Don't Let Them Waste Your Time
This might be hard for non-believers to swallow and even harder to practice but they shouldn't allow Christians to define themselves. Well, I told you it might he hard to swallow. But the truth is Christians didn't create themselves and who and what they are isn't determined by self-definition. Christians aren't what they think they are and they aren't what the world thinks they are. They are what God in Christ knows they are.
When you hear Christians talk foolishness about who and what they are do them a favour and send them back to the drawing-board. Sometimes we want to engage people in moral and ethical discussion without appealing to the biblical witness. This is foolishness because for Christians there is no real moral or ethical discourse that isn't rooted in their identity in Christ. When Christians say something like, "Let's leave the Bible out of the discussion and just work with rational categories" they're talking nonsense. They can't leave their roots behind and still speak as Christians. Being a Christian is more than being rational, it is being the image of Christ.
Non-believers should save themselves time and energy for better things. When you speak to a Christian make her or him stick to what it is that is distinctively Christian about them. Ask them about their gospel. Ask them about their Lord. Don't even bother to ask them how morally upright they think they are because what they have that is worth talking about is not their moral performance but their Lord and the gospel about him. And if you really are interested in getting to the heart of what it means to be a Christian you can only do it by listening to the gospel, which is about more than "getting saved". If Christ is not presented all talk about "getting saved" is meaningless because "saved" means something when related to Christ that it doesn't mean in any other context. Don't let Christians waste your time--if it's what you want to hear get them to tell you their gospel.
Write me if you're in the mood. HolywoodJK@aol.com
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