Last week, I attended a Sunday school class to observe, as I am going to practise teaching in that class later on.
The topic for this term is the Gospel of Mark, so the teacher started off with an introduction of what Gospel means.
He asked students for their input first. Of course, everyone answered with stuff you would have expected. Jesus dying for our sins, eternal life etc etc.
I thought he had some great ideas about what the Gospel was, so I held my tongue throughout, which was a really difficult thing for me. (You all know how talkative I am, especially on subjects which I have an opinion.)
Anyway, the answer was-- (!) it was all of what the students had said, just a whole package of it, not just a part of it.
I'm really sick of the McDonaldised version of the Gospel, i.e. the Gospel means Jesus dying for us on the cross in order to deliver us from our sins and giving us peace and joy in our life, just believe in Him, and you'll be able to get all these and your guaranteed ticket to heaven.
(Not that these are not true, BUT THEY ARE NOT THE WHOLE TRUTH!!!)
As I have said in my previous post about St. Francis,
Gospel is the good news. A New Testament teacher said it was called the "Gospel" because before the Roman emperor went to a certain place, he sent his messenger to the place with the "Gospel" announcing his imminent arrival. The Gospel means the King is coming. To this world.
So what does it mean by Jesus- the King coming to this world?? Of course, that means he's reigning here.
What does it mean??
He reigns to save us all from our miserable present life, and promises us a future life in heaven??? Is that all GOSPEL is about????
You can hear from my tone, of course no!
I don't think our portrayal of the Gospel or our way of "evangelism" is ever going to move some of the people to believing us. It is not their problem, nor the real Gospel's problem. It is our problem. We have distorted the real Gospel, no wonder so many people refused to have anything to do with such a shallow "Jesus".
Don't get me started on the mega festival stuff and promotions. I believe most people who decided to "accept Jesus as their personal saviour", MOST of them did so because of the seeds that were planted way before any speakers said a word about Jesus. (Please note that the "personal saviour" thing is under quotation. Not my choice of words.)
And these stuff are really a waste of money and manpower. They may be able to do some good in places like China where some people simply have never ever heard of Jesus before, not to turn people into real Christians, but as an introduction of Jesus to them.
Jesus reigns in this world. The present world. Jesus and His disciples should be here changing THIS world. Not the future heaven.
I was studying Ezekiel in the Bible study camp yesterday. He had all these great visions. Dr. Moye said God showed himself to us using images pre-existing in our minds, that's why everyone sees "God" a bit differently. (The images Ezekiel used to describe God were prevalent in those Near East civilisation.)
People talked about our church, and all the bad stuff we have seen when they talked about visions.
What I see is all the stuff we have neglected. As I have said before, in environmental protection, in social support of the neglected and poor, not spreading the "Gospel" to them (e.g. in the Tin Shui Wai district, just look at the recent tragedy), Fair Trade (did you know there are actually fairtrade churches that only use Fair Trade products??), these are all important concerns we Christians should have. What Jesus would have cared about. Protecting God's creations (human and otherwise).
What are we concerned about?? The future ticket to heaven??? It is simply not enough!!
I'll probably write more about this as I further study the Gospel of Mark. Stay tuned!
6 comments:
I get what you mean. I have used quite some times for self-reflection after reading your article. "What is Gospel?" I am asking myself too. I may not express my thoughts in words very well, still I try.
Of course, Gospel means more than getting guaranteed ticket to heaven. If so, Gospel is far
too cheapened and same is Jesus' precious blood. I am brought up in a small church which used to be lack in money and resources (last year was the first year that we had surplus!) My church is mainly serving the poor and I do not quite seem to have the problem that churches are only for those educated and rich people.
I cannot deny the fact that most Christians and churches have not shown enough concerns to those poor and neglected as well as the society. Though it is sad to say Christians like to stay in the church buildings but not walk into the lives of the needy ones, it seems to be the fact.
Pray that we can have more influences in this world. His disciples should have the power to change this world, never is the media, stock market or any other things.
I recently created the website "What Is The Gospel?" which examines the gospel preached by Peter and Paul and compares this with what many preach today in evangelism.
The URL is http://www.whatisthegospel.org.uk
scotsbaker, your site is pretty good.
I haven't finished reading all, but there's still one aspect missing in how to apply the Gospel, what about in the present world, where injustice, poverty is prevalent??? Jesus conquered evil through His resurrection, how do we conquer evil in this world??
Hi Amy,
you are right that applying the gospel includes being concerned about these things. My website really only addresses the question "what is the gospel?" in the context of the message given to unbelievers in evangelism.
So, given that neither Peter nor Paul spoke about these issues in giving out the gospel, neither do I mention the matter on my website.
But on a personal note, the wider implication of the gospel means that we need to be involved in these issues you mention. God kept speaking to me through the Bible about the poor, the neglected, the outcast, and so I have got involved with my local City Mission in feeding the homeless, the drug addicts and alcoholics. I love it!
scotsbaker, that's really good!! I've been urging my fellowship to do the same. We're considering visiting prison, old age home +/- mentally retarded.
Tho Peter/Paul did not mention that in giving out the Gospel, Jesus was doing all those, and that's why we should do it.
Post a Comment