The Pugnacious Irishman

Update: 6p.m:  I finish this post, and go to church.  Wouldn’t you know…..the sermon today directly dealt with what Alcorn posted.  The text was from 1 Corinthians 1:22-26.  Our pastor brought some spot-on comments on the text that underscored the need to not soften or hide the message for popularity’s sake (he made some other great applications too).

Before the start of the sermon, our pastor showed a video poll recently taken at UCI.  In the video, the videographers set up a cross in the middle of campus and asked passers-by “what do you think of when you see the cross?”

As luck (or God?) would have it, soon a rather amusing scene emerged.  A “fundie” open-aired preacher showed up with one of his gargantuan-sized placards, proclaiming fire and brimstone for all those looking on.  Some just walked by, others engaged angrily with the preacher, while others, with a “whatever-floats-your-boat” attitude, shrugged their shoulders.  Soon, a young male, preaching the love of God, counter-preached.

Since I graduated from an uber-secular university (Ohio State University), it’s a scene I’m very familiar with, one with near archetypal characters:   the old, moustached “fundie” preacher, complete with Olympus-sized sign; the angry counter-debater; the young, male counter-preacher, loudly and passionately proclaiming Jesus’ love (for some reason, the church I attend at the time, whether in CA or OH, supplies this character); the amused mocker; the relativistic secularistic passerby; the nice Christian who thinks its “so sad.”

Many times, Christians respond to scenes like that by throwing out the baby with the bathwater (sorry for the cliche’…I normally try to avoid them like the plague): by disparaging open-air preaching, downplaying the existence of hell, by saying meaningless drivel like “it’s not a religion; it’s a relationship,” or by waxing eloquent about how judging, narrow-mindedness, and exclusivity are sinful and unChristian (never mind the judgmentalness and exclusive nature of that very statement).

Sometimes it’s subtle, for example: “hey, I’m normal.  I’m not going to tell you you’re going to hell.  I just want to love on others.”

Suffice it to say, the Church cannot go this direction.  Unless we want to become utterly irrelevant and become just another religious club, we must maintain the edge of the Gospel.  Most importantly, we cannot shirk our responsibility to take the Gospel *message* to *all,* even (especially) when doing so risks great offense.

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Randy Alcorn posted on that question recently on his blog.

An exerpt:

“The one that I’ve been thinking about is that to be a follower of Christ you need to be willing to be hated.”

“Of course, this does NOT mean being hateful. Nor does it mean seeking to be hated. Or having a persecution complex, so you think people don’t like you because you’re following Christ, when they actually don’t like you because you’re an idiot.”

“We should certainly be nice, and it’s sad when Christians aren’t. But it’s also sad when we imagine ‘niceness’ has greater impact than it really does. Niceness is not the gospel. Some modern concepts of evangelism are little more than being nice to your neighbor and loaning him your hedge clipper and hoping that somehow he will come to Christ without you actually having to say the WORDS of the gospel which would run the risk of him thinking you’re weird. Our good example is important, but it’s not sufficient. There are actual truths that must be grappled with in surrendering to Jesus (1 Cor 15:1-6). And these truths are expressed in words.

“I’m all for audience analysis and understanding the perceptions of this generation and speaking in a way they can understand. But instead of letting the world set our agenda and the ground rules of what we can and can’t say, let’s ask the Lord how best to take the timeless message of the gospel to these people.”

“But, and I say this coming out of some of the conversations I’ve had with cool Christians, the answer is not altering the contents of the gospel to make it something everyone can easily agree with. If the gospel becomes nothing more than the reflection of a worldview they already have, it has nothing to offer them. It’s God’s gospel. Given the price He paid on the cross to offer it, He has the right to say difficult things such as Jesus is the only way to the Father and we are hell-bound without him. That message is not popular and never will be. Our job isn’t to edit the message, but to deliver it.”

“Among some believers the new definition of a good Christian is holding your beliefs privately, not challenging those who publicly share beliefs that dishonor Christ, and avoiding controversy at all costs lest we be perceived as “those kind of Christians” who hate gays, oppose abortion, favor inquisitions and live to burn witches. We so much want the world to like us that we end up distancing ourselves from the historic Christian faith, from biblical doctrine (including hell), and from churches (because they’re all hypocrites except us). We end up making ourselves indistinguishable from the world, and therefore have nothing to offer the world.”

“Sometimes we assume the moral high ground by rolling our eyes at those street preachers, congratulating ourselves that we aren’t like that. Street preaching’s not my thing, but I can give you names of people who have come to Christ through street preaching. It’s more of a stretch to name those who’ve come to Christ through Christians who think it’s not cool to tell people the biblical truth that they need to repent of their sins (a synonym for evils; basically a big insult), and turn to Christ to be saved from hell.”

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I highly recommend reading the whole piece.

This is a post every follower of Christ–especially those below 35–need to read.  The love of the praises of men is a disease that has affected the church for too long.  We need to put off childish things and embrace the full counsel of the Gospel, not just the parts that we are comfortable with.

I haven’t read the books UnChristian or They Like Jesus but not the Church, but I have observed the reactions to those books.  We somehow think we are solving the problem by shying away from boldly proclaiming the gospel and being “nice” like Alcorn points out in his blog.  This might solve the problem in that it improves our image in a certain limited way, but its the cure that kills the patient, and its very….well….unChristian.

“Getting out of your comfort zone” is a very popular cliche’ these days in many corners of the Church.  Well, if you are serious about getting out of your comfort zone, I recommend picking up the gauntlet Alcorn lays down.

HT: Boundlessline

Check out the following related posts:

A Man Who Changed the World

Penn Lays Down a Gauntlet

Cross-less Christ

Nothing New Under the Sun

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