Presbyterian Messianic Congregation
An excerpt:
To Weingartner, support of the messianic congregation is "consistent with our general understanding of the mission of the church, which is to share the gospel with all people, inviting all people to recognize and accept in a personal decision the saving Lordship of Jesus Christ ... It wasn’t an attempt to target people who are of the Jewish faith, but rather an extended, consistent obedience to the Great Commission," the instruction Jesus gives in the Bible to bring the good news of salvation to all the world.
And what, exactly, is wrong with "targeting people" of a different faith. The question we must ask as Presbyterians is: Is Jesus *the* way, or *a* way? Barna's most recent poll seems to indicate that many Christians think Jesus is *a* way. When Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life" what do we make of that? Do we really believe what he said? Or are we able to dismiss that? Intellectually, I can't.
Sure, there are plenty of non-churched folk who need to hear the Word - but they aren't the only ones. Do we let all of our other brothers and sisters languish? Or do we celebrate those who are making an attempt?
The question we must answer for each of ourselves is our belief of "the way." If we say that Jesus is the only way, then we can't let the political and social mores of today's America determine who we talk to Jesus about. (Ooops, you're Muslim -sorry, we can't talk about Jesus. Baloney.) Should we be disrespectful? No - but we needn't be apologetic for our belief either.
An excerpt:
To Weingartner, support of the messianic congregation is "consistent with our general understanding of the mission of the church, which is to share the gospel with all people, inviting all people to recognize and accept in a personal decision the saving Lordship of Jesus Christ ... It wasn’t an attempt to target people who are of the Jewish faith, but rather an extended, consistent obedience to the Great Commission," the instruction Jesus gives in the Bible to bring the good news of salvation to all the world.
And what, exactly, is wrong with "targeting people" of a different faith. The question we must ask as Presbyterians is: Is Jesus *the* way, or *a* way? Barna's most recent poll seems to indicate that many Christians think Jesus is *a* way. When Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life" what do we make of that? Do we really believe what he said? Or are we able to dismiss that? Intellectually, I can't.
Sure, there are plenty of non-churched folk who need to hear the Word - but they aren't the only ones. Do we let all of our other brothers and sisters languish? Or do we celebrate those who are making an attempt?
The question we must answer for each of ourselves is our belief of "the way." If we say that Jesus is the only way, then we can't let the political and social mores of today's America determine who we talk to Jesus about. (Ooops, you're Muslim -sorry, we can't talk about Jesus. Baloney.) Should we be disrespectful? No - but we needn't be apologetic for our belief either.
posted by Lou Schwing at 10:16 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home