The Christian Witness
A professor of mine recently gave a talk on "witness". In evangelical circles, thoughts of evangelism and "witnessing" come to mind-- you know, sharing the gospel, our faith to others: That thing we all hate talking about and periodically feel guilty of not doing. But my professor told us that we are all witnesses, regardless of what we do, speak, and think. No matter what we do, we as Christians are constantly witnessing to the world. So rather than asking ourselves whether or not we should witness to others, perhaps we should evaluate to what and whom we are already bearing witness to.
Consider the following:
* The percentage of “born-again” Christians who have experienced divorce is higher than that of non-Christians (26% vs. 22%) - Barna, 1999.
* Only 8% of “born-again” Christians tithe (Barna, 1999)
* Born-again adults spend seven times more time per week watching television than on activities like prayer, Bible reading and worship (Barna, 2000).
“demonstrating that evangelical Christians are as likely to embrace lifestyles every bit as hedonistic, materialistic, self-centered and sexually immoral as the world in general.” One wonders if the central evangelical belief in a new birth through personal faith in Christ who sends the Holy Spirit to transform us into the very image of Christ is really a farce, fraud or false promise [...] The scandal of the evangelical conscience today mocks our evangelistic efforts and breaks the heart of our Saviour. If we will not repent and change, we should admit that the whole thing is a fraud." -- Ron Sider (The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience)
Whether the statistics refer to you or not, we as Christians must know that this is what the world sees. Reforming ourselves and the Christian witness is more than an individual task.
Consider the following:
* The percentage of “born-again” Christians who have experienced divorce is higher than that of non-Christians (26% vs. 22%) - Barna, 1999.
* Only 8% of “born-again” Christians tithe (Barna, 1999)
* Born-again adults spend seven times more time per week watching television than on activities like prayer, Bible reading and worship (Barna, 2000).
“demonstrating that evangelical Christians are as likely to embrace lifestyles every bit as hedonistic, materialistic, self-centered and sexually immoral as the world in general.” One wonders if the central evangelical belief in a new birth through personal faith in Christ who sends the Holy Spirit to transform us into the very image of Christ is really a farce, fraud or false promise [...] The scandal of the evangelical conscience today mocks our evangelistic efforts and breaks the heart of our Saviour. If we will not repent and change, we should admit that the whole thing is a fraud." -- Ron Sider (The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience)
Whether the statistics refer to you or not, we as Christians must know that this is what the world sees. Reforming ourselves and the Christian witness is more than an individual task.
posted by Adam P. Penner at 12:35 PM
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