Posted by Patrick Corkum on June 7, 2010
There is a word that stirs emotion and can make your blood boil, annoy the heck out of you, or make you excited. That word is evangelism. I must admit that my instinctual response to the word is not a good one. This is one of those things where you have to suppress your instinctual nature in light of what you know. The problem with the word that triggers the instinctual response in me is all of the things that are done in Christian evangelism. People have good intentions, at least I think they do. However, people have changed evangelism into sales and marketing of Christianity. I am going to present my issues first, so don’t stop and get all inflamed at my issues before reading the entire post.
Top Ten Issues with Christian Evangelism Practices
- People try to instill fear in order to convert (i.e. fire and brimstone)
- People make it completely emotional (i.e. Jesus will be your BFF)
- People make it all about “being saved” (i.e. Say a prayer and you’ll go to heaven)
- People use language that makes no sense to non-Christians (i.e. sanctification, salvation, justification, glory, trinity, grace, mercy, etc…)
- People selling places in heaven (i.e. pamphlets asking if you’re going to heaven)
- Pamphlets
- People who preach about nothing but what God hates
- People tout the powers of the Bible but don’t know what it really says
- People ask “Do you know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior?”
- Altar Calls
Okay, now calm down… take a deep breath and read my explanations. My reasons for those things being issues are primarily based upon using Jesus’ ministry as a model. However, first and foremost, it must be understood what evangelism is supposed to be about. It is supposed to be about preaching the good news. It is not about conversion or assimilation or making Christians. That stuff you just need to leave up to God. Our role is to preach the good news (and I don’t mean from a pulpit or soap box) with our words and actions, and make disciples of all nations. I’ll get back to that in a minute.
- Fear? Seriously, fear? This has many problems. First, it’s like trying to sell a boat to someone in the middle of the desert because a fairy tale said it would rain so bad that the desert would become a sea (Look at it from their perspective). Secondly, it is not the message that the Christ preached. He preached a message about love and forgiveness. If you really think about it, the thought of becoming a Christian should instill fear for multiple reasons. #1 – You will be persecuted. #2 – It means giving up control.
- The emotional factor just drives me nuts. I know what you’re going to say: “it reaches people”. I have nothing against the emotional factor, except when everything else is excluded. You cannot sell Jesus. He is not for sale. Yes, we need to be eternally grateful for what He has done for us. However, we still need to fear Him. He is still our judge, holy and completely righteous. What He requires of us is not simply thanksgiving, but a life changing faith in Him. So life changing is this faith that He describes it as being born again.
- Can we get past this concept of “being saved”? Let’s call it something like “becoming a disciple”. After all, this is what God has told us that he wants. People think that you hit this point somewhere and BAM, you’re in. I am not going to say that there is zero merit to this, but Paul talks about running the good race. Races are not points in time. However, modern evangelism focuses itself completely on putting your running shoes on. I know, you’re probably thinking “that is horrible”. It is about the long haul. We need to get the concept of “point of conversion” out of our heads because we are limiting God based upon our understanding of space and time.
- I understand this one all too well being a “computer guy”. Doctors and nurses probably also understand this. If you aren’t in the group that speaks the language, you are going to shut off whenever someone uses it. In the computer or medical world, people are just going to ask you to speak in plain English. However, in the religion world, people are going to simply tune out. This is a really hard one to do, but it must be done.
- Jesus spoke about the kingdom of heaven. He spoke about what it is like. He stirred curiosity. However, heaven is sold as some kind of mystical place that your spirit goes when you die to in order to be in complete bliss surrounded by white fluffy clouds. Somewhere the concept of new creation and resurrection has disappeared. I am not going to claim to understand it all, because I most definitely do not. What I do know, however, is that the gospel can not be simplified into the word “heaven”.
- Pamphlets are a great way to be impersonal. I wonder if Jesus passed out pamphlets with lunch when he fed the multitudes?
- Yes, God hates things. He hates sin. That being said, he is also for many things. Christians are know for what we are against instead of what we are for. It is horrible. We need to stop pointing out the needle in other people’s eyes and start looking at the spear in our own. It’s like trying to tell people about a car by telling people: “It doesn’t fly”, “it doesn’t like going off road”, “it really doesn’t like it if you brake hard”, etc… Would you be interested in a car if that was the message? What about “It goes 0 to 60 in 3 seconds flat”, “it is completely maintenance free”, “it is stylish and comfortable”?
- This is a big one for me. There are people that can quote to you more Bible verses than you can shake a stick at. They have a verse for every possible thing that you can throw at them. The problem is that they are completely out of context. Try taking a newspaper and reading one out of every ten sentences. You’re probably going to get a story that is just a little bit inaccurate. Secondly, it is not the words that are important, in and of themselves, but the whole story that they tell and all the parts in between.
- If I am not a Christian, asking me if I know Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior is going to tick me off. Has anyone encountered someone who says “No, I don’t, thank you for asking, I think I will do that.” Nowadays, people generally have heard about Christianity. They know it exists. If you’re not one, you probably think Christians are nutcases and that Jesus is a fictional crutch. Asking that question simply adds fuel to their fire.
- Altar calls are touchy. I know many people who think that they are the bees knees. However, I think that they are disturbing. #1 – They play to people’s emotions. #2 – They feed off of people’s desires to get attention. #3 – They are based upon that “point of conversion” and not about the race. #4 – It has nothing to do with long-term discipleship. #5 – It uses peer pressure. I could go on and on as to why I think most altar calls are a disgrace. Unfortunately, they have become such a huge staple of evangelism that people will only see what they think is good and nothing else. What’s my suggestion? I really like when people offer to give the people the opportunity to make a decision to take a step and they offer someone to help them. I don’t think they should raise their hand, come on stage or “commit their lives to Christ” right then and there. There is a way to do it right, but mostly it is not done that way.
In summary, let’s preach the good news…. all of it…. and make disciples of all nations, and let God take care of the rest.
Posted by Patrick Corkum on May 1, 2010
As I am studying the Greek language, I am realizing how much translations are interpretations. It is not really possible to simply translate one language into another. Concepts exist in some languages where they don’t exist in others. There are also idioms that exist in languages (and cultures) that don’t make sense in others. A great example is the Hebrew idiom that is used in the Old Testament that is literally translated “long of the nostrils”. Huh? Well, this is translated in the English as “slow to anger”.
So, the one that has been bothering me is James 1:27. The reason that it is bothering me is that the way it is translated in English Bibles is an interpretation. I don’t want to get too heady, but bear with me. The NIV translates the Greek as:
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
This would lead one to believe that keeping oneself from being polluted by the world is a separate command. Now, up to the “and to keep”, I am not going to get into… but let’s look at the Greek for a minute…. don’t worry, I will walk you through it.
“θρησκεία καθαρὰ καὶ ἀμίαντος παρὰ τῷ θεῷ καὶ πατρὶ αὕτη ἐστίν, ἐπισκέπτεσθαι ὀρφανοὺς καὶ χήρας ἐν τῇ θλίψει αὐτῶν, ἄσπιλον ἑαυτὸν τηρεῖν ἀπὸ τοῦ κόσμου.”
See the comma? Well, that isn’t there in the manuscripts, but that is okay, I want to use it as a reference point. So let’s start with “ἄσπιλον ἑαυτὸν”. The translation that the NIV has for that works fine… it is translated as “oneself from being polluted”, perhaps “himself unstained”. Himself is the noun there and it is in what is called the accusative. In other words, it is the object of the verb, that is why it shows up in the English after the verb. The verb here is “τηρεῖν”. This verb is in what is called the infinitive. It means “to keep”, like “to keep his commandments.” So, what is an infinitive verb? It makes the verb function as a noun and conveys the concept of “in order that” or “for the purpose of”. Read here to understand what the infinitive means. “ἀπὸ τοῦ κόσμου” means “from the world”. So, where does that leave us? My translation!
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress in order to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
I simply replaced the “and”, which does not occur in the Greek with the concept of what the infinitive is. Now, this translation conveys something COMPLETELY different than the NIV. My translation conveys that looking after orphans and widows in their distress is how you remain unstained by the world.
Does this sound weird? Well, people have been testifying to the truth of that argument. Kay Warren (Rick Warren’s wife) has an entire talk where she explains how she has become “gloriously ruined” by caring for orphans and widows. What she means by that is that she cares nothing about the culture and the trivialities of life anymore. She doesn’t want to talk about anything but God’s heart for the orphan and widow. She wrote an article here.
James is not trying to tell us to do two separate things. People are trying to figure out how to keep themselves from becoming “of the world” and he is telling us how. Sorry if this was really heady.
Posted by Patrick Corkum on April 2, 2010
So, I went fishing the other day and was out for a few hours. I fished for a good hour and a half casting in my lure over and over and over again in different spots, hoping to get a bite. Then, I decided to cast somewhere that I didn’t think anything would bite, and wham…. I wasn’t ready and missed setting the hook. About a half hour later of repeatedly casting and reeling, another cast and wham, missed again. Another half hour or so later… same thing. You end up getting so accustomed to dealing with the mundane that when the sacred shows up, you miss it, you just are not ready. Are you ready or are you too caught up in what is going on in your life everyday to set the hook when the time comes?
Posted by Patrick Corkum on April 1, 2010
Last year, at church, we decided to do a Seder dinner at church. A Seder dinner is the traditional Passover meal celebrated in Jewish households. What astonishes me is that the Christian church generally does not celebrate this. For the life of me, I just cannot understand why we don’t celebrate the Angel of Death passing over us. Jesus certainly celebrated the Passover. Although there are some who are uncertain, the consensus is that Jesus’ Last Supper was a Seder dinner. This is where he broke bread (Matza) and passed the cup (wine, not grape juice) saying this is my body, eat; and this is my blood, drink. Unfortunately, this year, we are not doing it at home. However, next year will begin an annual celebration for us of a Christian Seder at home on Passover. Experience it once and you too may want to start this long-practiced tradition in your home.
Baruch Ata Adonai, Eloheynu Melekh haolam
<Blessed are you Lord, our God, Ruler of the Universe>
Posted by Patrick Corkum on March 27, 2010
In American society, we are bent on being entertained. It seems as if though we won’t do anything if it is not entertaining to us or in some way leads us to entertainment. It seems to be so much the case, that it has found its way into mainstream Christianity as the norm. I am not saying that there is not a place for it, but it seems to have proliferated to all aspects of the church. The church uses entertainment for all kinds of purposes. People don’t seem to want to go to church unless the “entertainment” factor is good. It is almost as if the measure of a church is how good the band is or how well the pastor preaches. In most Protestant churches, kids get seperated from their parents because the entertainment isn’t geared to them in the “main” service, so they are shuffled off to Sunday School. I dare someone to point to a Middle School or High School ministry that doesn’t have entertainment as a primary focus of reaching and keeping kids coming. This seems also to be one of the primary methods of evangelism <a big word for telling non-believers the Good News (gospel)>.
So, here’s my question. <drum roll please>. Are we okay with this? Is this the what Christianity is about? Is it about God entertaining us? Or, rather, is it about the holiness and awesomeness of God? Are we focusing on the right thing (i.e. what we get out of it)? What do you think?
Posted by Patrick Corkum on March 25, 2010
Okay, so this may seem like a stretch at first. I mean after all, how could Jack Bauer (you know… from the Fox hit show 24) be anything like Moses. Well, during my class last night (The Pentateuch), I had this thought about how similar they really are. Hear me out:
- Jack: In good with the top-dog (the President)
- Moses: In good with the top-dog (God)
- Jack: Constantly saving the people (the Americans)
- Moses: Constantly saving the people (the Israelites)
- Jack: Does something deserving punishment and receives mercy (you know… like torturing people and going rogue)
- Moses: Does something deserving punishment and receives mercy (goes to get water from a rock, hitting it twice)
- Jack: Bears the burdens of the people to his own peril willingly (you know… always willing to accept the consequences)
- Moses: Bears the burdens of the people to his own peril willingly (remember how he tells God that he might as well not be with him if he is not with the people?)
Okay… am I really that crazy? Jack Bauer is really just like Moses!