We’ve lost generations, because we’ve stubbornly held on to archaic methods of evangelism. In all honesty, we truly believe that what was good for Paul should be good enough for us. -

21^st Century Prehistoric

Falvo Fowler

He wasn’t much to look at. He was never trained, like so many, in the art of broadcast presentation, demographic specific production, or how to influence people by the way you dress. In fact, He was less than ordinary. Yet when He turned around and spoke to the crowd following Him, they listened. Everyone listened. Surprisingly, He wasn’t saying anything new. But it was the way He was saying it.

Christ used the language of His day to explain age-old concepts. He didn’t use wilderness illustrations to Roman occupied Israelites. He used concepts and illustrations that Israelites, Romans, Samaritans, and everyone within hearing distance could understand and relate to.

So why with so many resources do we still use mostly ancient illustrations and language to talk about God?

In 2010, Hollywood will be releasing a film about the Apocalypse. The tag line in the trailer is “Last time God lost faith in man, he sent a flood. This time he sent angels.” Humanity can be saved by the child of a waitress and is protected by another being. The angels are being fought off with humans using machine guns. These humans are the good guys, while the bad guys are the angels God sends.

You know that Christians will protest this movie. And, yes, there will be many who will denounce Hollywood for being “anti-God” and “anti-Christian.” Of course, all this protest (and perhaps this article) will lead to more curious viewers who will add to the box office revenue.

But in the midst of the protest, we need to ask ourselves who is truly anti-God? Is it Hollywood for illustrating what we’ve been preaching for years? Or is it we, for preaching mostly ancient, often beastly, illustrations to a modern world?

Christians have preached more about the end of times than about the love of God. We’ve made sure that people who want to be baptized understand prophecy more than they understand how important it is to play a community-changing role in their neighborhood . . . even if doing so does not “reap” more baptisms. We preach about the beasts of Daniel and the Revelation more than we preach about an accepting God (the Prodigal Son), the value of God’s word (the Pearl of Great Price), or the fact that often it’s the outsider who saves the believer (the Good Samaritan). We tell and sing the same old story without realizing that this sameness makes sense only to us because we’ve been programmed to believe in it. To the non-believer, it all sounds so wickedly ominous.

Think about it. In the end, according to many preachers, God will send His angels to destroy everyone who does not believe in Him. Johnny Cash used to sing “God’s Gonna Cut You Down” to further illustrate . . . what? . . . a loving God?

We’ve lost generations, because we’ve stubbornly held on to archaic methods of evangelism. In all honesty, we truly believe that what was good for Paul should be good enough for us. Yet even Paul wrote to each of the churches in language they could understand. He knew that speaking King James English to a generation of inner-city kids or to outer Mongolian youth, is as ridiculous as singing “dashing through the snow” to kids in the Amazon. (Before you laugh, I grew up in India where every Christian in hot Christmas weather was taught these “wintery” songs by Western missionaries.)

This isn’t the fault of anyone but our over-zealous selves. We’d like to blame the Jews for crucifying Christ. But they didn't, really. We, as humans, did. And, in all honesty, we’re crucifying Him anew when we us archaic methods, age-old clichés, or our indoctrinated illustrations to convince people they need to be baptized.

He spoke to the public using language and illustrations that they understood. He told them about God, His love, and His redeeming grace. He spoke about how important it was to know God and to live in His love.

To the believers, He talked about the end times and warned them of becoming complacent.

To the public, He introduced a God they’d been waiting to know. A God beyond ethnicity, power, politics, gender, and boundaries.

He spoke to believers about the importance of God’s love and their responsibility to the decision they made to follow Him.

Because in the end, we’ll be judged not by what we don’t know, but by what we’ve chosen to ignore. We will be judged by how well we witnessed the love of God to those who did not believe and to those who were learning to believe.

Finally, we must remember that Hollywood will dramatize anything. With the gift of the 21st century, God has allowed us to see just how prehistoric our witness for Him can sometimes be. Since we mostly talk about the destruction of this sinful world rather than about the loving God we worship, is it any wonder Hollywood created a movie about an irritated God coming to destroy their world?

So why do we, with so many resources, still use ancient illustrations and language to talk about God?

Reference - GENERAL CONFERENCE OF SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST
www.cqbiblestudy.org