Keep it Simple...

I was engaged today by two subjects which prompted me to once again admonish my fellow Christian brothers to keep the main thing, the main thing. The good news of the glorious grace of God in the death and resurrection of Jesus is the subject that we must plant our flag on. Too many secondary and tertiary issues are taken as primary points of debate by Christians when they talk with unbelievers. If the body of Christ gets bogged down in trying to convince unregenerate people about the age of the earth, specific eschatological views, or mode of baptism…the central message of the gospel will not be communicated. By giving the two examples below, I hope that we will be reminded to put aside the non-essentials of the faith and focus on the graciousness of a loving God as we interact with the lost people around us.

My first issue today was when I heard about the recent discovery of a fossil that is being hailed as the “missing link” on the evolutionary tree. You can read about this at National Geographic’s webpage HERE. I found out about this as I listened to a podcast from a Christian thinker that I regularly glean insight from. He is an old earther, yet he is not a theistic evolutionist. Therefore, he was working hard to discredit the data about this fossil which is being reported. His audience is primarily Christian and I felt that his discussion of the subject was in an appropriate “in-house” setting. However, it reminded me of the many ardent Christians out there who are young earth creationists and who believe that man walked with dinosaurs, too often they are willing to die for their specific views. In fact, I know a gentleman who once told me that if all of creation wasn’t made in (7) 24-hour periods then we might as well not believe anything in the Bible…???

It is exactly that kind of dogmatic position on these issues that I find so despairing. I have had many conversations with non-believers who will often bring this issue up to me. I am more than willing to concede that God may have orchestrated evolutionary means to bring about life over billions of years. I will explain that he could have personally interacted with his creation in order to develop hominoids and that these animals came to a point where God decided to infuse one with a soul (his breath) – thus birthing Adam, the first human. The point is…how Adam got to be is not important to comminicate the gospel, only that he DID get to be. If we will concede some non-essential points for the sake of discussion, then we can move beyond them to address the real hurt, the deep longing, and the honest questions that people experience about their lives. That is where we can bring in the message of mercy as played out through the passion of Jesus.

Secondly, I was talking with a non-believer today and he told me about his friend who came to visit him for the weekend. The friend brought his wife and the three of them planned to go to the movies. Apparently, there was some confusion and miscommunication in the situation because the friend’s wife thought the movie was Monday and my co-worker had already bought tickets for Sunday. When they tried to work it out, the wife told my co-worker that she couldn’t go to the movies on Sunday because of the Sabbath. She suggested that he go to church with her instead. My co-worker was gracious and he attended church with the couple (a local PCUSA church). Then, as my co-worker suggested that they go to the store and grab some groceries for lunch, the wife responded that she couldn’t shop on the Sabbath because it caused others to work…???

The bizarre beliefs of this woman had an obvious impact on my co-worker. He asked me if that was the regular understanding of the Sabbath. I explained the difference between the Jewish Sabbath and the Lords Day. I then explained her apparent confusion since she was a Christian strictly observing the Sabbath on the Lords Day. I asked him if they had any other religious discussion. He said that they had a short talk about women preachers (another contentious subject). Apparently, this woman never spoke to my co-worker about Jesus and our need for salvation. She was so busy with her legalistic mentalities that she missed an opportunity to have any impact (positive impact) on his view of faith. I hope that my conversation with him today will be the beginning of some more open dialogue about weighty matters.

To conclude, I was hit today with two examples of making minor things out to be major things and it troubled me. I am not suggesting that the details of doctrine are not important – they are. But, debating the secondary and tertiary issues should be reserved for discussion within the body. When talking to unbelievers, we would do best to address their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs through simple gospel proclamation in word and in deed.

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes..."
Romans 1:16