Shall we think, yet not do?
I wrote this last week in church:
"The hypothetical questions, always so prevalent, always so far removed from all reality. How 'would' you proclaim the gospel 'if' you had the chance. Not that such a chance would occur. Nor is it challenged, prayed, or hoped for. The possibility of its occurrence is presupposed non-existent."
This was written in response to the question of how we would proclaim the gospel to a crowd before us. A fun exercise I suppose it was, but really of what worth is it to those who participated? Who really expects that they would ever in their lives have the chance to proclaim the gospel to a crowd of any size? I do think people should consider and then do indeed proclaim the gospel always, whether crowd or individual. But that is another issue. The reality is, these people do not consider doing such a thing, and to make up an exercise so far removed from reality seriously hinders the audiences ability to apply the words spoken. Of course I did not take issue with this as an individual incident. Unfortunately I find such instances all to common in the church today, whether it be sermon, sunday school, or seminar.
.
As well I wrote:
"If the gospel is thought or spoken of, yet not done, is it any less watered down than actually weakening the words spoken."
A remark was made of the gospel being 'watered down', during this same sunday school entitled "what is the gospel?", to which I wrote the above paragraph. This is in fact an issue which has been most disturbing to me as of late. For I find the christian world saturated with a seeking of knowledge, a looking after some greater intellectual truth. I recently read an article which said the ancient Greeks held to the theory that ignorance was the cause of problems in the world, and knowledge was the solution. Such is the case in the church, where it seems some new truth is always sought after, but the application of such truth in the lives of the hearers is so rarely seen. Nor is any challenge by the speaker given, that those who hear his message may live out the truth they have heard. May people be content to merely attain to some higher level of intellectual knowledge of their God? It seems there is a great deal of action by men in the Bible, yet we desire to convert their actions into measurable units of theology or rules to further contemplate. Is there so little consideration that perhaps those actions ought to be taken as example to be followed with a similar passion?
"The hypothetical questions, always so prevalent, always so far removed from all reality. How 'would' you proclaim the gospel 'if' you had the chance. Not that such a chance would occur. Nor is it challenged, prayed, or hoped for. The possibility of its occurrence is presupposed non-existent."
This was written in response to the question of how we would proclaim the gospel to a crowd before us. A fun exercise I suppose it was, but really of what worth is it to those who participated? Who really expects that they would ever in their lives have the chance to proclaim the gospel to a crowd of any size? I do think people should consider and then do indeed proclaim the gospel always, whether crowd or individual. But that is another issue. The reality is, these people do not consider doing such a thing, and to make up an exercise so far removed from reality seriously hinders the audiences ability to apply the words spoken. Of course I did not take issue with this as an individual incident. Unfortunately I find such instances all to common in the church today, whether it be sermon, sunday school, or seminar.
.
As well I wrote:
"If the gospel is thought or spoken of, yet not done, is it any less watered down than actually weakening the words spoken."
A remark was made of the gospel being 'watered down', during this same sunday school entitled "what is the gospel?", to which I wrote the above paragraph. This is in fact an issue which has been most disturbing to me as of late. For I find the christian world saturated with a seeking of knowledge, a looking after some greater intellectual truth. I recently read an article which said the ancient Greeks held to the theory that ignorance was the cause of problems in the world, and knowledge was the solution. Such is the case in the church, where it seems some new truth is always sought after, but the application of such truth in the lives of the hearers is so rarely seen. Nor is any challenge by the speaker given, that those who hear his message may live out the truth they have heard. May people be content to merely attain to some higher level of intellectual knowledge of their God? It seems there is a great deal of action by men in the Bible, yet we desire to convert their actions into measurable units of theology or rules to further contemplate. Is there so little consideration that perhaps those actions ought to be taken as example to be followed with a similar passion?
posted by nebeno at 09:19
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