Telling the whole truth
Submitted by Forgiven on February 08 2001 02:28:58
In reply to Gee... submitted by Ford Prefect on February 07 2001 20:31:58
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For some people the present strategy of the church of focusing on the love of God does work, but for others it is a failure. Part of the issue is the difference is what the overall tone of the church is as it speaks to its host community; in some ways we have an experiment going on with contrasting outcomes in England as against the US. In England we have almost entirely sold out to the liberal emphasis on the love of God to the exclusion of anything else; in America, from my experience over there, there is still enough noise from a more conservative element to ensure that in fact a balanced message is coming across. In THAT context it is not so dangerous (to the effectiveness of the gospel) to emphasis the love of God. I speak from the English context where for the vast majority of the population (>80%) the church is in practice a joke, and where the attendences are declining at a catastrophic rate, probably indicating that in most churches the next generation is, in practice, totally rejecting Jesus's message. From that perspective, it is clear that the liberal approach has failed. Meanwhile I find the theological perspective compelling: God's approach as shown by the Old Testament, the emphasis of Jesus's teaching and the content of the sermons recorded in Acts - seem to strongly suggest that the message presented by the church needs to have more warning to it than 'When you're ready for God's love in your life, it will be there for you'. Yes, that is true - but it is a long way from the WHOLE truth. Does that help you understand a little more of where I'm coming from? |
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