up. We went to this little Methodist church, not because she was religious; she just wanted to see her friends.
When we got there, I was really moved to just go up to the altar and give my life to the Lord. It wasn’t even an altar call. It was a communion call. The guy said, you don’t have to be a member of any church to take communion. You just have to believe that Jesus Christ lived, that he died for your sins, and you have to want him in your life. And when he said that, I was so powerfully moved that I actually thought, even if a tornado rips through this building, I’m going to get that communion.
I took the communion, and I didn’t even listen to the guy. I knelt down and I said, “Please come and get me. Please come and get me. Please come and get me.” And when I took the communion and I said that, I felt free. I felt like tons of things had been lifted off of me. And I began to have an insatiable desire to read the Bible.
Romans 1 says God is obvious to everyone and people’s minds who deny him become darkened. And though they think themselves wise they’re actually foolish. That was me. But the Scriptures began to heal my mind so I could actually think again."
I think this is a powerful story of the Spirit of God moving in the hearts of people. The spirit was working in the heart of this person, and she was moved to participate in the communion. That is half of the work. The second half was that there was a person (a pastor in this case) who was ready, willing, and able to preach the Gospel of Christ and give this person an opportunity to receive it. We are coworkers with the Spirit, it goes out before to work in the hearts of all humanity; we have to be prepared to move when the spirit moves, to preach when we are called to preach, so those that have the spirit working on them can be moved to believe.
"In January my mother wanted to go to North Carolina to where she had grown up. We went to this little Methodist church, not because she was religious; she just wanted to see her friends.
When we got there, I was really moved to just go up to the altar and give my life to the Lord. It wasn’t even an altar call. It was a communion call. The guy said, you don’t have to be a member of any church to take communion. You just have to believe that Jesus Christ lived, that he died for your sins, and you have to want him in your life. And when he said that, I was so powerfully moved that I actually thought, even if a tornado rips through this building, I’m going to get that communion.
I took the communion, and I didn’t even listen to the guy. I knelt down and I said, “Please come and get me. Please come and get me. Please come and get me.” And when I took the communion and I said that, I felt free. I felt like tons of things had been lifted off of me. And I began to have an insatiable desire to read the Bible.
Romans 1 says God is obvious to everyone and people’s minds who deny him become darkened. And though they think themselves wise they’re actually foolish. That was me. But the Scriptures began to heal my mind so I could actually think again."
I think this is a powerful story of the Spirit of God moving in the hearts of people. The spirit was working in the heart of this person, and she was moved to participate in the communion. That is half of the work. The second half was that there was a person (a pastor in this case) who was ready, willing, and able to preach the Gospel of Christ and give this person an opportunity to receive it. We are coworkers with the Spirit, it goes out before to work in the hearts of all humanity; we have to be prepared to move when the spirit moves, to preach when we are called to preach, so those that have the spirit working on them can be moved to believe.
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