Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Evangelicals Are ...

Here is another attempt at a Word Cloud, this time in a tabular format. These are the suggestions from Google to the search terms "Evangelicals Are", followed by each letter of the alphabet. Scary and food for thought. And it is not all the culture's fault. Nor is it entirely a case of the world hating us because we follow Jesus. We have forgotten how to be salt and light.





SEARCH TERMS GOOGLE SUGGESTIONS
Evangelicals Are  Dangerous
Annoying
Evil 
Wrong
A Cult
Evangelicals Are  A Annoying
A Cult
A Hate Group
A Threat to National Security
Are Evangelicals and Pentecostals the Same
Evangelicals Are  B Bigots
Brainwashed
Are Evangelicals Born Again
Are Evangelicals Baptists
Evangelicals Band
Evangelicals Are  C Crazy
Creepy
Cults
Are Evangelicals Christian
Are Evangelicals Calvinist
Evangelicals Are  D Dangerous
Destroying Christianity
Dumb
Are Evangelicals Declining
Evangelicals Definition
Evangelicals Are  E Evil
Are Evangelicals Extremists
Evangelicals Evolution
Evangelicals Election
Evangelicals Engaging Emergent
Evangelicals Are  F Are Evangelicals Fundamentalists
Evangelicals for Social Action
Evangelicals Focus Their Christianity on What Experience
Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding
Evangelicals For Romney
Evangelicals Are  G Getting High
Are Evangelicals Growing
Are Evangelicals Going to Vote for Romney
Evangelicals Gay Marriage
Evangelicals Gun Control
Evangelicals Are  H Hypocrites
Heretics
Hateful
Hypocritical
Are Evangelicals Homophobic
Evangelicals Are  I Insane
Idiots
Ignorant
How Many Evangelicals Are There in America
Are Evangelicals Mentally Ill
Evangelicals Are  J Evangelicals Josh Jones
Evangelicals Jerusalem
Evangelicals Judgmental
Evangelicals Joining thr Catholic Church
Evangelicals Jokes
Evangelicals Are  K --------------
Evangelicals Are  L Losing
Are Evangelicals Liberal
Why Evangelicals Are Leaving the Church
Evangelicals Losing Ground
Evangelicals Latin America
Evangelicals Are  M Morons
Are Evangelicals Missing God At Church
Are Evangelicals Mentally Ill
Evangelicals Meaning
Evangelicals Music
Evangelicals Are  N Not Christian
Nuts
Evangelicals Now
Evangelicals Now Churches
Evangelicals Now Book Reviews
Evangelicals Are  O Evangelicals on the Canterbury Trail
Evangelicals Obama
Evangelicals on Romney
Evangelicals on Homosexuality
Evangelicals on Pope Francis
Evangelicals Are  P Pro-Trump
Protestants
Phony
Evangelicals Push Immigration Path
Evangelicals Politics
Evangelicals Are  Q Evangelicals Quotes
Evangelicals Quebec
Evangelicals Question Adam and Eve
Are Quakers Evangelicals
Evangelicals Are  R Racists
Ruining Christianity
Ruining America
Retarded
Are Evangelicals Reformed
Evangelicals Are  S Scary
Stupid
Satanists
Satanic
Are Evangelicals Supporting Romney
Evangelicals Are  T Terrorists
The Worst
Are Evangelicals Turning Catholic
Are Evangelicals the Antichrist
Evangelicals Who Are They
Evangelicals Are  U Evangelicals are UnCanadian
Evangelicals Uganda
Evangelicals Uganda Antigay
Evangelicals UK
Evangelicals Used to be Pro Choice
Evangelicals Are  V Are Evangelicals Voting For Romney
Why Evangelicals Are Vulnerable to Cults
Evangelicals vs Fundamentalists
Evangelicals vs Baptists
Evangelicals vs Protestant
Evangelicals Are  W Wrong
Weird
Evangelicals Who Are They
the Worst
Evangelicals Wiki
Evangelicals Are  X -------------
Evangelicals Are  Y Evangelicals You Don't Know
Evangelicals Youtube
Evangelicals You Are Wrong About Mental Illness
Evangelicals Yahoo
Evangelicals Young Earth
Evangelicals Are  Z Evangelicals Zionism

Francis and Contextualization

David Brooks has a great article in the New York Times on Pope Francis, even as he landed yesterday in the US.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/22/opinion/pope-francis-the-prince-of-the-personal.html?_r=1 


I think a great learning from Francis' life is how to contextualize the Gospel in the lives of the marginalized. We are all to often comfortable with the idea of contextualization using a culture's metaphors, images, stories, customs, traditions and so on , and not so much when it comes to identifying with those suffering from economic and social injustice. What greater contextualization could there be in the slums of Buenos Aires where the 10,000 pound gorilla is such injustice? Evangelicals can talk at length about ideological differences, but its hard to argue with someone who connects with people like Francis does, especially with the poor.

Monday, September 21, 2015

Contextual Witness to the Poor

Jesus told Peter to cast his nets out for a catch of fish despite experience and evidence told him it would be a waste of time. After the miracle that followed, Peter put his trust in Jesus.
Jesus fed the five thousand with seven loaves and two fish, but later told them that they are following him because he gave them food. He told them also that even Moses and the Jews who crossed the Red Sea were fed directly with manna from heaven, but they died. However, Jesus said he himself was the true bread from heaven eating which the believer lives eternally and shall not die.

To the rich young ruler who had many possessions, he asked to follow him after selling all his possessions.

Each conversion (or lack thereof) happens after a contextual presentation of the Savior.

If we believe that presenting the Savior to an unbeliever is the mission of God, then we must present it in her context. C gospel that is not contextual is just a set of facts. To believe these facts is to open the way to the Savior. To believe, these facts must enter into the context of the unbeliever. The Holy Spirit does this. Why should we, his followers, not do this as well? Is our job simply to state the apostles’ creed and back away?

If we are to contextualize the gospel, we must understand that such activity does not only take place in the form of challenging or engaging social customs, beliefs, religious ideas, philosophies, work and other aspects of life- but if the unbeliever’s most pressing context is social injustice, can a gospel that does not enter that context be real to the hearer?

If a man is unemployed, why shouldn’t the believing world strive to help him with a job? Isn’t that contextualization? Too often, we are merely comfortable with adapting the gospel message to the outward signs of cultural expression- music, storytelling, familiar images in a cultural setting, images, metaphors and so on. Jesus himself did this a lot through his parables. Too often, we do not think that standing with the poor or marginalized in their fight against social injustice is not actually contextualization, rather it just what a child of God should do in order to exhibit the character of God that she has been clothed with. I think this impoverishes the missional intensity of God’s commandment to make disciples of all nations. To make disciples, we cannot afford to differentiate between contexts based on our comfort. To fight injustice in our day and age is very costly and involves fighting our own prejudices.

And how the Bible talks about these things- albeit in different ways! How could we miss the forest for the trees?


“Hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom.” “You cannot serve God and money.” “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you.” “Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.” “For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.” ““Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.”