A phrase that is oft repeated is: Thousands of people will die tonight without saving faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
The implication is these people are going to burn forever in hell.
Think about this for a moment. If you approach a person with the attitude that they are going to burn forever in hell when they die and you must share your faith with him/her, how will you treat that person? Wouldn't you tend to treat them very poorly in various and sundry ways? Wouldn't you be acting out of desperation to save that person's immortal soul? Wouldn't you feel forced to think of yourself, albeit unconsciously, to be somewhat of a superhero and the other person somewhat of a festering leech who can't take care of him/herself? Wouldn't you feel a bit resentful for having to be in this situation in the first place? I call this Toxic Evangelism.
Desperation has always been lousy motivation to share the Christian faith, partly because it's conducive to guilt-tripping for Christians who don't really feel like acting like a superhero, and partly because Christians would be acting on an impulse based on something they really don't know for sure. What happens when a person dies is none of our business anyway. Let's let God decide that with the understanding that God is merciful beyond our wildest dreams.
Christians should only share their faith when it is their highest joy. People will think Christians are crazy only when the people sense desperation or guilt. That's why I blog about faith issues-- God, as revealed in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, is my highest joy! I want to share my joy with you, not my desperation or my guilt. That doesn't mean that God has to be your highest joy. Maybe God isn't. That's okay-- I think God can handle it and God won't hold it against you!
Most people do not have God as their highest joy. If they did, our churches would be packed on Sunday mornings. As it stands now, there is little reason for people to change their Sunday plans. Toxic evangelism won't solve this. But I do think that if matters of faith are approached with joy, and even perhaps a sense of whimsy, then the state of Christianity in America can begin to take on a new and invigorating life.
Douglas Hoag
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About this blog
Pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, New Lenox, Illinois.
I'm married with two children.
My MBTI type is E/INFP, in case that means anything to you.
My prayer: Lord, help me finish everything I sta
Most importantly, I believe that the reality and personage of God was uniquely and fully realized in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. No one else comes close.
Disclaimer: I am in no way responsible for the seizures and/or convulsions you may experience while reading this blog.
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I'm married with two children.
My MBTI type is E/INFP, in case that means anything to you.
My prayer: Lord, help me finish everything I sta
Most importantly, I believe that the reality and personage of God was uniquely and fully realized in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. No one else comes close.
Disclaimer: I am in no way responsible for the seizures and/or convulsions you may experience while reading this blog.
Doug Hoag's Profile
Create Your Badge
7 comments:
FABULOUS post. I quite agree. The law does not produce joy and peace, only the Gospel.
BTW, I see you are a fan of Wendt. I was fortunate enough to have him as my comfirmation teacher. My home cong. in Indianapolis was his first homebase when he came to the US to develop Crossways! and we were guinea pigs.
(Chris A. can tell you more about me- my blogger blog doesn't really get into it too much, I do most of my blogging on a friends and friends of friends only blog on Yahoo. If you have an account there, I'd be happy to give you a peek. Suffice to say I used to be an LCMS pastor, but left when the misogyny and xenophobia were about to destroy my wife's and my health and faith. She had been a church worker too, being the StL Sem's first Deaconess prof.)
Hey Kent!
I think Chris has told me about you, and I can't believe how you and your wife were treated. Your descriptors of misogyny and xenophobia are spot on!
I love Crossways! (currently teaching it). I love Harry even though we don't always agree, but his efforts have really opened my eyes to a whole new world.
I also have a Yahoo page that I don't tend to very much, if at all. I'm on just too many lists and forums-- don't have time for all of them. I looked at your page (via Chris's page). Very nice. Many blessings to you and your wife!
Ah very good. Yeh, I can laugh about some of it now... like when I dyed my hair blond and was told by the my boss' boss (I was assistant manager at the Sem bookstore then) that it was "theologically inappropriate" and far too avante garde for such a pastor in such a conservative church body and was given the options of cutting it, dying it, or ...- That was the final straw when I resigned that job, and 10 days later, I saw a box of the very same dye in the discount binat the grocery store closest to "3558 S. Jeff"... I almost bought it for him, but that would have been overly vindictive, and I was struggling with the depression that the whole experience had triggered and was trying to distance myself as much as possible.
So now I like to call my hair color "theologically
On HnW... yeh, he bought into some of the faddish high crit more than I can go along with (we used to have our plates "JEDP-NO" when we were at the Sem, Chris has them now) but on the rest, he's bang on.
As for how we were treated... what can I say, the emperor likes people fawning over his fabulous clothes. I think we were done in because of my wife... she was too much of a threat to exposing the endemic misogyny and poor exegesis (order of creation, etc) behind the view on women's ordination. The ironic thing is, we didn't and don't favor women's ordination, we just didn't think that outside from that, a person's worth or roles should be determined by the length of their urethra or the functionality of their mammary glands.
Guilt trips stop many from being who they are, indeed, meant to be.
Kenneth Clifton
-Author of The Christian Superhero Training Guide
www.christiansuperhero.com
This, then, puts a whole new spin on Law preaching, doesn't it?
Kent and Chris,
Thanks for your comments! As far as law preaching... I don't understand why we must continue to preach the law when it has been fulfilled and reached it's "telos", or goal, in Christ. I had grown a bit tired of bonking people on the head every Sunday. I don't want anything that I say make people doubt that God really does love them.
Christian Superhero (aka-- Kenneth Clifton),
Thanks for visiting my blog and commenting! And you are right-- guilt trips have the effect of smothering souls that are meant to be free! I'll check out your website!!
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