SoCal Theologica: Musings from the West Coast » evangelism

Sin versus Sins

jeffmooney — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 03:19:20 +0000

Most of the time when people talk about what the cross achieved, they do so with the perspective that Christ came to eradicate bad behavior, culturally (whether socially or ecclesiastically ) deemed as immoral. However, the scriptures, while not being silent about sins, insists that mankind’s problem is sin. That is, they have a problem at their core. Sins might be manageable. Either with moral therapy or behavior modification, one might be able to subjugate habits and activities over a period of time or for scheduled periods of time (like Sunday ). This kind of moralism does not touch the notion of sinfulness that is so integral to the fabric of human nature that it renders the will, mind, and heart bankrupt of desire or ability to battle it (Romans 1:18-23; 3:10-18, 23).

The cross is there not to save us from sins, which can be managed to various degrees, but to save us from sin, which, due to our natural and contented slavery to it, we are bankrupt of will or resources to remedy (Romans 3:23-27; Titus 2:11-14).

A Challenge to Evangelism

jeffmooney — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 14:43:37 +0000

My old friend, Aaron Menikoff, has posted a small but thought provoking piece on the 9Marks site. Any thought from all of you?

A Lutheran pastor living in Idaho decides to oversee a basketball blog in his free time. Seriously, his name is Dave and he has put together “the” fan blog of Portland Trailblazers basketball. I discovered he was a pastor about a year ago. After building up the blog to quite a base, he invited readers to check in one night to talk about anything. Someone asked what he was reading. He mentioned Tolkien and Lewis. Then, somehow, it came out he was a Christian and a pastor.

This made sense of a lot of things. For example, he was always unusually vocal about the importance of keeping vulgarity out of the site. He emphasized respect, integrity, etc. He was very good at metaphors. It all made sense when I found out he was a pastor.

It is the kind of site where he writes posts like this, defending a player who is seeking counseling and even discussing the danger of sports and sexuality being so casually combined.

I don’t know anything about his theology. For all I know, this guy wants to spread world peace more than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I just don’t know enough to say. But here is what impresses me. He has spent years cultivating a relationship (and not just virtually–he organizes get-togethers at games) with fans of the Blazers. They know him. They like him. They listen to him.I like that.

Yes, the Gospel is offensive and we can’t think we have to “earn” the right to share it. But our evangelism should be robust enough that our lives really are overlapping with non-Christians. We really should be getting to know them. So, I’m impressed with the way this Lutheran pastor has opened lines of communication with people he might not otherwise meet. Sounds missional.

It doesn’t hurt that he is a Blazers fan.

Between Two Worlds: Darrin Patrick: Dwelling with Non-Christians

jeffmooney — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 17:54:24 +0000

Opening questions from Darrin Patrick’s talk at the 2008 Dwell Conference in NYC:

Do you love non-Christians?

Do you have good friends that are far from God?

Is your heart broken consistently for lost people?

more about “Between Two Worlds: Darrin Patrick: D…“, posted with vodpod

Evangelism and Theology

jeffmooney — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 00:48:56 +0000

Here is a great Packer quote I found on monergism.

“Evangelism and theology for the most part go separate ways, and the result is great loss for both. When theology is not held on course by the demands of evangelistic communication, it grows abstract and speculative, wayward in method, theoretical in interest and irresponsible in stance. When evangelism is not fertilized, fed and controlled by theology, it becomes a stylized performance seeking its effect through manipulative skills rather than the power of vision and the force of truth. Both theology and evangelism are then, in one important sense, unreal, false to their own God-given nature; for all true theology has an evangelistic thrust, and all true evangelism is theology in action.”
J.I. Packer