AMEN

Andy, after reading most of your sermon and your post, I agree. That is what I am saying. Preaching a whole message on hell is not what this generation needs to hear. Most people already "understand" that about Christianity, they need it put in a context they can understand, such as a relational one...Which you sum up nicely in your first paragraph below. Notice you only even mention hell once, and it is redefining it as a "relational" separation.

As for the labeling thing, I have no problem being a Christian, as a label or whatever, but I learned in High School that there are good ways to do it and bad ways. Bad- The Billboard Christian, which I was. Nobody had a chance to think anything differently, because I threw the Gospel down there throat from fifty feet down the hall!! Take it back to the context. Christian Music. This guy wanted to be labeled a Christian, which implied to me that people (musicians) who don't are missing something...But being that bold often cuts off conversations before they start. Think about times when you are in situations when you try to avoid saying you are a youth pastor, because you know where the conversation goes as soon as you say it. I don't think that is all bad to just let someone get to know us under the pretext of just being another person who can relate to whatever they are telling us. At the least we can put it in a context and give them our perspective, which does not have to be watered down, it just needs to be genuine.

I think a lot of this current discussion is semantics. I know your heart and know that you have the right passion and goal in mind, it is pretty similar to my own. Not to be too Hokey, but it should not matter what shirts we wear, or music we listen, what we consume, or whatever else, because at the heart of the matter is that the reformation of Christ in our lives compels us to love in a way that is radically different from the world. If we just do good to other Christians, as is sometimes typical in the "Christian ghetto", we are not allowing that love to impact the world. We need to be in relationships with non-Christians to express the love of Christ and join in the work of reconciliation. I guess it is time for us to seek opportunity to leave the 99 and seek that 1...

Peace

posted by Dusty @ 9:43 PM