A bigger - and smaller view of Mission
Thursday, July 19, 2007 by Sam"Much of the energy of the great 19th-century missionary movement among Westerners, and much of the impetus of missions work around the world to this day, has come from the horror of a Niagara of souls pouring into a lost eternity for want of an evangelist. We also need to acknowledge, however, a corresponding horror in the hearts of many—including many missions-minded Christians—about a God who allows whole nations and generations to plunge into a lost eternity simply because no one happened to reach them with the gospel. Does faithfulness to the Bible mean we must retain this picture?"
"No religion is salvific: not Hinduism or Shinto or Islam, but also not Christianity. God is salvific. Practicing religion, however correct it is and however correctly one practices it, will not save you. That is basic Christian conviction. It is trusting God that will save you—that also is basic Christian conviction".
"I am a professional theologian, so of course I think theology matters. Theology can help us live better or worse, depending on its quality. But theological accuracy is not the heart of the gospel. Encountering God's Spirit and responding in faith to him in that encounter is what finally matters. And how God meets people, through whatever theology they might have, in whatever circumstances, is ultimately not visible to us".
"God is not interested in saving merely human souls. He wants human beings, body and soul. Furthermore, he does not settle for saving human beings, but the whole earth. He made it in the first place, pronounced it "very good," and he wants it all back. So he is saving us, the lords he put over creation, as part of his global agenda to rescue, indeed, the globe."
It sounds quite liberal in bite size (dont you hate how labels box stuff in) but in its entirety is pretty solid and makes some solid arguments. I have being carrying some fairly big questions around the heaven and hell doctrine - the call to evangelism and reconciling it with the small percentage of the worlds population that call themselves christian, and this to date has being the most concise exploration into these issues that I have read.I am a frustratingly slow processor so it will take some time before I will be able to critique it from my filters of scripture, tradition, experience and reason (go the Wesleyan quadrilateral!). But something of this article resonates with me. Would be interested in your thoughts or insights (but read the whole thing please!).
On another tangent
I am stealing Mr Darnells discovery here but I dont think I can hold off. There is a whole radiohead tribute album to radiohead's "Ok Computer" for free here.
And it is absolutely stunning - though very very unusual.
Labels: article, evangelism, music, salvation, theology
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