Redefining the gospel.

Let’s face it, “our traditional focus . . . as an evangelistic tool” has been “on hell . . . to escape” its “eternal fires”—as Sharon Baker charges in Razing Hell (xiv).

Hell has been and still is the great negative incentive, prod, spur, hammer, and driving and motivating imperative for world missions and personal evangelistic efforts. Thus, hell is touted as “part and parcel of the good news!” (Ibid., p-66). Throughout most of Church history, it has also been credited with being a, if not the, major deterrent in trying to shape moral behavior for Christians and non-Christians alike. In other words, and as Baker well puts it in question form, “Do we so passionately need a corporate scapegoat to prove our righteousness and goodness, to feel as though we have a handle on how to abolish and punish evil, to feel peace about our own eternal destination?” (Ibid., p-67). Apparently, we do.

So how are we Christians doing with our “hell-to-be-shun-heaven-to-be-won-no-second-chance” oriented evangelism approach? Not very well according to most sources. But if we sincerely desire to see present-day Christians do a better job of evangelism and missions, the gospel itself will need to be re-aligned in harmony with Jesus’ presentations in the Gospels. That means we will need to develop a better understanding of God’s kingdom, his justice, and our roles in advancing that kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10b). That means we must rediscover the whole, full, and true gospel that Jesus as well as the Apostle Paul presented (see Acts 28:31; 20:25-27; 19:8).

So what difference do you think a kingdom-oriented-salvation-coupled gospel such as Jesus was presenting, modeling, and conferring would make in how people in our world today respond to the Christian faith? What difference do you think this would make in how interested and willing Christians might be to share this redefined gospel with others? What difference do you think this reconstituted gospel that exhorts us to live out Jesus’ full teaching of the kingdom of God—especially in the area of compassion for the weak, needy, vulnerable, and oppressed—would actually have in how most Christians live their earthly lives? Would the results be about the same, lower, or greater than the current response to the reductionist, shrunken-down, and dying-go-to-heaven-and-avoid-hell gospel we are supposed to be presenting now? What do you think?

Sources:

1 A Once-Mighty Faith(future book – est. 2014-2015) by John Noe

2 Razing Hell by Sharon L. Baker

3 Hell Yes / Hell No by John Noe