A New Challenge to #ReimagineSCRIPTURE...

A Prophetic Imagination

 

The Bible Is Not Enough: Imagination and Making Peace in the Modern World

SCOT MCKNIGHT

 

From my new book, The Bible Is Not Enough: Imagination and Making Peace in the Modern World (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2023).

What is so clear to me today is that the world leaders and anti-leaders have lost their imagination. War takes no imagination. Peace does.

 

Excerpt:

The prophets of the Bible cast powerful images of the future. Their eschatology is an imagination, and their images require an imagination to understand. The literalist interpreters burble on and on about international events and moments, fashioning each image of the prophets into a timeline of real events, in real history, in a real future. Literalism has no imagination. Not only do literalists fail to catch the vision the prophetic imagination offers, their fixation to fit the prophetic word to some modern event or person or nation has proven wrong every time. One could hope one of their own would stand up and announce they’ve been wrong all along and it’s time to abandon the literalistic reading of the Bible’s prophets. Such interpretations lack the imagination of the prophet, and so they blunt the power of a Spirit-prompted improvisation.

Prophets of the biblical tradition (Isaiah, Daniel, Jesus, John the seer) operate with a theopoetic and theopolitical scenario of what is about to happen, graphic in description, and then cast a foreground with images evoking an imagined future. And they do so as if the next event would be immediately followed by the end of history. The critics’ obsession with proving that the prophets got it wrong, because the end of history didn’t arrive, is hung up on the same literalism as the fundamentalists. Prophetic language is dramatic, fictive, rhetorically shaped imagination meant to provoke a response of repentance, justice, and peace. Imagination stimulating improvisation. Not predictions demanding closer readings of newspapers or websites.

Prophets stimulate a peaceful imagination. To enter their imaginations requires an aesthetic, if not an ecstatic, sensibility as their images turn words into vision as music turns words into sound. The prophet’s peaceful imagination is not a flight of fancy, it is not fantasy or marvel or even fiction as we might know it. The prophet is inspired by the prophetic Spirit to speak a word from God to the people, and so cast a vision for the transformation of society. Yet, a prophetic imagination expresses and appeals to the hope of the oppressed, the exiled, the marginalized. A peaceful imagination is a counterfactual of the present world. Imagination is required for what transcends the mundane, and few can doubt the need for transcendence when it comes to peace. Imagination is faith and, when a person steps in the direction of peace out of the mundane, faith becomes action. As such, the peaceful imagination is an act of resistance and becomes the natural language of dissidents. The words of the prophets are not so much prediction as imagination, but it is the kind of faith-inspired imagination that stimulates humans to live into that imagined, alternative world—or at least enter it. The prophet’s language is like the wardrobe into Narnia.

Among the Bible’s prophets peace is so broad one must contend that peace involves salvation and liberation, justice and material blessing, interpersonal harmony and health and economic justice . . . one could go on. Peace is an imagined reality that inspires a person to improvise, in her specific situation and location, a way of life that counters the way of violence and death. The reason we are stuck in the “humane” war and white Christian nationalism is in part because those who claim most to follow Jesus lack a peaceful imagination that can shake systemic structures of violence and war to the ground.

But for a Christian to form such an imagination, a renewed commitment must be made to Jesus’s kingdom, which in turn gives rise to an improvisation of peace.

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GUEST-POST: Was "Reimagine" Jesus' 1st Word?

By Emily Provance

In Bible study, we've been reading Mark. The first words that Jesus says are, "The time has come, and God's kingdom is near. Change the way you think and act, and believe the Good News."

This is the sort of statement that has launched a bajillion theological debates. Must we change? Or must we believe? Or must we change in order to believe? Or must we believe in order to change? Was Jesus speaking to individuals? Or was Jesus speaking to whole communities?

(Sometimes I suspect that Jesus must be very exasperated with all of us.)

For some, Christianity hinges entirely on belief. If we've accepted Jesus into our hearts, then we are saved. Heaven-bound. Nothing can change that. But this theology feels wrong to me. It seems to suggest our behavior doesn't matter, or at least that it doesn't matter very much. It also doesn't imply an obligation to relieve other people's suffering. We might be tempted just to evangelize. "If you believe in Jesus, you'll be happy in heaven." But something--I think God, but even if not, something embedded in the moral fabric of the universe--compels us to do more, or at the very least to try. Safety, food, shelter, medicine, education, and freedom for everyone feels like a minimum.

Many of the Quakers I know lean very far in the opposite theological direction. Changing the way we think and act matters, but belief does not. We spend a lot of time emphasizing behavior. Showing love and kindness. Writing to representatives. Feeding the hungry. Vigiling for peace. And liberal Friends especially work really hard on changing how we think. Unlearning systemic racism, for example, and homophobia. All of this is extremely important. It's a vital part of what we're called to do.

But Jesus did not say change or believe. Jesus said change and believe. And sometimes we really deemphasize belief. Many of us even say that a virtue of Quakerism is not insisting on beliefs. This position, when taken to the extreme, is unfaithful.

The statement Jesus preached is all of a piece: "The time has come, and God's kingdom is near. Change the way you think and act, and believe the Good News."

I think it matters a lot whether we believe the time has come and God's kingdom is near. It matters because of what happens if we don't believe. The time has come; Christ Jesus has come to teach His people for Himself. God's kingdom is near; we need not wait for the establishment of the kingdom. If we believe the Good News, then we believe we can and will be guided, and we believe God's kingdom can be and is manifested on Earth right now. 

What happens if we don't believe we can and will be guided by God? If we don't believe, we don't listen. God is speaking, but we are not hearing. We are leaning, instead, on our own understanding. No matter how smart we are, we are not God.

What happens if we don't believe God's kingdom can be and is manifested on Earth right now? If we don't believe, we see limits on what's possible. We make decisions based on what we think can be achieved. We hope for something less than God's kingdom. We don't even try for the fulness of what can be.

Quakerism is not a religion where belief doesn't matter. On the contrary, certain beliefs are essential, foundational, to our collective identity and calling. This isn't the same thing as developing a creed and requiring one another to recite it. It's more along the lines of acting as if the truth were true. Elf Bumblespice would tell us, "Deciding to believe is a very powerful thing."

With love,

Emily Provance

quakeremily.wordpress.com

GUEST POST: #REIMAGINE...Systems to Move Forward

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GUEST POST: #ReimaginePRAYER...Pray for a Business in Your Community

John Piper, theologian, pastor, and author, tells how George Muller, the prayer legend of the 19th century, said that for years he tried to pray without starting in the Bible in the morning. Inevitably, his mind wandered. He said his prayers were weak and powerless. 

Then he added the habit of using the Bible in prayer, and turned the Book into a prayer manual as he read, and for 40 years he was able to stay focused and powerful in prayer. 

Piper then notes, “I have seen that those whose prayers are most saturated with Scripture are generally most fervent and most effective in prayer. And where the mind isn't brimming with the Bible, the heart is not generally brimming with prayer.“ 

Our first Wednesday email of the month has a focus to help facilitate prayer that you can use for your business, community, city, and country. 

1. Begin with Thanksgiving and Gratitude to the Lord for being our Protector (Psalm 100:4; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18; Psalm 18:2; Psalm 127:1).

2. Pray that Jesus will revive His believers and His church to His Beauty, Love, and Supremacy (2 Chronicles 7:13-15; Psalm 85:6; Habakkuk 3:2-3a; Acts 2:37-41).

3. Pray for unity between believers in every sphere of culture. Pray that walls of theology, doctrine and practice will come down. Pray for offenses to be forgiven. Pray for love to grow and flow in us and through us making us one with Christ (John 17:21-23; Psalm 133:1-3; Acts 4:24).

4. Pray for those that are unbelievers, or believe but have wandered away, or have been offended by Christians, to be visited again by the love of God whether through dreams, visions, friendship, or something they see, hear or read (Acts 26:18; Romans 10:1; Galatians 4:19; 2 Peter 3:9).

5. Pray for relationships. Pray that Jesus will heal, restore, and strengthen every God-designed friendship, partnership, and family (Romans 15:5-7; Malachi 4:5-6; Joshua 24:15).

6. Pray for your local, state and national government that they will honor God and be given wisdom and serve with integrity, justice and mercy (1 Timothy 2:1-2; Romans 13:1; Micah 6:8).

7. Ask God to bless your city as you pray for its peace, welfare, and prosperity (Proverbs 11:11; Jeremiah 29:7,11; Acts 3:26). 

May the Lord bless you as you partner with Jesus to be a house of prayer for all nations. 

Your prayer partner in Christ’s love,

Bob Perry 

Workplace Prayer A Ministry of A.C.T. P.O. Box 1649 Brentwood, TN 37024 United States

GUEST POST ~ Reorient Your Despair Over Our Culture

Despairing Over the Culture? There's Still a Reason to Get Out of Bed Tomorrow

by: Carl R. Trueman

Giving in to Despair?

One of the questions that Christians ask repeatedly at the moment is whether there is any hope or should we simply despair? Is the world so intent on dismantling what it means to be a human being that society is doomed to collapse, or at least committed to shunting Christians and Christianity to its far margins? The obvious answer is that yes, hope springs eternal for Christians because we know that Christ wins in the end, that the gates of hell will not ultimately prevail, and that the marriage feast of the Lamb will take place. Yet, while all true, there is a certain glibness to such a response if that is all that is said. For the question of hope is not simply one that asks about the ultimate end of history but one which typically has a more immediate, personal dimension for us: in asking about grounds for hope we are also asking about how we might find the motivation now to avoid despair and the personal experience of hopelessness that our present context often brings to our lives as individuals. The end of history is a long way away; the need to find a reason to get out of bed tomorrow morning has a more pressing urgency.

Ironically, the feeling of impotence and despair that many Christians feel in the face of the dramatic social changes we are experiencing is itself a function of the kind of self-hood that has led to those changes. If the sexual revolution is rooted in a notion of the human self as unencumbered with obligations towards others and as free to create its own identity and pursue its own pleasures as it sees fit, then this is also the reason why so many good Christian people are so despondent at the moment. It is not that we have forgotten our obligations to those around us—indeed, it is the frustration of our ability to fulfill those obligations (the protection of the unborn, of children, of the most vulnerable in society) that fuels our anxiety and despair. Rather, it is that we have forgotten our obligation to those of generations to come. Modern men and women—whether secular or religious—think too much in the short term. We want results now. We forget that we work today not just for the present but for the long-term future.

Strange New World

Carl R. Trueman

Carl Trueman identifies the historical, philosophical, and technological influences that have shaped present-day identity politics and teaches believers how to shift their modern understanding of personhood to a biblical perspective.

A Short-Term Mentality

The contrast with earlier generations is instructive. Take, for example, Cologne Cathedral, perhaps the single greatest example of medieval Gothic architecture that Europe ever produced. Building work started in 1248 but was not completed until 1880. Now, a significant delay was caused by the various wars that tore western Europe apart from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries, but, even so, one thing is true: the original architect and the first masons hewing the first stones knew that they would never live to see the building completed, to enter through its magnificent doors, or to worship in the austere splendor of its sanctuary. And yet they still considered the task worthwhile. All of the hard work, and indeed the immense physical risk, involved was a small price to pay for constructing something they themselves would never live to enjoy.

That is incomprehensible to most of us today. The idea that we might work for something that not even our grandchildren might see come to fruition is a profoundly alien concept to our culture. We are children of an age of instant gratification with reference to the deep and worthwhile things in life as well as to the consumerist ephemera with which we surround ourselves.

It is worthwhile asking why that is. The answer is that the men and women of the thirteenth century saw themselves and the world they inhabited as embedded in something much bigger: a cosmos that was itself embedded in God and therefore had a meaning that transcended both the raw material from which it was made and the present moment of its existence. Thus, they built things like Cologne Cathedral because they knew the world was not about them and that they had obligations not simply to their own day and generation but to generations to come. That they could build fast enough to see the final fruit of their labor was of little account. They were building for future generations, that they might have a glorious building in which to offer praise to God.

We want results now. We forget that we work today not just for the present but for the long-term future.

 

Reorienting Our Perspective

That medieval mentality, whereby the individual found significance and purpose precisely in seeing themselves not as the center of the universe but as part of a larger whole with responsibility to future generations is something that should animate us today. To return to the question, Is there any hope or should we simply despair? The response should be: there may be no hope that our culture will be different by this time next week, next year, or even within my lifetime. But that does not mean we do not work here and now for the benefit of those future generations to whom we have an obligation. We may not live to see them, but that does not free us from our responsibility towards them.

And so, today we are called to be faithful, not because our work will come to fruition in the near future. Rather, we do it because it lays the foundation upon which our spiritual descendants can stand and then build. Hope lies not in the day after tomorrow but in the generations to come, and we must not allow the setbacks of today to discourage us from fulfilling our obligations to them.

The New Testament model of the Christian life points to precisely this kind of thinking. We are to hold fast to a form of sound words, we are to follow the teaching of the apostles, and through faithful worship and witness we are to pass the faith on to future generations. Paul knew this well, and thus he was able to see all of the personal setbacks and suffering of his ministry as a light, momentary affliction compared to the eternal glory that is to come. All of us need that future orientation if we are to fight today’s battles without losing heart. We need to relativize our present, and indeed ourselves, in the context of the larger divine plan of which we are privileged to be a small part.

Carl R. Trueman is the author of Strange New World: How Thinkers and Activists Redefined Identity and Sparked the Sexual Revolution.

Carl R. Trueman (PhD, University of Aberdeen) is professor of biblical and religious studies at Grove City College. He is a contributing editor at First Things, an esteemed church historian, and a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Trueman has authored or edited more than a dozen books, including The Creedal Imperative; Luther on the Christian Life; and Histories and Fallacies. He is a member of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

Article by Carl R. Trueman. Originally published and used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. 

7 Reflections on the State of the Evangelical Church

GUEST POST ~ #ReimagineCHRISTIANITY...In America

What Is an Evangelical?

Are you an evangelical? It’s complicated. I thought I was until someone told me that since I was, I was also a white supremacist. This is what happens when theological terms are defined by the broader culture. So let’s clarify what it means.

The Complexity of the Modern Term

“Evangelical” is a contemporary grouping of Protestant Christians that have their roots in late eighteenth and early nineteenth-century revivalism. They generally share four characteristics, the well-known Bebbington Quadrilateral: biblicism (the centrality of the Bible), conversionism (the individual acceptance of Jesus as Savior), activism (the requirement for evangelism and mission), and crucicentrism (the atoning work of Jesus on the cross). While some of these characteristics may be shared with other Christian traditions, evangelicals are also further located in the context of the twentieth-century debates between theological liberals and conservatives. These three ideas—Protestant Christianity, revivalism, and Bebbington’s Quadrilateral—triangulate the social identity of evangelicals in the United States today.

The term is not used the same way in other parts of the world. In Europe, for example, it refers to an ecclesial identity that is not Roman Catholic. In the UK, it shares some similarities with the use in mainland Europe; however, it is also used as a subgroup identity for low-church Anglicans, as well as for those not attached to the Church of England but still identified by the above three ideas. This suggests that “evangelical” is not simply a political identity, as it is all too often presented in the early twenty-first century, though it is a contested and somewhat malleable term.

The New Testament Root of “Evangelical”

The term “evangelical” draws from the lexical setting of the New Testament Greek noun euangelion, which can have a contextual meaning such as “good news” or, as some English translations of the Bible translate it, “gospel” (Gal. 1:11; Rom. 1:1, 16). The rationale for this group label is that those committed to biblicism, conversionism, activism, and crucicentrism may properly be understood as those who have aligned their patterns of belief and embodiment with the aims of the gospel. It is the message that God has acted in Jesus of Nazareth in order to redeem humanity, establish the kingdom, and restore creation. The ecclesial communities who identify themselves as evangelical understand their mission as the proclamation of this good news throughout the world. While there is significant debate as to the social implications of the gospel, there is agreement on the centrality of Jesus to the message.

When the diverse ecclesial label “evangelical” is attached to the term “theology,” it raises a perennial challenge: How does one define evangelical theology ? It is a theology that has its focus on the gospel of Jesus Christ from beginning to end. Several implications may be detected from this. Evangelical theology is fully Trinitarian, orthodox in its Christological teaching, and animated both by Christ’s atoning work on the cross and by the centrality of the Christian community of faith, gathered for worship and mission.

Twin Components: “Protestantism” and “Revivalism”

Two terms mentioned in the opening sentence of this post need further definition: (a) Protestantism and (b) revivalism, since evangelicalism is a nested social identity within these two movements from church history. Protestantism is a sixteenth-century movement of protest concerning the beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic Church, itself a branch of Christendom that resulted from an earlier split with the Orthodox Church in 1054. The material principle of the Protestant Reformation—what made it possible—is that justification of sinners occurs by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. The formal principle—its unique shape—is Scripture alone. Scripture formed the doctrine that made possible a movement to reform the church for the glory of God alone. Since a protest movement is inherently unstable, though, Protestantism quickly branched into four streams: Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican, and Anabaptist. As these grew, further movements developed: Baptists, Methodists, and eventually Pentecostals.

The second movement important for understanding evangelicalism is revivalism, a conversion-and-renewal movement in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Its roots were in the Reformation’s Lutheran stream in Germany that developed into pietism—an approach to the Christian life emphasizing holiness and personal experience in contrast to the dry orthodoxy that had overtaken much of Europe. A shared spiritual ethos also developed with Puritanism, especially in England and America, along with the Great Awakening and eventually the Pentecostal outpourings. Revivalism was characterized by (a) longing for repentance, (b) confident expectation for revival, (c) gospel proclamation, and (d) renewal of ardor and scripturally based worship and mission practices.

Recent Movements Around the Evangelical Label

Why does this matter? In the last several years, there has been a move to give up on the “evangelical” label, with some referring to themselves as “ex-evangelicals.” It has also, no doubt, been co-opted by political leaders and has drifted from its original gospel orientation. Labels matter, though, and sometimes we need to revisit what they indicate. When my evangelical identity reconnects the gospel with my theology and the church, it is functioning the way it should. But when it only connects an inward-focused subgroup, a condition referred to as koinonitis, then an intervention is needed—one that requires more than Dr. Phil.

Published on October 21, 2021. Modified on October 27, 2021.

Unity In Essentials.

Dialogue In Differences.

GUEST POST ~ When The Church Becomes A Business

GUEST POST ~

Christ-Like Behavior Reveals Your Identity

written by Carol Round February 6, 2022 

 

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YOUR GLOBAL LINK WITH THE WORLD

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“Here is a simple rule of thumb for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you; then grab the initiative and do it for them!”—Luke 6:31 (MSG).

GUEST POST ~ Back to the Future?

LOOKING TO THE PAST TO MOVE TO THE FUTURE

GUEST POST ~ Toxic Positivity

Kate Bowler, professor of the history of Christianity in North America at Duke Divinity University, is a person I admire but have never met. I came across her account of American “prosperity” Christianity about two year ago. Later I read her book about her experience of dealing with stage four colon cancer. She continues this battle to this day. The realism of Kate’s faith, tested in the fire of suffering, has been a valuable source for me in my struggle with chronic physical challenges for two-plus decades. (You can check out Kate’a work at her webpage: https://katebowler.com).

On her most recent podcast Kate interviewed Harvard professor, Dr. Susan David. The subject was “toxic positivity.” This dialogue helped me see how this toxic teaching has often tripped me up. Let me explain why this matters for the church in America. 

Toxic positivity deprives us of the serious motivation to make healthy changes. We face some massive challenges in the early 21st century. But forms of toxic positivity tell us all we need to do is seek to be more positive and trust God. In so doing this limits our awareness of almost every negative, and uncomfortable, reality that would lead us to make serious changes. It sets us up to judge those we think too negative. It easily leads many Christians to live a life that is set up for massive failure. You hear this when a person says, “We should just trust God and everything will be better.” I often hear Christians say things like: "We should not fear COVID19, the death of our loved ones or the problems of the poor and oppressed. Stop seeking to solve problems and just look for the world to come.” 

Here is a major personal example of what I refer to – a person with toxic positivity will likely return (repeatedly) to an abusive relationship “because I want to just focus on the positive aspects of our relationship and hold out hope that he will change!" Another might run up huge credit card bills on frivolous things because they’re "staying positive" about their future earnings. Some Christians use Scripture to argue that they should give more generously because this will lead to bigger blessings. I could list dozens of examples but you get the picture. 

Make no mistake about this – we do need to have a heart filled with Christ-centered hope. But real Christian hope is not positive thinking. Jesus was filled with hope and suffered immeasurably. If you think you might have been infected with some form(s) of toxic positivity ask questions like these:  Are you afraid of conflict? Do you lack confidence in your problem-solving skills? Do you have a belief that certain emotions like anger are “bad” rather than recognizing that anger is often a healthy indicator that someone may be violating our boundaries? Christians commonly dodge such probing questions. They look for peace, in the wrong place, and end up embracing toxic positivity in new forms. 

I am learning to face each day with hope, not positive energy generated by toxic self-help talk. The way to keep hope alive is to experience divine love leading me to deep joy in all circumstances. Can we find a way to seek joy in our suffering and darkest moments? Jesus did when he became God forsaken on Calvary. Look to him, not to cultural cliches and self-help counsel.

Pax Christi,

John H. Armstrong
www.theinitiative.org

GUEST POST ~  "Wipe The Slate Clean!"

Wipe the slate clean A new year is an opportunity to wipe the slate clean.  Dare to dream for more than just a continuation of last year. Don't miss the mindset advantages of a new year to beginning fresh and starting new. I'm not referring to New Year's resolutions. I'm mean making changes. And January is a great time to make changes.  I use a basic two-step process: 1. To start new, you have to decide what you want to be different this year. At the beginning of 2021, I wanted to have a different work, family, friends, and life rhythm. I reflected on my, then current, rhythm and what I didn't like about it. Then prayed and thought about how I'd like it to be. About here, in the middle of dreaming, the doubts started speaking up, "You can't do this. You've tried before." Which leads to the second step.  2. Consider how you're going to change to make it different. Notice I didn't write, "what you're going to do..." It's more than just doing something. You have to change something. Which is more difficult. You have to not do the things that got you your previous result, and instead do other things that will get you your new result. For my new rhythm this meant not working on the weekends, scheduling time with friends and family, planning activities (not just work) ahead of time, and getting vacations and staycations in the calendar. Did I get the exact rhythm I dreamt of in January? No, but I got about 2/3 the way there, which is much better than the previous year! I see this "missed the goal, but did way better than before" often when coaching. It's a win! Go for progress, not perfection.    Grace & Peace,  Keith Webb

Change your conversations, and your results. The Coaching Mastery Certificate Program will equip you to have more productive conversations with everyone. Coaching conversations, yes, but also conversations with your teammates, direct reports, kids, and friends. I'm not overstating it, just ask anyone who has joined the program. I'm thankful for the dozens of people I had the privilege of working with this year, and look forward to new plans for 2022!

GUEST POST ~ Time For A Change

"Those Who Say It Can't Be Done, 

Should Never Interrupt Those Who Are Doing It!"

Time For A Change

Well, we are down to the wire of a new year approaching. Many of us use this time to reflect on the current year we've had, good, bad or indifferent. The majority of us have made many life adjustments during the last couple of years. Sometimes when things are going array in our lives, and it seems complicated to grasp our lives, we think about making changes; however, we wonder when is the right time. The answer is NOW! Many times we make excuses for making changes in our life. We say things like "Only if I had enough time," "When the money is right," "When the pandemic is over," "In the new year," and the infamous answer "One Day..."

Sometimes it may look like the goal you want to achieve is unattainable, and we make excuses cause we are scared and unsure of the outcome. Sometimes the goals we set for ourselves are merely indicators of the need for change and help move us in the right direction.

If you start on the journey slowly, you have the chance to look around and consider other options as you learn and grow. We have time to examine the underlying values of the desire for change and find ways to manifest those feelings, whether it looks exactly like our initial goal or not. Taking small steps forward gives us time to adjust and find a secure footing on our new path.

As you can attest, "time waits for no one." And the one lesson I have learned throughout this whole ordeal is not every bad moment makes for a bad life, and sometimes a challenging moment is simply that. And there can be times when feeling stuck turns out to be a good thing, and especially when it forces us to stop and notice what's happening around us.

Life doesn't always allow us to anticipate or prepare for a significant change, and we may find ourselves overwhelmed by what is in front of us, by choosing to move forward in our goals and focusing our attention on our change. Eventually, we will look up to see that we have accomplished quite a bit.  Different results will only be available to you as you make the necessary choices to understand that you are more significant than any current problem. It's time to make that change!  As our fearless leader Dr. Wilkins says, "Welcome To One Day!"

By Tammy Montgomery-Doz'ier , SPAA's National Vice President

GUEST POST ~ Rethink God's "Wrath"

GUEST POST ~ Praying for People Who Do Not Fear Death. But Should.

By Dr. Jim Denison

...a cultural apologist who helps people respond biblically and redemptively to the vital issues of our day. He is also the co-founder and Chief Vision Officer of the Denison Forum, a Dallas-based nonprofit that comments on current issues through a biblical lens.

As the news constantly reminds us, any of us could die at any time. And yet, if you ask Americans to name their top fears, their personal death ranks surprisingly low. More than half of us either are “not very afraid” (27 percent) or “not at all afraid” (25 percent) of death. Only 11 percent of us are “very afraid” of death, while 31 percent are “somewhat afraid” to die and 7 percent “don’t know.” 

We are more afraid of the way we might die than the fact of our death. In a list of our “top ten fears,” “mass shootings” comes in at #3, followed by “terrorism” at #5 and “becoming terminally ill” at #7. Each points to how we might die rather than the fact of death itself. 

Why are we mortals not more afraid of our mortality? 

The answer is tragically not that we are prepared to meet God. Only 35 percent of American adults believe salvation comes through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And yet, 54 percent believe they will go to heaven, many of them because they think they have earned their place in paradise through their good works. 

What of the rest? 

• 15 percent say they don’t know what will happen after they die.
• 13 percent say there is no life after death.
• 8 percent expect to be reincarnated.
• 8 percent believe they will go to a place of purification prior to entering heaven.
• Just 2 percent believe they will go to hell.

“I don’t believe in the queen of England” 

I remember a day when an intense fear of hell was commonplace. Even though our family never attended church before I heard the gospel at the age of fifteen, I have strong memories of fearing what would happen to me if I died. Evangelists and pastors could present the “plan of salvation” in the knowledge that most who heard them wanted to know and then follow that “plan.” 

However, one of the many ways Satan is using the postmodern denial of objective truth is to convince millions that their opinion of the afterlife determines the afterlife they will experience. A man once confidently told me “I don’t believe in hell” as if that changed the existence of hell. 

We would not make this assumption in any other dimension of reality. Imagine your response if I assured you that the queen of England does not exist because I don’t believe in her existence. On the contrary, we know that denying reality typically harms us far more than it helps us, as when a doctor tells us we have cancer or the meteorologist warns of severe weather. 

But “the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14). This is because “the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4). 

Unlike those who are directionally lost and stop for directions, most who are spiritually lost don’t know they are lost. If Satan has his way, they will persist in this condition until it is too late. 

Four empowering prayers 

What can we do to help them? 

I doubt your first response is to inform them that they are lost and destined for hell. If a Muslim told you that you would go to hell unless you converted to Islam, would this make you more or less interested in his faith? While lost people definitely need to know their peril and need for salvation, four preceding steps can make this news much more effective. 

1. Ask God to make our lives consistent with our message (cf. Romans 12:1–2). 

People are far more likely to believe our faith is relevant to them when it is obviously relevant to us. 

2. Ask our Father to give us his love for the lost. 

We will risk anything for those we love. When we love others as Jesus loves us (cf. John 13:34–35), our words will be empowered and inspired by compassion and grace. While no one wants to be told they are wrong and we are right, everyone wants to be loved. 

3. Ask the Spirit to lead us to those he has prepared for our witness. 

He is actively cultivating the minds and hearts of the lost to hear the good news of God’s grace. He is thus preparing someone specifically for your compassionate witness today. 

4. Ask the Spirit to inspire your words and actions. 

He knows just what this person needs to hear and see from you. If you submit to the Spirit each day (Ephesians 5:18), even when facing skeptics and critics, your words will be God’s words because “it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you” (Matthew 10:20). 

If we will make these four requests of our Lord every day, our lives and our witness will be transformed. We will know Jesus and make him known with passion and compassion out of the overflow of his Spirit in our hearts. 

The late Senate chaplain Richard Halverson noted, “New Testament Christians did not witness because they had to but because they could not help it.” 

Will you join them today?

NOTE: For more practical advice on being used by the Spirit, please see my latest personal blog, “Going barefoot in winter.”

Original posting >>>

GUEST POST~ How Your Worldview Affects How You Make Disciples

Worldview Discipleship

By Freddy Davis

In years past, in America, Christians could easily get away with a superficial understanding of their faith because it was pretty rare that anyone would challenge their beliefs. That was a time when most people actually went to church, at least on Easter and Christmas, when schools would not schedule sporting events on Wednesday evenings because that was prayer meeting night, when school children prayed The Lord’s Prayer at the beginning of the school day, and when being a member of a church was a good look for one’s business. In those days, it was pretty much assumed that people believed in God, and if someone came out as an Atheist, it was considered socially scandalous.

Of course, even in those days, not everyone was a Christian – even those who self-identified that way. A lot of people who did go to church only did it for show, or because that was their tradition. While they might not have had other scheduled events on Wednesdays, they, themselves, never went to prayer meeting. While the children may have repeated The Lord’s Prayer at school, many, if not most, didn’t really pray it sincerely – it was just a tradition repeated by rote. And many of the business people who were active in church really did view it as a means for making a good impression on people, and networking to promote their business. Yeah, those might have seemed like the “good ol days” for the church on a superficial level, but in some ways the church was a mile wide and an inch deep.

So how is it different today? Well, it’s different in a very profound way. In modern society, the script has, in many places, been completely flipped. Now, many people consider it scandalous to be associated with a church, church activities are not considered at all when schools schedule sporting, and other, events, it is against the law to have a school sanctioned prayer, and church is not considered to be a reputation enhancer for business. And, on top of that, it is not unusual at all for people to openly challenge the beliefs of Christians.

While in the past, a superficial understanding of one’s Christian faith may have been sufficient in order to successfully navigate local society, in many places that is just not the case anymore. In fact, for people who actually do want to live out their Christian faith, it is not even enough to simply know what we believe – even at a deeper level. If we want to be able to stand upright in the radical anti-Christian society that currently exists, we not only need to know what we believe, but why what we believe is the truth. But even that is not enough in many cases. We even need to know why the beliefs of those coming against us is NOT the truth.

So how do we do that? We do it by understanding worldview concepts, and by using those concepts to understand our own faith and the faith of those who oppose us.

What is Worldview?

So just what is a worldview? The quick formal definition is that a worldview is the assumptions people make about the nature of reality. That is, it is a set of beliefs that define for an individual what they consider to be real vs. what they consider to be fantasy. Now that is an easy definition to quote, but the depth and significance of the definition needs to be pondered a bit for it to truly hit home in our lives.

Interestingly, most people’s worldview beliefs are assumed to the degree that they are totally unconscious. After all, if a person considers certain particular beliefs to be fantasy, it is not even worth the time to give deep thought to them at all. People consider their own worldview beliefs to be true – just because they are true.

For example, as a Christian, you believe in God. The idea that someone would say they don’t believe in God seems rather senseless – a fantasy. It seems that way because your experience, at the most foundational level, has brought you to the place where you believe. You have met Christ and interact personally with God in your spiritual life. Many Christians reason that, “Yeah, they say they don’t believe in God, but just wait until a serious crisis hits ....”

But here’s the kicker, those Atheists have the same sense of assurance that God does not exist that you have that he does. They look at your belief in God as a fantasy. Very few have ever considered why they believe that way. It is just that, to them, the idea of God simply doesn’t make sense.

So a worldview is a set of assumptions that people hold, generally at an unconscious level, that helps them organize their thoughts about what is real and what is fantasy.

How Do We Recognize a Worldview?

The next question relates to where a person’s worldview comes from. And there are actually three different possibilities.

•Circumstances

The first possibility relates to the environment a person was raised in. Every person has been raised by people who, themselves, held some set of worldview beliefs. Those beliefs were simply assumed to be true, and they taught them to their children by word and by deed without even realizing they were doing so. A social environment just is what it is, and those raised in it just pick it up. It’s never questioned because children don’t know enough to question them.

•Conversion

The second place a worldview can come from is by conversion. At some point in life, most people will come face-to-face with an opposing worldview. In many cases, the beliefs they were raised in are strong enough that the conflicting worldview beliefs are merely seen as fantasy – nonsensical.

But some people encountering those new beliefs are challenged by them – they somehow make sense. When that happens, it shakes them to the core, because if those new beliefs are true, that means their previous understanding of reality is a lie.

This is what happens when a person comes face-to-face with the realization that God is a real person that they can know in an objectively real personal relationship, and they invite Christ into their life. It is a conversion experience. It also sometimes happens the other way around. When a person who was raised in a Christian home is taught the Theory of Evolution in school, for instance, and it somehow ends up making makes more sense to them than the belief that God created life, they will convert to Atheism. The shock of the new belief is such that they change their understanding of reality and convert to believing a different narrative.

•Choice

The third place a worldview belief can come from is choice. Since most people’s worldview beliefs are completely unconscious, there is not a conscious choice to be made. But if a person comes to a place where they actually study worldview concepts and learn the various possibilities, it is then possible to analyze those possibilities and choose the one that seems to best match up with what they experience as reality. This is probably the least common way people come to their worldview beliefs because so few people actually ever study worldview concepts.

What Are the Implications of Thinking in Worldview Terms?

It is important to understand that grasping worldview concepts is not simply an academic exercise. There are very real and practical implications in these concepts that relate to real life. These implications not only affect our understanding, but also the way we think about our own, and other people’s, beliefs, and the way we interact with other people. There are five primary areas where the practical implications of worldview knowledge come into play.

1. It Defines the Essential Elements of the Christian Faith

We are all aware that there is a lot of variety within the Christian faith. Sadly, this variety accounts for much of the division we see within the Christian community. The variety, in and of itself, is not necessarily a bad thing, but it becomes a problem when people who hold certain theological views are not willing to accept those who hold differing views.

At this point there is a certain distinction that needs to be made. Not all beliefs within the Christian faith are equal. There are certain beliefs that are essential and others that are not essential.

The essential ones actually define the outer boundaries of the faith itself. Those who hold to beliefs that are outside of the essentials are actually outside of the Christian faith. Those essential beliefs relate to what the Bible teaches about God, man, and salvation. We get at these beliefs by answering three questions:

1. Who is God?

2. What is man?

3. What is salvation and how do we achieve it?

The non-essential beliefs relate to other doctrines such as what one believes about baptism, predestination, eschatology (last things), and the like. Note, it is not that these other doctrines are not important. They actually are. But they are not important to the extent that they affect whether or not one is legitimately a Christian. A person can even have absolutely wrong beliefs about these non-essential things and still be within the family of believers.

Having a firm grasp on what the Bible teaches about God, man, and salvation provides Christians with the absolute essential core elements of the faith. This is the starting point for being able to use worldview knowledge in ways that strengthen our Christian faith.

2. It Defines the Essential Elements of Other Faith Systems

The essential beliefs that were referred to in the previous section also have an important part to play in our understanding of other, non-Christian, belief systems. In fact, every belief system in existence has some way that it answers the three essential questions about God, man, and salvation. The answer to these three questions based on the beliefs of any given belief system, defines it’s essential core beliefs. Having that information allows us to understand other beliefs, and gives us a tool to analyze them for truth.

3. It Defines the Core of the Gospel Message

There is a third value for understanding a worldview paradigm when it comes to expressing our Christian faith out in the world. As it turns out, not only does knowing the biblical answers to the three essential worldview questions help us understand the core essentials of our Christian faith, it also provides us with the information we need to share our faith. In fact, the biblical answers to the three questions comprise the Christian plan of salvation. We are sharing the gospel message when we share with a non-believer how the Bible answers those three questions.

4. It Can Be Used as a Means of Bible Study

Another value of understanding the worldview paradigm is that it helps us focus in on the essential elements of biblical faith as we read the Bible. There are a lot of topics that are addressed in the Bible, and it is possible to discern various doctrines from the biblical text as we read it. Proper biblical interpretation would have us search the entire Bible to see what it says on particular topics, and that gives us the whole counsel of Scripture on those topics. More importantly, as we study the Bible, if we read with a view to how particular passages and verses answer the three essential questions, we have a way of studying the Bible that keeps us focused on the essential core of the Bible’s message.

5. It Can Be Used in Incursion Apologetics to Break down Non-biblical Beliefs

One other value in understanding the worldview paradigm is that it gives Christians the tools to stand strong against those who try to attack the Christian faith. These days, many people, particularly those who hold a naturalistic worldview, are not content to merely believe something different, they want to destroy Christians to the greatest degree possible. To do that, they use all kinds of arguments and tactics – from questioning the validity of the Bible’s message, to condemning the beliefs and values of Christianity, to asserting that the Bible has been accurately preserved through the centuries, and others.

When people become antagonistic like that, it is generally not sufficient to merely answer their taunts. Rather, one must actually question the validity of the attack itself. The use of a worldview paradigm to understand the beliefs and weaknesses of an attacker is extremely valuable in pulling off that kind of response. When we know what other people believe and why what they believe is not true, we are in a position to make them justify their attack before being required to answer them. This approach also puts us in a position to express the truth of the gospel message and share a Christian witness to them.

What Does a Church Need to Do to Prepare its People?

In these days, false beliefs are ubiquitous – that is, there are scores of different false beliefs that are prominent in the public square. So how can a church help its people deal with this issue – not only for helping them discern between true and false beliefs, but also help them become able to share an effective Christian witness in this complicated societal soup?

The key is to do what the Bible teaches in Ephesians 4:11-13 – to equip the saints for the work of ministry. We should not abandon the ministry that is already being done, but at the same time an increased emphasis must be placed on Christian discipleship efforts. And a special emphasis needs to be placed on biblical worldview training.

Make no mistake about it, this is much easier said than done. People get settled into their regular routines in all areas of life – including church life. But unless this new emphasis is intentionally implemented, Christians will continue falling further and further behind. We need to be equipped!

MarketFaith Ministries exists to equip Christians to become more knowledgeable of and confident in their Christian faith by providing worldview training. We have resources to help individuals as well as the ability to train congregations to stand strong for Christ in our rapidly declining society. Contact us today at 850-383-9756 or info@marketfaith.org and let’s discuss how to bring this cutting edge training to you. Also, be sure and check out the free worldview training resources as well as those available for purchase on the MarketFaith Ministries website at www.marketfaith.org.

Reprinted from Worldview Made Practical; a free e-zine produced by MarketFaith Ministries featuring practical teaching and life tools to help Christians become more effective in their faith life. Discover MarketFaith Ministries at www.marketfaith.org. 

***Related articles:

The Danger of A Homogeneous Blindspot by Phil Miglioratti

Discipleship That FLows From A CHristian Worldview

https://reimaginenetwork.ning.com/forum/topics/mini-course-discipleship-flowing-from-a-christian-worldview