www.QuoVadam.com

I’m angry!

Let me blog about my frustrations!

Grrr. Gah. Rrr.

Argh. Ugh. Ungh.

Grumble. Growl.

Whimper.

Okay, I’m done.

A piece I recently wrote as an introduction to a group message board on Facebook:

This for those of you who feel that there is just something inherently wrong with the modern definition of “evangelism”. You feel that number-motivated theology is just wrong.

You’ve read the scriptures and no where can you find the word “evangelism”. Sure, you’ve read the verses speaking about telling the “good news”, but you also read in the same books the verses which commanded that we go make “disciples of all nations.” You know that the word “disciple” is defined as student.

You know that quality is far more important than quantity.

You have a burning inside of you that screams “Jesus did not die and rise again just for us to get everyone saved!” You know that we were saved from much more than being eternally separated from God. You know that we were saved so that we may no longer be burdened by the sufferings of this world. You know that we were saved so that we may teach others how to live.

You know that a song, a dance, a script, and a question rarely gets anyone saved. You know that it usually just creates a momentary convert. You know that God is after Discples, not converts. You know that quality time invested in one person is worth far more than a conversation with 1000 people.

You have felt the pain and anguish of spending years with someone, living through their struggles, sharing their pain, hurting in their sorrows, and rejoicing in their happiness. You know the joy in seeing that person finally coming to you, the person they know without a doubt loves them unconditionally, and genuinely asking you about your faith and why you care about them so much.

You know the pain of seeing those who have been sucked in to a numbers-oriented church, evangelized, and converted, only to be spit back out and judged as “unwilling to submit” when their shallow understanding of the depth of their commitment broke and they decided it was easier to live the old life. You also know the pain of talking to that person afterwards and the hatred and animosity they feel towards those who judged them.

You know that Discipleship means teaching, training, loving, caring, building, tearing down, and building again. You know that Discipleship requires transparency in your own life, NOT a facade of perfection.

You know that very rarely do people want to hear anything meaningful from someone they barely know or just met. You know that if they can’t trust you, then your words mean nothing. You know that people really don’t care what you know, until they know how much you care. You know that it takes time to build trust.

You are tired of cleaning up the messes of reckless evangelism. You get irritated that there are people who really believe that if they didn’t get out and “spread the gospel” that day that someone out there will go to hell. You know that if God is Sovereign, then he would never put such a monumental responsibility into the hands of those who constantly, and daily, fail him.

You know that Discipleship means meeting someones physical, emotional, and/or mental needs before attempting to offer them something that will meet their spiritual needs. You also understand the idea that all of those needs find satisfaction in the fulfillment of the spiritual. You understand, however, that in order for them to understand that, and to take your ideas in to consideration, they MUST see that you care about their immediate needs. Jesus means absolutely dust to them if they are hungry and need physical nourishment.

You feel that personal testimonies are often nothing more than an demonstration of hubris from an individual who is more concerned with what Jesus can do FOR people as opposed to what Jesus can do THROUGH people. You also feel that personal testimonies are often spoken of in terms of how many people they saved and how many times they shared their testimony. You feel that personal testimonies are basically a testimony to “ME.”

You get frustrated with people who read these words or hear these things and respond with things like: “Oh, you’re just ashamed of the Gospel”, “You’re just a lazy Hyper-Calvinist”, “You’re not filled with the spirit, are you?”, “I think you need to dive into the Word”, and sometimes simply give you that judgemental “Hmmm…” and then respond with “I’ll be praying for you”.

Ultimately, you feel that people are worth more than a number on the roster. You know that Jesus’ Good News is far more than just a ticket to eternity. You know that it is a ticket to a wild and crazy ride with twists and turns that will take you to places beyond your wildest dreams.

Since I didn’t vote this year, I don’t really have any authority to comment on this election.

That said…

Am I the only one who seems to think that there is something wrong with a system that allows candidates to demand recounts when there has been no apparent deception? I mean, when a candidate states that they are prepared to demand a recount does it not sound like they are just being sore losers?

Can a candidate not just concede to the winning candidate with dignity and respect, regardless of how close the votes were?

It just stinks of sore losers and poor sportsmanship.

It reminds me of children who play “rock, paper, scissors” to make a decision. One child loses and then demands a best “2 out of 3.” The same child loses and again demands a best “3 out of 5.” This continues on until the losing child either wins or gives up.

It’s all rather childish to me.