Monday, September 22, 2008
Something To Think About
The following comment appeared on my other blog:
The first reason is that many people come to an evangelical faith brand out of personal insecurity and the other is that much of Evangelicalism offers, at best, "faith-lite," certainly not a faith with enough to it to answer those personal insecurities. Brief comments on each.
Faith in Jesus Christ is a base upon which solution to emotional and psychological problems can be addressed, without it there is no hope for these problems, but it is not, of itself the answer. "Accepting Jesus as my Savior: will not rid me of my feelings of inadequacy any more than it will cure me of cancer. What it will do is give me tools, such as the fellowship and power of prayer, that can be used on the road to finding solutions. I do not here rule out the miraculous, but we may not depend upon; such is a formula for disaster.
But the typical Evangelistic presentation of the gospel falls well short of offering even that necessary base. If being a Christian is nothing more than praying the sinner's prayer and receiving God's forgiveness, we stand not on a base, but on a point, a point where balance becomes very difficult to maintain. Standing on a point is more likely to increase insecurity, not decrease it.
We offer such a cheap gospel - salvation and a worldview - but Christ died and was resurrected for so much more - He offers us RE-CREATION - He wants to make us anew, into the beings we were originally created to be.
I think my commenter was dead nuts on in their diagnosis of Evangelical ills and it casts a dark shadow over all that is Evangelicalism.
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It’s interesting for this Mormon to compare the Catholic/Mormon relationship with the Mormon/evangelical relationship. Catholics seem secure in their faith and do not find it necessary to criticize or marginalize the faith of othersr. (sic) They seem to welcome the opportunity to make common cause with fellow travelers.The key phrase in that is "secure in their faith." "Insecurity" is a good description of much that I see in the behavior of many Evangelicals. It is, I think, because of two very related reasons.
Many evangelicals, on the other, are unable to see the commonalities they share with Mormons. Evangelical churches in my community refuse to join in community projects with Satan-inspired cultists.
The first reason is that many people come to an evangelical faith brand out of personal insecurity and the other is that much of Evangelicalism offers, at best, "faith-lite," certainly not a faith with enough to it to answer those personal insecurities. Brief comments on each.
Faith in Jesus Christ is a base upon which solution to emotional and psychological problems can be addressed, without it there is no hope for these problems, but it is not, of itself the answer. "Accepting Jesus as my Savior: will not rid me of my feelings of inadequacy any more than it will cure me of cancer. What it will do is give me tools, such as the fellowship and power of prayer, that can be used on the road to finding solutions. I do not here rule out the miraculous, but we may not depend upon; such is a formula for disaster.
But the typical Evangelistic presentation of the gospel falls well short of offering even that necessary base. If being a Christian is nothing more than praying the sinner's prayer and receiving God's forgiveness, we stand not on a base, but on a point, a point where balance becomes very difficult to maintain. Standing on a point is more likely to increase insecurity, not decrease it.
We offer such a cheap gospel - salvation and a worldview - but Christ died and was resurrected for so much more - He offers us RE-CREATION - He wants to make us anew, into the beings we were originally created to be.
I think my commenter was dead nuts on in their diagnosis of Evangelical ills and it casts a dark shadow over all that is Evangelicalism.
Technorati Tags:mormon, evangelical, insecurity, transformation, gospel
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