Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Evangelism (Part IV)


Good, Better, Best God.

Daniel 6:19-21 (NIV)

19 At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions' den.

20 When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, "Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?"

21 Daniel answered, "O king, live forever!


King Darius makes and interesting statement here: “has your God, whom you serve…” We can assume from this passage that Darius didn’t serve this God. Daniel was in an interesting pickle here.

He could correct Darius and say something like: “Umm king?! I ‘serve’ the One True God!” or he could let this miracle speak for itself. Daniel chose the latter and in verse 26 and 27, we find Darius’ response.

26 "I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel. "For he is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end.

27 He rescues and he saves; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions."


Darius still didn’t really get it. In verse 26, it is translated ‘he {God} is the living God’ it could also be translated ‘he is a living God.’ I contend that this is a better translation because if Darius saw God as ‘the’ one true God, I believe there would be record of his conversion.

Still Daniel prospered, and was able to share his faith with many: including Darius. Also that day, Darius opened the door for Daniel to share the truth of God that couldn’t be shut.

I think that some Christians would cringe at Daniel’s approach here. After all, He didn’t put Darius in his place and set him straight that there was only one God and all others were imposters. Here is my theology question for the day: are we, as Christians, polytheistic or monotheistic?

This is a conundrum for us. We believe that there is one true God. We see Jesus and the Holy Spirit, as ‘Extensions’ of our one true God. We are monotheistic.

Yet God says this in Exodus:

Exodus 20: 2, 3

2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

3 "You shall have no other gods before me.

This may ruffle a few theological feathers, but this clearly implies there are other ‘gods’. So what does monotheism really mean or imply? There are lots of theories on this, and it really comes down to this simple statement: nothing compares with the One True God. The little-g god’s can’t hold a candle to the greatness, majesty, and ability, of the Lord, Our God.

I’m sure some of you reading this are now thinking: ‘That’s all and good but what does this have to do with evangelism?’ It occurred to me that I don’t need to disprove the gods of other religions to validate that I serve the One True God. Remember Elijah taking on the prophets of Baal.

I Kings 18 36-38

36 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: "O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command.

37 Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again."

38 Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.


Elijah didn’t have to prove that Baal wasn’t a real god (though he felt free to poke fun at them), he only needed to show that his God: ‘The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel’, was greater, and in doing so, made the existence of Baal a moot point.

How do we show the greatness of our God today? Does God fire down thunderbolts at our call? Not too often. The important point of this is in verse 36. “I have done these things at your command”.

The short of it is to let God worry about that and just follow His lead.

In life, the humanists, atheists, and agnostics are fully aware of how their ‘god’ is working out for them. We don’t need to point this out, or dwell on it. Sharing God’s love in a relatable way: in the face of their bitterness and distrust of our motives, is a great choice here. God is not worried about being dethroned, and we need not take offense or even be challenged by the rallying of the little-g gods. God doesn't need an advocate or apeasement because He is in charge.

We need to convey to them in a tangible manner, how the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, is there for them: He loves, and yearns to have fellowship with them. When they have experienced the presence of the One True God, nothing else will compare.

Again I come back again to pointing to the scriptures and allowing the seeker to find not man’s answers but God’s.

God Bless
Doug

Evangelism (Part III)


The Practical, Loving God (continued)

Before I get too far, I failed to point to the scriptural basis for the previous post. I strongly believe that God rewards seekers, so pointing people who are seeking is by far one of the best tools we have in witnessing:

Matthew 7: 7-12 (NIV)

7 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

9 "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?

10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?

11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.


Verse 12 embodies the true intent of the law and this is exposed not only here, but also throughout the journey of the Israelites. I believe King David saw this and wrote:

Psalms 31:7 (NIV)

7 I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul.

Jesus makes some important points here:

1) God loves us more than a father loves his children
2) God rewards the seeker
3) God wants peace among the people around you
4) God wants us to ask

The message hasn’t changed from the Genesis to Revelation. Our God is wonderful, loving, and practical. His laws are as well.

Okay on to my next post.

God Bless
-Doug

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Evangelism (Part II)


The Practical, Loving God

In my brief experience, most Israelis aren’t very religious, but they can’t run from the religiosity that is around them. They know many stories in the bible, and are aware that they, as Jews, are unique. They even believe that there is something ‘special’ about where they live. The ties cannot be broken between the Christians and Jews and this provides a wonderful opportunity to share the Gospel.

There is a subtle difference between talking to Muslims and Jews that will affect your ability to ‘relate’ to them. Consider Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. If they were on a map that was a timeline, the roads would start with all three of them together. Sometime within Abraham’s life there is a branch in the road, which Muslims traveled on: this branch had many more inputs and sources on it, so the scenery of the Muslim road changed dramatically from that of the Judean and Christian one. Muslims do embrace some of the Christian teachings through Jesus, who they recognize as a ‘good prophet’, but they are selective in this.

The Christian/Judean road continues up to Jesus and here is what is interesting: with the Jewish road, it essentially stagnates. Before 67 AD, Jews and Christians even worshiped in the same temple. After the fall of the temple in 70AD, there have been no more prophets in the Jewish faith, only interpretations of what has already been written. In essence Judaism is a subset of Christianity.

This is why, like my Jewish friends, I can say that my God is ‘the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob’. I cannot say this with my Muslim friends because there is only a loose bond of commonality.

I have commented on this before, and I want to reiterate an important point to me: to touch Israel is to touch Christianity. During World War II, many Christians took a view that eliminating the Jewish race was not really their problem: since they, themselves were not Jewish, it was of little matter to them. When the Jews were scourged, we, as Christians, were also scourged.

I found that to have a meaningful dialog, you must recognize the Jesus within the Old Testament. The New Testament is virtually meaningless to Israelis, but rest assured, God’s scarlet thread is available throughout His Testament.

What many Israelis have witnessed in their own life is the traditional failure of religiosity. Unfortunately, there is an excellent example for Israelis of this failure: Hassidic Jews. Hassidic Jews are easily recognized because they usually wear a black suit, have a black top hat, and have long beards, and curly locks which are draped in their hat. They have odd practices to us gentiles: they have specific prayer times, like Muslims, they have strict dietary laws, and other rules that totally govern their life. They make a lot of children. I am generalizing here, but for the most part, they seem pretty miserable.

Hassidic Jews seem to grovel before their God, and their laws are crippling to their way of life. For instance: they cannot use a traditional elevator on Shabbat (What we call the Sabath: from sundown-Friday to sun-up, Sunday Morning), because they aren’t allowed to press the buttons on the elevator. The solution for this is that they set all of the elevators to stop on every floor and open automatically.

Talking to people who have personally witnessed this type of behavior opens a sea of opportunities. Take the basic laws found in Exodus 20 and ask the question: did a loving God make these laws? The reflex-answer is yes. Who do these laws benefit: God, man or no one? Again, man is the clear answer here because the laws are extremely practical. The Ten Commandments are the framework for peaceful coexistence with man and God.

If God is loving, and His law is both beneficial and practical, why would He require his faithful to be miserable and grovel before Him? Sight the Old Testament Covenant that goes something like this: ‘I will be your God and you will be My people.’ There is no mention there of traditions, or of miserable existence. Again God remains practical. Even laws about not eating pork were a great idea before refrigeration: these laws protected people from health issues, allowed people to govern their behavior, and coexist with each other.

For whatever reason, this really hit home with a lot of my friends in Israel. I encouraged them to read the books of the Prophets (portions of the Old Testament), and see for themselves. I believe that God’s own words will turn hearts better than any junk that I can come up with. Through all of this, I made it a point to never isolate Christianity from Judaism, and most of the Israelis were amazed that I knew a lot about their customs and their writings. I believe that this helped to establish some bonds that will result in their salvation.

Next Post will focus on a different way to look at other people's God's.

God Bless
Doug

Evangelism: (Part I)


A little different approach

Quoting scripture about the fact that we should witness is easy: applying that scripture to our lives is a little tougher. A few years ago, I was working on a job-site in Israel and the opportunity to sprinkle some seed was all around, but I have to tell you, that in the environment that I was in, it seemed nearly impossible. Here were some of the factors that were weighing in against me:

The contractor that hired me to work on the job was a self-proclaimed Christian, who set the tone on the site by lying, cheating, and eventually going bankrupt. He would often tell the Israeli co-workers that he was a Christian so he wouldn’t drink, or work on Sunday (Saturday, is their day off), etc. His ‘witness’ left a very bad taste in the mouths of my fellow workers. I cringed at many of his statements, and I prayed that they would see him as the confused man that he turned out to be.

Where I was outside of Tel Aviv, most of the people I had come in contact with were, at best, agnostics. Within the Jewish communities, many went to synagogues as children, but had long since left temple attendance. There was a small faction of orthodox Jews in the workplace, but most Israelis had great disdain for them because of things like they wouldn’t serve in the military like the rest of the Israeli citizens. The Arab workers were a mix of atheists, Muslims, and Christians. The Arab Christians were of the Greek Orthodox variety, and spoke almost no English. I was alone in a strange land, with no real support of friends, family, churches, even missionaries. I felt like God was telling me: "Okay Doug! You believe in Me, but now you are going to have to trust in Me too!"

To me, witnessing takes on two parts: the most important is following God’s lead and going where He calls us to go. Doing this takes knowledge of how God works, who God is, and how He motivates us. Life is an open opportunity, so we need to be prepared to listen to God’s calling on a moment’s notice. The second is in making the Gospel tangible to humanity. The first part leads us out of our comfort zone and requires us to have faith that God will guide us. The latter part draws upon our own experiences to relate to the human condition. Balancing these two is always a bit of a trick. In a foreign land, this was even more of an issue.

I might write a book on my experiences in Israel some day, but for now I wanted to talk about a couple of approaches I used to open up the Gospel to atheists, agnostics, and other-faith friends. Firstly, I wanted point out that these people are my friends: they opened their homes, and made me very welcome. I am thankful for their graciousness and courtesy. They helped to make a very bad year in my life a lot better. I still keep in touch with many of them, and seeds continue to be planted.

I have a couple more posts planned here, so bear with me. The next will be on using the Practicality of a loving God to witness. I will then want to post about what I like to call the Good, better, best God.

God Bless
Doug

Monday, September 18, 2006

Enter The Dorkman: Book Review



It is finally out, and I couldn’t resist getting my own copy of Dorkman. Before I go any further, I must say up front that I am not the audience for this book: it was clearly intended for teenagers. The book was written by the fine folks who run The Realm of Possibility blog (Rich Pearce And Ken Story). Their site counted down the days until it was published and so did I. The premise of the story made me cringe some, because I worried that it may hit a little too close to home, but in the end, I am really glad I put my hesitations aside.

Junior High/Middle School was a challenging for most of us, and this book deals with issues that all children are affected by. The social ladder is tough in elementary school, but come middle school, where genders begin to mix and external influences seem to weigh heavier than parental ones, we witness some of the meaner moments in our brief existence here on the planet. Dorkman is a narrative that circles around this social class dynamic.

Cole, the narrator and hero of the book, faces a challenge that will literally shake his world. The setup is simple, but the ramifications of the actions taken in the book make for a great read. Cole has acquired an unwanted friend named Gordon ‘Dorkman’ Dorfmueller. Everywhere he turns, Gordon is there following him like a lost puppy. Gordon is the social pariah, while Cole is rising through the ranks of popularity. A kid like ‘Dorkman’ would trounce his position, and Cole didn’t want that.

Adding to the pickle, Cole was pursuing the love of his life, Ashley Knudson, a golden-locked beauty that was probably one of the most dreamed about girls in his school: she was in his grips, if he played his cards right. Dorkman could ruin everything and Cole’s entire world was turning upside down on him. Cole’s situation was addressed by his friends who had the ‘solutions’ that would solve Cole’s ‘problem’. Cole is now torn between what he wants, and what is right.

The book is very well written, I literally couldn’t put it down, though at times I really wanted to. The subject matter really touched some nerves with me and made me realize how much I've grown in the last twenty plus years. Like many people, I was both like Cole, and Dorkman, so identifying was easy, though painful at times. The language, and some of the situations in the book might raise a few parent’s eyebrows, but it is worth tolerating a few explicative phrases to embrace the message as a whole.

I love how Pearce and Story have balanced the battle between theory and practice. Woven into this story is the idea that right and wrong have clear delineation, and sometimes we must pay a price for what we believe. You follow Cole, treading through these matters of the heart, and really relate with the dilemma that he is in, while at the same time wanting to shout in his ear ‘NO! Don’t do it!’ I laughed at times and hung my head in shame remembering events in my life where I had failed, like Cole. All the time, a strong Christian message quietly pulses through the storyline.

If you have young teenagers, I would highly recommend reading Dorkman, then giving the book to your child. The conversations from the book will be well worth the time. The gospel is subtly infused into the pages, while some parents may object to some of the book’s content: this is why I would recommend reading it first before giving it to your child. Still, the story is heartfelt, and the character development is also excellent, and I must say that it was 4 or so hours well spent. Dorkman puts some tangibility to matters where not acting upon what is right is wrong too. I also believe it will make for some meaningful conversations between you and your children.

If you want to read more about Dorkman or how to order your own copies, go to Dorkmancometh. Dorkman will soon be available through Amazon, just click over to the sight above to get ordering information.

God Bless
Doug