"Evolution, the Gospel of Judas and the Indians"
I have recently been reading through 2Cor. As a result I have been struck in my "inner man" with the stewardship of reconciliation, which has been graciously given me. My framing crew is steeped in depravity, each day demonstrating a total disregard, of which I would deem hatred, for God.
Thursday at work I tried to take the message of reconciliation to my boss as we worked side by side all day. I was quickly reminded of Paul's total context where he writes, "Who is sufficient for these things"? I tried to engage him with a heart of sincerity speaking the words of Christ with affectionate love. However, I began to be discouraged. My boss was, once again, referring to evolution, the Gospel of Judas, and the American Indians as proof to why all religion is insufficient. His approach was that since God, (if there is one) did not create mankind then he has no "right" to "be so assumptious" as to say that "all men would reject him" if he showed himself to them. I proceeded to demonstrate that since God did make all men it is nothing of the assumptious sort for God to know all men including their hatred of him.
When I asked him about his perspective on the words of Jesus in the NT he quickly referred to the new "Gospel of Judas" as proof positive that conspiracy does exist! Therefore, no Gospel, NT or otherwise is "purely authentic". When I pushed him on the words of Jesus being that, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no one comes but by me" he responded, "so your telling me that everyone without Jesus is completey @&$%-ed!" To which I kindly, but forcefully retorted, "YES", that is what He is saying. My boss quickly brought up the American Indians and how God is utterly infair and not loving if he would send men who have not had a chance to know him to hell. His estimation was that if God is a human God, then it is certainly unfair of him to send people to hell if they have not heard of Jesus! I responded, like any good calvinist would, Who are you O' Man!
For the sake of not wearing you out with this story I will cut the blog short here and just say two last things: (1) We must be aware of these present day attacks upon the bible. I know, I know, it is not completely worth all of our efforts, but hey, My boss only pursued formal education through highschool (barely) and he is fully aware and capable of interacting with current issues and debate, (2) We must witness to those who God has brought upon us, but how? It is a challenge in real life to engage dead men with a living Gospel, we must utterly pray for these individuals and pray specifically that God will unleash his sovereign grace upon them and "irresistably" arrest their souls. This is the ministry of reconciliation, "who is sufficient for these things"?
Have you any edifying witness experiences for me?
Thursday at work I tried to take the message of reconciliation to my boss as we worked side by side all day. I was quickly reminded of Paul's total context where he writes, "Who is sufficient for these things"? I tried to engage him with a heart of sincerity speaking the words of Christ with affectionate love. However, I began to be discouraged. My boss was, once again, referring to evolution, the Gospel of Judas, and the American Indians as proof to why all religion is insufficient. His approach was that since God, (if there is one) did not create mankind then he has no "right" to "be so assumptious" as to say that "all men would reject him" if he showed himself to them. I proceeded to demonstrate that since God did make all men it is nothing of the assumptious sort for God to know all men including their hatred of him.
When I asked him about his perspective on the words of Jesus in the NT he quickly referred to the new "Gospel of Judas" as proof positive that conspiracy does exist! Therefore, no Gospel, NT or otherwise is "purely authentic". When I pushed him on the words of Jesus being that, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no one comes but by me" he responded, "so your telling me that everyone without Jesus is completey @&$%-ed!" To which I kindly, but forcefully retorted, "YES", that is what He is saying. My boss quickly brought up the American Indians and how God is utterly infair and not loving if he would send men who have not had a chance to know him to hell. His estimation was that if God is a human God, then it is certainly unfair of him to send people to hell if they have not heard of Jesus! I responded, like any good calvinist would, Who are you O' Man!
For the sake of not wearing you out with this story I will cut the blog short here and just say two last things: (1) We must be aware of these present day attacks upon the bible. I know, I know, it is not completely worth all of our efforts, but hey, My boss only pursued formal education through highschool (barely) and he is fully aware and capable of interacting with current issues and debate, (2) We must witness to those who God has brought upon us, but how? It is a challenge in real life to engage dead men with a living Gospel, we must utterly pray for these individuals and pray specifically that God will unleash his sovereign grace upon them and "irresistably" arrest their souls. This is the ministry of reconciliation, "who is sufficient for these things"?
Have you any edifying witness experiences for me?
posted by adam at 10:11 AM
4 Comments:
Adam,
This is James Gordon. I just started my own blog recently. The address is www.james-gordon.blogspot.com. I have had the same basic thing happen to me recently at school. There is a man in several of my classes who thinks that "organized religion is the greatest tragedy in human history." So, as you can imagine, I have had some pretty interesting discussions with him. I agree that it is difficult to share the Word with the unsaved. However, a verse of encouragement came to mind. Hebrews 4:12: "For wthe word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." Truly, we are not sufficient, but thankfully, God is faithful to effectually call men out of darkness and into light while giving them ears to hear the wonderful Gospel.
God Bless,
James
James it is good to see you are persevering in the faith. I hope that you will enjoy my "blogspot" and I look forward to more interaction.
Thanks for the encouraging word, it is a blessing to know that there are many of us expressing Christ to a lost and dying world.
Adam,
And it is truly a lost and dying world! One thing about attending a public school is that you see how bad things really are. One beneficial thing has been the opportunity to see where post-modernism is coming from. I am truly at the origin of it whenever I sit in class. It helps me to understand why people can look at the Bible and say that there is no definite way to interpret it or know that it means anything. Anyway, I will definitely keep reading your posts. I found your demonination crisis interesting and encouraging. I hope to hear more about it.
Have a great Easter,
James
Thomas,
thanks for the post. I found your words both encouraging and convicting. Encouraging in the fact that God is the one who has the ability to make alive, not my words; convicting in the fact that God uses the words of His people as means to bring about the salvation of the lost. Thus I need to be diligent in study so that I may be prepared to answer for my hope of salvation, knowing that God alone is the one who begins the work of salvation in a person; and he will complete His work.
Rob
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