Neither am I
Submitted by Dirk Gently on June 14 2000 20:56:11
In reply to Hmm - not completely convinced submitted by Forgiven on June 14 2000 15:57:56
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Seems to me as if there's a lot more entailed in Matthew 28:19-20 than parroting the 4 Spiritual Laws. Discipling, baptizing, teaching, observing commandments: these things are not likely to take place by handing out tracts on a street corner. It's true that American evangelicals are very efficient at scattering seed, but if the ground has not been broken up and irrigated first, will the seed take root? Will it survive drought and weeds? Will it finally bear much fruit? To change analogies, isn't it possible that the methodology many people use to "spread the gospel" is a form of onanism? Yes, seed is being scattered, but where are the sons of righteousness? Why does America have the highest per capita incarceration rate of any industrialized nation? Why are there still race riots? Why do people still die on the streets in America? Every so often, the pollsters survey the public about their religious beliefs. In the mid-eighties, something like 78% of the American population claimed to believe that Jesus is the Son of God. I knew an African who came to North America to study. He was shocked to see the strip clubs on the main street of my city because he thought this was a "Christian nation." I fear that his analysis of African Christianity may be all too true of the situation in North America. It covers the continent, but it's only a few inches deep. Perhaps it is better to live in an avowedly "post-Christian" society such as England than it is to have the illusion of godliness. Dirk |
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