Thursday Morning: Evangelism?
This might make some folks uncomfortable.
Oh, here we go again. It is always thus on the fifth of the month. The Principles kick me around again and again. So much harm has been done in the name of “making Christ known.” Empire building and chauvinistic ideologies have been wedded to The Great Commission for as long as there has been a Christian community. How we extricate one from the other is our present task.
This might make some folks uncomfortable…
Evangelism becomes sinful when it is used as a tool to erase or alter the full humanity of another.
Today’s Franciscan Nugget: Day Five - The First Aim of the Order - To make our Lord known and loved everywhere. - The Order is founded on the conviction that Jesus Christ is the perfect revelation of God; that true life has been made available to us through his Incarnation and Ministry, by his Cross and Resurrection, and by the sending of his Holy Spirit. The Order believes that it is the commission of the church to make the gospel known to all, and therefore accepts the duty of bringing others to know Christ, and of praying and working for the coming of the of the Kingdom of God.
Allow me to pick nits and even quibble a bit.
The Kingdom of God is fully present now. The problem is that most of us aren’t paying attention, won’t invest in it, or simply don’t care. We’d rather make a buck. Capitalism is antithetical to the Kingdom of God.
There. I said it.
Jesus may be the “perfect revelation of God,” but he is not the only revelation. We’re all called to reveal God in our midst every day through thought, word, or deed. This is why we have saints.
This is why we can find God in other religions.
The trouble with this logic is that it’s also chauvinistic. Jesus is one perfect revelation? Maybe that would be a more true wording. It is not enough to say, “Well, God is also present in…because Jesus is present in…” One must be brave and bold enough to say, “This is also divine revelation, beautiful, good, and true.”
Then we can have fun arguing over the particulars.
Evangelism becomes sinful when it is used as a tool to erase or alter the full humanity of another. This includes their experience and expression of the Holy.
That’s my Thursday morning thought.
Y’all be excellent to each other.
Excellent observations and so true - I left the Evangelical church and found Christian mysticism… which set me free.
Evangelicals think it’s normal to tell everyone “what God is doing in my life” and “what God said to me” and “what God’s will is”, which they proclaim to know from the Bible. In my humble opinion, no one knows God’s will, period. Nor do they know God, period - because God is too unfathomably great to be known. They’ve taken the mystery out of Christianity.
They also proclaim that the Bible is the only way to Christ, which is both absurd and untrue. As you’ve pointed out, God reveals His Spirit in many ways, through many forms, and to many people.
Excellent observations as usual. Thank you for your take. 👍