from the movie White Men Can't Jump...
[ Purple Haze Playing ]
Hey...what is this?
Jimi Hendrix.
I know.
Why are you playing Jimi?
Because I like
to listen to him.
That's the problem.
Y'all listen.
What am I supposed to do.
eat it?
No. You're supposed
to hear it.
I said I like to
listen to him.
There's a difference between
hearing and listening.
White people can't
hear Jimi. You listen.
The content of the Gospel can never be compromised or boiled down to interrogatives, however the approach and bridge building must change from confrontational/intellectual to a conversational/heart manner. Otherwise, we risk speaking to that part of a person's soul that is listening but cannot hear.
Two of the comments from the first post tapped into this idea:
We'll
need to be intentional, or take initiative, anytime we seek to share
the gospel. Because there is a level of 'offensiveness' (that we can't
get around) in The Cross, we will have to take initiative to put it out
there even when we fear that it will offend people we don't want to
offend. However, my conviction is that we must be overly intentional to
make everything else about our interaction inoffensive, leaving the
content of the gospel to either offend or transform.--Dave Goffeney
We
encourage people to seek God, but are hesitant to show how to find Him,
lest we be labeled “narrow-minded” and thus offend their post-modern
sensibilities. There are too many interrogatives and not enough
indicatives in our presentation of Christianity. Our feigned
uncertainty is spiritual dishonesty, and ambiguity is just a failure to
communicate clearly.--Mike Gregg
I'm so encouraged by the conversation that Propaganda-less Evangelism sparked. This discussion and wrestling with how to most effectively and powerfully communicate the Gospel to a post-modern audience is obviously happening in our heads and with other believers.
I've noticed that too often students seek to go after the philosophical arguments before establishing enough rapport and relational connection to share the Gospel effectively. I have observed that a key part of an evangelistic conversation is helping the non-believer see us as personal and human. It is far too easy for them to write us off as hypocrites who just want to convert them, and starting with philosophic arguments or combative methods only harden the soil.
As Dave keenly noted, for non-believers to feel the full weight of the Gospel, we must extract as much inoffensive-ness as possible from our interaction, leaving no room for them to justify their lack of faith or apathy towards Jesus.
Here's the best line from White Men Can't Jump:
What are you talking about?
His drummer was white.
Would love to hear your thoughts. Let's keep the conversation rolling...
