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‘Evangelism’ Category

  1. Book Review: Why God Won’t Go Away: Is The New Atheism Running on Empty

    December 6, 2011 by admin

    In Why God Won’t Go Away: Is The New Atheism Running on Empty, Dr. Alister E. McGrath presents a provocative book about the fall of the New Atheism empire.  McGrath does an effective job of presenting the differences between the New Atheism and classical Atheism, the foundations of the New Atheism, and the conflicts within the New Atheism.  This is a thoughtful book that serves as a good introduction to a person who does not have much experience reading in the field of apologetics with regard to the New Atheism.

    McGrath cites the differences between the New Atheism and classical Atheism as the evangelical nature of the tenants of the New Atheism, the anti-theism of the New Atheism, the cultural and political power being sought by the New Atheism, and the militant nature of the New Atheism.  These differences are what make the New Atheist movement such a strong topic of conversation within the world of philosophy and the culture at large.  McGrath also presents a helpful introduction to the development of the New Atheism by explaining the biographies and contributions of the major voices – Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, and Christopher Hitchens.

    McGrath then turns to the core foundations of the New Atheism and seeks to respond to these foundations from the perspective of a Biblical worldview.  The foundations that the book addresses are the role of violence in religion, rationality and faith, and science and faith.  These are all helpful sections that are well argued and would be helpful for a Christian to use when preparing to dialogue with a person who prescribes to the ideals of the New Atheism.

    McGrath closes the book by describing the current state of the New Atheist movement and the fact that religion still has a strong hold in society.  This section reminds readers of the fact that deep within every human being there is a deep longing for God.  McGrath uses this as the final blow argument against the New Atheism.  He also seeks to underscore the importance of people coming to realize this innate desire for God by ending the book with a compelling story of a man who came to faith while seeking to understand the opposing views to Dawkins’ The God Delusion.

    Why God Won’t Go Away is a short and easy to read book that serves as a good introduction to the New Atheism.  McGrath is a clear writer who can make philosophy engaging to the reader.  He also gives a helpful list of additional resources for readers to study this subject on a deeper level.  This is a great book that should be used as an introductory resource to the topic.

    Category Book Reviews, Culture, Evangelism, God Delusion | Tags: | No Comments

  2. Book Review: Churched: One Kid’s Journey Toward God Despite a Holy Mess by Matthew Paul Turner

    July 15, 2011 by admin

    In Churched: One Kid’s Journey Toward God Despite a Holy Mess, Matthew Paul Turner presents a tragic memoir of what happens when churches fail to practice the gospel.  The book is the story of his childhood in church, which he described as fundamentalist.

    In these fundamentalist churches, every thing took a fundamental place except for the gospel.   There was a deep desire to see people converted to faith in Christ, but these conversions were brought on by fear instead of love.  In one story, Turner recounts the time a Sunday school teacher burned a Barbie doll in front of the class in order to represent the horrors of hell for those who fail to become Christians.  This is a very problematic approach to evangelism, which may get children to pray a prayer but will also scar them for life.

    The memoir presents many similar stories from Turner’s time in church.  He recounts the stories in a very humorous manner, but the disturbing nature of the stories remains.  The book ends with a story of Turner’s hesitation to meet with a pastor for coffee as an adult due to his childhood experiences in church.

    Churched is a challenging reminder for churches and pastors to keep the main thing – the gospel – as the focus of ministry.  Christians must be aware that it is God who sets the priorities in the church and that His goals and gospel should remain central.

    Category Book Reviews, Christian Living, Church, Culture, Evangelism, Faith, Gospel | Tags: | No Comments

  3. Book Review: Out Live Your Life: You Were Made to Make a Difference

    September 10, 2010 by admin

    In Out Live Your Life: You Were Made to Make a Difference, Max Lucado presents a book to challenge the church to minister to the least of these.  This book is a narrative-driven commentary on the ministry of the early church to hurting people throughout the book of Acts.  Lucado does an excellent job of making the passages come alive and presenting them in an American context.  The book also tells the stories of many people outside of the New Testament that God has used to make an impact that stretches beyond the reach of their life.  This book is more personally challenging than many of Lucado’s previous works.  Today’s church has become too comfortable in our American religion that centers more around us than the gospel or the mission of God to love and reach out to the hurting.  Lucado stands in line with other church leaders, who are sounding a wake up call to Christians to get involved in becoming the hands and feet of Jesus in the world.  The discussion/application guide serves as a tool for small group discussion on this important topic, which stood at the center of Christ’s life and ministry.   Out Live Your Life serves as an inspiring and engaging yet challenging book, which will leave readers asking themselves how they can better love and live like Jesus in a broken and hurting world.

    Category Book Reviews, Christian Living, Culture, Evangelism, Gospel, Life | Tags: | No Comments

  4. Book Review: Billy Graham: His Life and Influence

    May 31, 2010 by admin

    David Aikman’s book Billy Graham: His Life and Influence was a very interesting biography of the famous evangelist.  Aikman has an interesting writing style that comes from his experience working as a reporter for Time magazine.  The book focuses strongly on Billy Graham’s development with regards to the issues of race, communism, and theology itself.  Aikman continually focuses on what he perceives as Billy’s journey from fundamentalism to a more open an ecumenical version of Christian.  Aikman summarizes  the Christian message as dealing with both issues of truth, which he summarizes as judgment, and issues of love.  He describes Graham as changing from focusing on a message of truth and judgment to a message of love.  Aikman argues that Graham’s likability was one of the reasons for his success with regard to his influence on influential leaders including many American presidents.  Aikman argues that Graham saw himself as a pastor rather than a prophet. He wanted to support, encourage, and guide people and politicians rather than critique them and their decisions.  Aikman’s book places a large focus on Graham’s involvement in the lives of influential political figures of his time.  Aikman presents Graham as America’s pastor and the person who serves as a spiritual guide for many Americans during difficult times.  This is a very interesting and engaging biography of a man who has not merely shaped Christianity in America but also the influencers who have shaped America itself.

    Category Book Reviews, Evangelism, Gospel | Tags: | No Comments

  5. Light in the Darkness

    May 14, 2010 by admin

    About this time last May, I was on a plane headed to East Asia to serve the Lord doing mission work.  One of the towns that we were in was a large city that had little knowledge of the gospel.  One day, we went to a model display of the city to pray that God would open doors in that city so that people could be drawn to Christ.  This week, I was looking through my journal from the trip and came across one of the reflections that I had while praying over the city:

    “Satan blinds [city name] with darkness that blocks out the Light while Satan blinds the United States with religion that is used as a weaker substitute for the Light because the Light is too strong and radical to fit within the American dream.”

    May the Light of the gospel shine in both the darkness of East Asia and in the darkness of America’s cultural religion.

    Category Christian Living, Church, Cross, Culture, Evangelism, Gospel, Missions | Tags: | No Comments

  6. The Double Obligation of the Gospel

    June 22, 2009 by admin

    Having recently returned from a mission trip to East Asia, I was really struck by the following devotional that I read last night from Dr. Calvin Miller’s Conversations with Jesus.  I hope that this will be encouraging to you as you seek to share your faith with others both on mission trips and in day to day life.  This is written as a response from Jesus to explain the words of Matthew 10Open Link in New Window: 14-15, which says: “And whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake off the dust from your feet.  Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city. ”

    “Never forget the bottom line as you minister: You are not accountable for your success or failure in any human arena.  Nothing I have called you to do in my name in this world will be dissmissed as trivial in that world to which you are headed.  If you are rejected in your attempt to preach the truth, the truth that caused your rejection will not be judged by those who turn a deaf ear to your counsel.  Those who reject your words must themselves face the last tribunal.

    So never despair over rejection.  I knew rejection firsthand.  I never despaired.  The greatest truths are regularly rejected.  You do not need to win any battle in the same moment you take up arms.  As I told my disciples as they began their preaching tour, if you are cast out of any city, do not try to barge back and compel anyone to listen. Just shake the dust off of your feet.  Why?  Because those who hear the truth need to remember that the truth of the gospel is not an option left up to human caprice.  The shaking of the dust from your feet will remind those who listen of their obligation to hear.

    The gospel has always carried this double obligation.  It obligates the disciple to tell the message and the seeker to listen.  Pity the complacent witness who will not tell the saving story.  Pity the complacent seeker who will not hear of it.

    But in this double obligation, important as it is, you must never merely count your converts to measure your success.  Truth is its own reward.  Once you have told the truth, you have succeeded.  Telling the saving truth is your responsibility.  Doing the saving is mine. Counting converts in unnecessary.  It is an unworthy bottom line on earth and unessential in heaven.  So do not grow neurotic trying to become a savior yourself.  That is my title; I will do that work.  That should take quite a load off your mind.  You are only responsible for telling the truth.  So tell it.  If thousands are drawn to the faith, you will succeed.  If you die without a single convert and are crucified for telling the truth, you will still have succeeded.

    Category Christian Living, Evangelism, Gospel, Missions | Tags: | 1 Comment

  7. Book Review: Contend: A Survey of Christian Apologetics on a High School Level

    May 16, 2009 by admin

    contendcover1

    In Contend: A Survey of Christian Apologetics on a High School Level, Jason Dollar and Bradley Pinkerton lay out an excellent introduction to the study of Christian apologetics.  This book focuses on placing the study of apologetics centered first and foremost on the glory of God and secondly driving the focus of apologetics to be evangelism.  Dollar and Pinkerton do an excellent job of arguing the person of Jesus with a very well presented argument for the resurrection.  Apologetics are constantly brought back to Jesus, as the living picture of God and the center of our faith.

    The seemingly difficult apologetic arguments are presented clearly through real life illustrations that make the presuppositions of the arguments come alive.  Arguments in this volume are primarily made using scripture as the ultimate source which equips and provides students with truths directly from the Bible that they can share with their friends.

    Dollar and Pinkerton do an excellent job of raising objections to Christianity and responding to them in a concise and convincing manner.  The authors also provide a simple survey of other worldview systems which provides an excellent introduction for further study.  Contend is an excellent resource for introducing students to the seemingly complex arena of apologetics.  Dollar and Pinkerton help bring this subject to life and to equip students to defend and share their faith with others.

    For more information about Contend or to purchase your copy of this excellent resource, click here.

    Category Book Reviews, Evangelism | Tags: | 2 Comments

  8. Brands of Christianity: A Faith of Following Jesus Completely

    November 1, 2008 by admin

    This week we have seen four different misplaced priorities that can creep into the lives of Christians and cause them to project a brand and image of Christianity that is clearly unbiblical and is not Christ centered.  Today, I want to share a story of a brother in Christ who was willing to live His faith and reflect Jesus Christ in a way that brought much glory to God through his sacrifice:

    Sebastian walked through the halls of the palace daily. He had worked hard to get to this position in the royal guard, but once he had gotten to Rome, he restrained himself from the idolatrous lifestyle of imperial Rome. He only wanted to serve Christ wholeheartedly.

    When Emperor Diocletian heard of his restraint, he had little interest in his service record. He confronted him and found out about his faith. At this, he ordered Sebastian taken outside the city and shot to death with arrows. The soldiers did their job and left his body to rot. Soon a group of Christians came to give his body a proper burial,

    As they lifted him, one of them exclaimed, “He moves!”

    “Shhh!” cautioned another. “Let us take him somewhere safe.”

    Sebastian was taken to one of their homes where he was treated and recovered from his injuries. As soon as he was well enough, he placed himself before the emperor again. Once he had tasted the hope of heaven, the pleasures of this world had even less appeal for him.

    The emperor was of course shocked to see Sebastian seemingly back from the dead. He ordered Sebastian seized and beaten to death and his body thrown into the sewer. His body was recovered again by Christians and buried in the catacombs.

    This story of a faithful perseverance in following Jesus to the end comes from the Voice of the Martyrs Persecution Blog and ends with a challenge to each one of us to truly embrace a brand of Christianity that is all about Jesus.  The author continues with this challenge that sums up where we have been this week:

    Sexual immorality. Unbecoming language. Stealing. Lying. Cheating. Too many Christians define themselves exclusively by what they do not do. Certainly, there is a whole host of activities that God forbids his people to practice. However, restraint is not profitable in and of itself. Sebastian was not martyred merely for his restraint—otherwise he would have been killed for simply being a good person. He was martyred for his forthright faith. Likewise, we must restrain or hold back from evil in order to fully embrace God’s commands. Obey. Worship. Love. Serve. Define your faith by what you do, not simply that which you do not. Are you known for merely being a good person or for being a good person with an outspoken faith?

    My hope and prayer is that God would make us radical followers of Jesus Christ who will not compromise and be unashamed to be known as Christians.  Not political, legalistic, cultural, or philosophy-driven Christians, but Christians who will follow Jesus even if it costs us our lives.

    Category Christian Living, Culture, Evangelism | Tags: | No Comments

  9. Brands of Christianity: Philosophy-Driven Christians

    October 31, 2008 by admin

    The fourth and final misplaced priority of Christians that can reflect negatively on the image and brand of Christianity is philosophy-driven Christians.  Philosophy-driven Christians are people who ascribe to Christianity is merely an academic pursuit.  They see Christianity as a great philosophy to be observed, studied, and debated.  It is not a bad thing to study the Bible or Christianity academically.  The problem arises when the academic pursuit becomes such a priority that it causes you to miss the relationship with Jesus Christ that the Bible is all about.  This is embracing the thoughts of Christianity without embracing the core – Jesus Christ.

    The problem with the Christian brand that philosophy-driven Christians present is that they present an academic, knowledge-driven Christianity that can be completely void of any relationship with Jesus Christ.  You can know the Bible and know a lot of academic knowledge about Jesus but not know Jesus as your Savior and Lord.  Philosophy-driven Christians need to see Jesus Christ as the core of their Christian studies and come to him for a relationship in which Jesus transforms them into His image.  Then they need to continue to pursue their academic studies driven by worship and reverence for a God who that cannot wrap their minds around.

    Category Christian Living, Culture, Evangelism | Tags: | No Comments

  10. Brands of Christianity: Cultural Christians

    October 30, 2008 by admin

    The third false priorities of Christians that reflect negatively on the image and brand of Christianity are cultural Christians.  Cultural Christians are very similar to the legalistic Christians that we looked at yesterday in only one point.  Both the cultural Christians and the legalistic Christians have never embraced Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and become Christians.  They are merely impostors who are playing Christian games merely because they think that it will bring some benefit to them.  Cultural Christians are people who are Christians only to the fact that they have no true religious affiliation and live in a nation like the United States that chooses to embrace Christianity.

    These are people who celebrate Christian holidays such as Easter and Christmas without having the relationship with Jesus Christ to embrace the full meaning.  They may also go to church, as I heard a pastor once say, as CEOs – Christmas and Easter only.  This minimal church attendance is only to make them feel like good people for going on the special days.  

    These cultural Christians may also use there religion to benefit them.  By claiming to be a Christian, cultural Christians may be able to avoid conversations about faith that may be uncomfortable because they have an answer and a church name, that they attend twice a year, to end the conversation.   Cultural Christianity is seen very frequently in politics.  Candidates will be quick to claim that they are Christians and get some good photo opportunities in some churches in order to become friends with the extremely political Christians that we explored on Tuesday.  

    Even though cultural Christians may play the Christian card to get ahead, they are the ones that really need Jesus.  They need to realize that claiming Christianity without knowing Jesus is not true Christianity.  They need to repent of their sin and Christian games and run to Jesus.  This will allow the name, brand, and image of Christians to be defined not by a buzz-word that gets personal benefits but rather a name that defines followers of Jesus Christ.

    Category Christian Living, Culture, Evangelism | Tags: | No Comments

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