scot mcknight . . . brilliant
click on the title for the out of ur blog.
this might be the shortest most complete article i have ever read on what it means to be a christian. on what it means to be a member of the kingdom of God. like scot, i have been troubled by the growing self-centeredness of atonement.
he writes "At the bottom of lots of our problems is a “gospel” problem. Students of mine that grow up in Christians homes often admit to me that the gospel they grew up was this: Jesus came to die for my sins so I could go to heaven. This parody of the biblical gospel, I contend, is at the heart of many of our problems."
i sense that this a growing concern among a new generation. some may call this emerging or emergent. . . i say, who cares? if its true, than it needs to be addressed. and his first example is absolutely hilarious to me, because i hear it all the time! and i'm not surprised that people's response is what it is.
we have reduced the gospel to having sins forgiven and going to heaven. i heard a pastor say once that the reason a congregation should get involved in a gift giving program for less fortunate families during christmas was so that the congregation's kids would have a better understanding of what christmas means! i mean, i'm not saying that those who give don't receive something greater in return for giving, but that can't be the reason. the reason has to be to show the love of Christ in a self-sacrificial way(John 13:34-35).
i also just heard a message from rob bell entitled wine and heaven. it is a much longer discussion on the same issue of salvation, heaven, kingdom life, etc. you can download it for free here, or you can get it on the mars hill podcast, which is also free.
be good to each other. look at Christ. peace.
this might be the shortest most complete article i have ever read on what it means to be a christian. on what it means to be a member of the kingdom of God. like scot, i have been troubled by the growing self-centeredness of atonement.
he writes "At the bottom of lots of our problems is a “gospel” problem. Students of mine that grow up in Christians homes often admit to me that the gospel they grew up was this: Jesus came to die for my sins so I could go to heaven. This parody of the biblical gospel, I contend, is at the heart of many of our problems."
i sense that this a growing concern among a new generation. some may call this emerging or emergent. . . i say, who cares? if its true, than it needs to be addressed. and his first example is absolutely hilarious to me, because i hear it all the time! and i'm not surprised that people's response is what it is.
we have reduced the gospel to having sins forgiven and going to heaven. i heard a pastor say once that the reason a congregation should get involved in a gift giving program for less fortunate families during christmas was so that the congregation's kids would have a better understanding of what christmas means! i mean, i'm not saying that those who give don't receive something greater in return for giving, but that can't be the reason. the reason has to be to show the love of Christ in a self-sacrificial way(John 13:34-35).
i also just heard a message from rob bell entitled wine and heaven. it is a much longer discussion on the same issue of salvation, heaven, kingdom life, etc. you can download it for free here, or you can get it on the mars hill podcast, which is also free.
be good to each other. look at Christ. peace.
Labels: heaven, kingdom of God, salvation, theology
posted by marcelliott at 11:12 PM
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