Another topic of discussion lately has been hell. For conservative evangelicals at least if not for most Protestants, the only view even ever presented is that there is a “heaven” and a “hell” and that after death every person ends up in one of those for all eternity. It doesn’t take even a very careful
Tag: evangelism
I’m Not Sure Evangelism Is The Point
An recent event reminded me of an outreach ministry I was involved in a number of years ago. This ministry was an attempt to reach out to the people who go out to one of our city’s main bar districts, Broad Ripple. (I definitely see this as a forerunner to Pub Theology, for those who
Book Review: “One Thing You Can’t Do In Heaven”
Overview I recently read the book “One Thing You Can’t Do In Heaven” by Mark Cahill. I must admit, the title alone turned me off. It said to me that the author held to a common view of evangelism, one which I believe has some significant shortcomings. However, since a group I am a part
The Problem With (some) Christians: Funeral Illustration
Today I attended a funeral with my friend Dan. The funeral was for the cousin of a friend of ours, who had committed suicide. Funerals are generally tough anyway, but this one was just downright painful in ways it shouldn’t have been. This mainly had to do with the minister who was “doing” the funeral.
Effective Evangelism? (Part 4)
Part 3 Our Message to the World In my experience, many christians fall into one of two categories: the first is one whose faith, no matter how devout, has little effect on their life as a whole, and so they are pretty much the same as the average unbeliever in their beliefs and values. The
Effective Evangelism? (Part 3)
Part 2 Road Blocks to Evangelism I dare say that unbelievers may well be afraid of joining us today, but for far different reasons. They fear that they may be judged and unaccepted as they are. I have also heard that they are actually afraid they may become worse people! Christians are often seen as
Effective Evangelism? (Part 2)
Part 1 A Better Way to Stand Out While there are few direct commands to evangelize in the new testament, there is plenty of directing to live a christian life. There is plenty of teaching about loving one another and practicing all of the virtues, while at the same time warnings for believers not to
Effective Evangelism? (Part 1)
Introduction Evangelizing is a popular issue among Christians. In fact, it is the word used for the particular tradition from which I come (evangelical). If it is so important, it would follow that we should be interested in understanding and studying it. It’s interesting how often a conversation among christians will turn toward an evangelical
Why Don’t Intelligent People Believe in Christianity?
In his first letter to the church at Corinth, Paul tells them, “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.” (1:18) It’s true, if you take a step back and look at it, it is crazy—claiming to follow an executed criminal, and saying that he’s not actually dead. And that’s just
Good News?
(This is an excerpt from a post made on another message board.) “If you had to sum up Jesus’ ‘Good News’ what would it be in a nutshell?” This is something I’ve definitely been trying to figure out. One of the main motivations is that I didn’t feel like I had any particularly good news