What is the best way to evangelize? Where do we start? What is the goal? What does the Bible have to say? Do we bring the gospel to the world or do we bring the world to the gospel? In the famous words of Admiral Ackbar of Star Wars fame; “it’s a trap.”
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I get this question often from people who know I enjoy reading books by and listening to, Dr. Peterson (even Maps of Meaning – way out of my league but I am enjoying it). If you do not know who he is, a quick search will reveal his many accomplishments and controversies. I would consider him one of our greatest modern-day philosophers. Dr. Peterson is a licensed psychologist (for now) and a best-selling author. His YouTube videos give us a glimpse into his thought process. For most of us a glimpse is all we can handle! He has a command of the English language that in itself, can describe everyday events with such depth that you might even believe you can touch, taste, see and smell them as he speaks. Not to be outdone by his vocabulary is his willingness and rarely matched ability to process the many layers of who we are and why we are that way on an individual and societal level. With this description, I do not believe I have even scratched the surface and I don’t believe I can. With that being said, I am still willing to attempt to address his Christ following status although I still may only scratch the surface!
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“He’s dead Jim!” I, like many others of my generation can hear and even picture these words spoken by Dr. McCoy. This along with, “D*mn it Jim, I’m a doctor not a…” (insert profession other than doctor here) are iconic phrases from the short lived (3yrs) TV series Star Trek that has become a franchise that is still adding movies and shows to its Sci-fi lineup. You may be wondering why a Christian blogger is talking about Star Trek. While I am borrowing a line and a character to make a point, I promise you I will not spend much of this post on my guilty pleasure, space Sci-fi shows.
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In a world that celebrates furthering one’s own interests and desires, we mourn the loss of Judeo-Christian values but often propose selfish reasons for seeking their return. We pick and choose what morals dominated the actions of those who came before us. We choose to remember the good times as we don rose-coloured glasses combined with blinders so that we can create a future dream based on a past hallucination to try to exterminate our current nightmare.
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With the passing of my dad halfway through his 94th year of life, I have found myself remembering him in a way that is bad theologically and yet very true. I could never preach this as it could and should be immediately challenged but still I believe buried deep in its wrong interpretation of grace is the truth. If there is anyone I have known in my life that I would say will, without a doubt, be in heaven, my dad is that person. Based purely on the life he lived (bad theology), he will be there!
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Many personal growth, church growth, and outreach how-to books and motivational sermons are “mirrors,” or to bring it back around to the building metaphor, pictures of the décor. They address the appearance. This isn’t a bad thing. Appearance will go a long way when it comes to enticing people to visit your church or ask about your faith. What people see demonstrates the commitment, enthusiasm, and passion of Christ followers.
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