Successful Evangelization…

I talked to a Baptist family member the other day as well… and as I was sharing something withhim a discussion I’d had with Pumpkin (dd almost 16) over the philosophies embraced by our country, particularly during the 20th century through today, how that had impacted our society and what it meant for our future, he brought up Rick Warren’s hosting of a debate for the presidential candidates as an example to illustrate what he thought was my point.  He thought it was so wonderful and spoke to how godly our country had become that it would ask a pastor like Rick Warren to mc such a debate.

Not exactly.  Rick Warren and the debate are a good example but not of how good Christians are at evangelizing.  Those philosophies I mentioned having been embraced by our country were individualism, hedonism, and minimalism.  These have permeated not only the secular culture but have ‘evangelized’ Christians as well… so well  and so subtly in fact, that many Christians who’s lives and attitudes are very much ruled by these philosophies would argue that they are not guilty of holding such anti-Christian philosophies at all. 

The fact that our individualistic, hedonistic, and minimalistic country is so comfortable with Rick Warren hosting a secular debate tells me something… but it isn’t so much about our country as about Rick Warren. 

I am guilty of these sinful philosophies myself and am working at rooting them out of my own life. 

I had no idea that the ‘rugged individualism’ that was held up as a virtue  when I was growing up was in fact a vice more often than not.  I did not realize that the desire to protect the rights of the individual could become such a ferocious and ungodly monstrosity that any godliness in the effort had long been cast by the wayside. I did not anticipate the rights of the individual taking precedent over the good of society as a whole or even over right and wrong.   Freedom to do what is right, that which we once held so precious, has become freedom to live a Burger King life… ‘your way, right away’ no matter who it hurts while all the while buying the lie that (especially if private) it hurts no one.

Christ calls us to die to self. He calls us to give up not just small things but even our very lives for others.  We can not serve two masters.  We can not embrace self and die to self at the same time. There is a place for the individual in that death to self, but not to the detriment of others and not when right and wrong must be redefined in order to satisfy the wants or perceived needs of that individual.

I did not realize that I had bought into the pleasure seeking greed of hedonism… no idea that my tendency to laziness, to indulging in things that pleased my senses, to over-indulging in things that tasted good, were indicators of a philosophy in direct opposition to the godliness I sought in my spiritual life. 

Christ calls us to take up our cross.  He does not call us to health or wealth or pleasure in sensuous (think 5 senses here please – not just or even primarily sexual) things.  He calls us to embrace suffering.  Christ suffered.  He suffered not only in His Passion, but during His life as well.  So too, in being transformed into Christ-likeness, are we called to suffer.  This calls us far beyond the shallow pleasures of hedonism into a deep and lasting joy.

It never occurred to me that the ‘least necessary’ wasn’t ‘good enough’.  I was not only settling for, but SEEKING mediocrity in every area of my life without ever realizing I was doing so.  In fact, I would have argued vehemently with anyone suggesting the Truth. 

Christ calls us to give our very best, to give everything we have.  Even if our work involves changing diapers or emptying bedpans or picking up garbage in front of homes or along the highways, regardless how dirty or anonymous and unrecognized the job, Christ calls us to give our best… We are called to excellence. Our best may not be the same as someone else’s… but we aren’t called to be the best, only to give OUR best. ‘Good enough’ isn’t an option for us.

Rick Warren moderating a presidential debate is far from evidence of how well we Christians have evangelized our society… it is rather evidence of how well some of us have been evangelized by it… and we don’t even realize it.

God have mercy.

VBS or *Don’t* Skip Verse 6…

So I’m teaching the 5th grade class at VBS this summer.  We’re using a Protestant product called Rainforest Adventure. Our seminarian had told me that they were planning modifications to add more depth among other things.  Someone else had given me this little booklet of five pages that covered each of the days, one leaflet per day.  I took one look at that and said whoa, this can NOT be it.  There is NO WAY I can make this last 30 minutes, there’s nothing here! So I spoke again to the Seminarian and asked if the VBS planning meeting had been held and if there were more materials. (Please oh please oh please…) He said there had not yet been a meeting but that he could give me the packet of materials they had prepared. *Que the Hallelujah Chorus*

As he briefed me on the packet he showed me a page which detailed the rearrangement of the topics on subsequent days and the added materials recommended for our use.  He pointed at the first day which covered love using John 15: 1-17.  Beside this was an admonition in all caps, bolded, and underlined, which stated “DO NOT SKIP VERSE 6!”  He took care to point that out to me.  I said to him that I was not in the habit of skipping verses when I read scripture.  He said yes, but don’t skip verse 6.  I said WHY would I skip verse 6?? He said well, the original materials tell you to skip verse 6, but we do not want the teachers to skip verse 6.  I said ooooooooooooh ok then, thinking to self ‘not a problem because I DON’T SKIP VERSES WHEN READING SCRIPTURE.’

Today I sat down to work on VBS lesson plans and, remembering the ’skip this verse’ exchange, dug out my little booklet to see if that verse was skipped on what I had.  Sure enough, it was.

With the lovely new packet of materials the Priest and Seminarian had put together, I started my prep at the top, opening my Bible to the scriptures in John.  As I began to read, I looked forward to that verse with great interest, wondering what on earth needed to be ‘cut’ from the scripture being studied by the children.  Then I began to laugh and thought, ‘Of. Course!’ What can I say, it was either laugh or cry.

Remember now, this is a verse in the gospel of John.  In fact, if your Holy Bible has the words of Christ in red, THIS verse would be in red.  In fact, there are red verses before it and red verses after it so THIS verse being in red wouldn’t be a printing error.  So WHY would we be advised EVER to ’skip and not read’ the very words of our Lord Jesus Christ?

Well, let’s take a wee peek at what those words are and see, shall we? (I’ll even give you a little context.)

5

5 I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.

6 Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither; people will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned.

7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.

That verse might be kind of hard to reconcile with the Once Saved Always Saved theology to which so many Protestant denominations adhere. Still, wow.  It’s one thing to know that people have stripped out scripture that they don’t agree with (ie the Deuterocanonical books and those pesky bits in Daniel and Esther).  It’s one thing to know that people still strip away and deny the truth of the scripture they’ve kept by twisting and misrepresenting the teachings therein. After all, it’s somehow detached from us, historical or theoretical.  It’s something else entirely to see it done so blatantly, in practice, and in order to deceive children. 

What was that Christ said about letting children come to Him?  I think He said something about causing children to sin and a millstone as well (Luke 17:1-2) or are we skipping that scripture too? Skipping scripture is a dangerous thing… sort of like giving a mouse a cookie… skip one and you have to skip another… and another… like this one in Matthew (4:4)…

4

He said in reply, “It is written: ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.’

(Emphasis mine.) Interesting how all those scriptures you’d have to skip to be comfortable skipping the first one are ALSO straight from the mouth of our Lord (and in a Holy Bible those are all in red). Wonder if that is why so many Protestants I talk to quote Paul more than they quote Christ.

Dunno about you, but I don’t skip verses when I read scripture… It isn’t life unless it is lived by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God… and He came that I might have life, and that more abundantly (John 10:10)!

Oh, and about not having enough material? Not a problem anymore… Now I don’t have enough time!

Means of Salvation

… concerning salvation, eternal life, new birth, and justification scripture details the following means:

By Believing in Christ (Jn 3:16; Acts 16:31)?

By Repentance (Acts 2:38; 2 Pet 3:9)?

By Baptism (John 3:5; Acts 2:38; 22:16; 1 Pet 3:21; Titus 3:5)?

By the work of the Spirit (John 3:5; 2 Cor 3:6)?

By declaring with our mouths (Luke 12:8; Rom 10:9)?

By coming to a knowledge of the Truth (1 Tim 2:4; Heb 10:26)?

By Works (Rom 2:6, 7; James 2:21, 24-25)?

By Grace (Acts 15:11; Eph 2:8)?

By His blood (Rom 5:9; Heb 9:22)?

By His righteousness (Rom 5:17; 2 Pet 1:1)?

By His cross (Eph 2:16; Col 2:14)?

“Can we cut any one of these out of the list and proclaim it alone as the means of salvation? Can we be saved without faith? without God’s grace? without repentance? without baptism? without the Spirit? These are all involved and necessary; not one of them can be dismissed as a means of obtaining eternal life. Neither can one be emphasized to the exclusion of another. They are all involved in salvation and entry into the Church. The Catholic Church does not divide these various elements of salvation up, overemphasizing some while ignoring others; rather she holds them all in their fullness.” (forum post quoting author Stephen Ray, Catholic.com)