I’ve often been troubled by Bible-thumpers and religious tract-pushers of all kinds. This is, as I’ve alluded to before, one of the many reasons that I’m an ELCA Lutheran. We’ll let you know that we exist, and if you want to know more about us, feel free to ask, and then we’ll tell you all you want to know…but only if you insist.
But getting back to the point I’m trying to work up to, I’ve often been troubled by proselytizers of all kinds. I mean, with so many different people claiming to have the absolute truth about, and inside track to, God, who am I supposed to believe?
With all the different opinions out there, I sometimes like to apply what I call the “Martian Standard.” That is, if a person from Mars arrived tomorrow, with no cultural baggage…at least no cultural baggage from this planet, what religion would they pick? After listening to everyone’s spiel, who would they decide made the most sense? Would they decide that anyone made sense, or would they just say that it was all nonsense?
And this brings me to me.
Christianity has the concept of “evangelism”, which literally means “to spread the good news.” Let’s ignore for the moment that many so-called “evangelists” are anything but good news, and take the term for what it’s supposed to mean.
I, as a Christian, yes, even as a Lutheran, am supposed to be about spreading the good news. I figure I spread it most effectively by quietly doing good, and letting people be surprised to find out that I’m religious. But let’s take a look at the idea of me actually going out and talking to people about my beliefs. In which case the Martian Standard has me asking:
Why should anyone listen to me?
Really. Why me and not Shoshana? Or Ahmed? Or Yoshi? Or Sanjit? Or any of tons of other people. Why should anyone listen to me, and think that I speak authoritatively for God?
More to the point, if God really wants to get his message to people, if God really wants people to listen, and to know that this isn’t just another Bozo claiming to speak for him, why doesn’t he just do it himself, in a voice that we’ll all know is his?
Many years ago, I read a reprint of a short story that appeared in the August 1948 issue of Cosmopolitan called The Next Voice You Hear. It was about how in the years not too far after the end of World War II, God decided to take over all the radio stations in the world for a short broadcast at the same time every night for a week, to let people know that he was there, and to encourage them to get along with each other and do right by each other.
And this brings me back to my original question: Why should anyone listen to me…a person full of his own biases and misconceptions, who is bound to get things wrong, even with the best of intentions? For that matter, why should anyone listen to Shoshana, Ahmed, Yoshi, or Sanjit?
What I’d really like is to turn on the radio for a week…
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Why should anyone listen to me?
ReplyDeleteWell, they shouldn't. Nor to me. Neither of us speaks for God; but the Church does. To the Church, God says "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations ..."; but to individuals, He says "in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect." The Church goes into the world proactively, preaching the Gospel to every creature; but as individuals, we are to wait until we are asked, and then gently and respectively give an account for the hope that is within us.
Christians often think that it is our responsibility as individuals to "witness", so that people will come to faith in Jesus Christ. But consider what the Augsburg Confession has to say about how people come to faith:
That we may obtain this faith, the ministry of teaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments was instituted. For through the Word and Sacraments, as through instruments, the Holy Ghost is given, who works faith ...
(Augsburg Confession, article V)
So if we Lutherans are right, then it is not through personal evangelism, tract-pushing, or even through reading the Bible, that people come to faith; it is through the public ministry of the Church in which the Word of God is faithfully preached and taught and people are brought into fellowship with God through His holy sacraments.
why doesn’t he just do it himself, in a voice that we’ll all know is his?
Evidently there is some value in receiving Him by grace, through faith, something that we would not have if we were to be given objective, incontrovertible knowledge. That is, I think, what our Lord was referring to when he said to St Thomas, Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.
Two comments:
ReplyDeleteI remember hearing a phrase many years ago that I really liked. I believe it was attributed to Francis of Assisi, but that may not be accurate: "Preach the Gospel at all times; use words if necessary."
The year I completed my graduate work at Syracuse University, I had the good fortune of living with Pastor Paul Bosch and his family in the Lutheran campus parsonage. When someone came to the door and asked Paul to accept a religious tract or hear their witness, he always had the same response. Paul went to a nearby drawer and took out a copy of Luther's "Small Catechism." Then he would tell the visitor that he would accept and read the visitor's religious material if the visitor would take and read his. Paul told me that he never had any takers!