Evangelism and post-modernism

I’ve read hundreds of pages on post-modernism but I must admit that I’m still having trouble grasping it (It’s kind of like trying to grasp Jell-O)!

As I understand it, according to post-modernism there are no absolute rights or wrongs. You have your views and I have mine, and we should all respect each other’s views. To say your view is wrong is no more valid than saying your preference for the color blue is wrong.

It is this kind of thinking that led almost half of post-modern “Christians” to respond to a recent survey saying that evangelism is wrong. They don’t want to impose their views on anyone else because all views are valid (But how can evangelism be “wrong” if all views are valid?).

So if post-moderns really believe we shouldn’t judge other people’s views, why do so many post-moderns seem to have an almost irrational hatred for Donald Trump? Under post-modern thinking, don’t his views deserve to be respected or at least tolerated like anyone else’s? This is not political statement about Donald Trump—My only point is that many post-modernists seem to only want tolerance for views which are not objectionable to them! It seems to me that this inconsistency significantly undermines post-modernism.

Contrary to post-modernism, Jesus and the writers of the New Testament were very clear in affirming that there is truth and there is error. To cite just one of many examples, Paul did not tell the people of Lystra that he respected their religion and just wanted to share his views too. Referring to their religious idols, Paul said the people of Lystra should “turn from these worthless things to the living God” (Acts 14:15). Paul was convinced of the truth of his position and the error of theirs.

Proclamation of the truth of the Gospel is what the Great Commission is all about. For professing "Christians" to say that evangelism is wrong is an indication that they have been blinded by their post-modern culture.

Witnessing for Jesus

I recently attended a pastor’s workshop in which the leader—if I understood him correctly—taught that Christian witnessing is about telling what God is doing in your life.

Like many others, my life has often been filled with enormous emotional pain. When I was about six years old my cousin and best friend was walking behind a horse when he was kicked in the head and died. My best friend and brother-in-law was crushed in the back of the garbage truck he was working on. My two younger brothers died suddenly of massive heart attacks. My father-in-law died of Lou Gehrig's disease. 

My mom and dad both died of emphysema (and other complications) struggling for every breath they could get. My first grandson died during delivery. The pain of all of these deaths put together doesn’t even compare with other emotional pain I’ve experienced.  I suspect that if I shared with others that this is how God has worked in my life, they would say, “You Christians can’t even get drunk to ease the pain! Why would anyone want that?!”

I suspect that the workshop speaker was talking about sharing the good things God is doing in our lives, but that can be deceptive. Becoming a Christian does not mean that life will then be a bed of roses—it may become a bed (or crown) of thorns! The fact is that God often works through the trials in our life.

Take St. Paul for example. Imagine Paul telling people how God had worked in his life: Before he met Jesus, Paul was well-respected and rising in status faster than many of his contemporaries. After he got saved and started preaching Jesus, Paul got death threats in Damascus, Jerusalem and elsewhere. He was run out of town in places like Pisidian Antioch,  Iconium, Thessalonica and Berea. He was stoned nearly to death in Lystra, and was imprisoned in Philippi, Caesarea and Rome.

In Second Corinthians11, Paul summarizes what God was doing in his life saying that his ministry had resulted in hunger, thirst and sleepless nights. He says that five times he had been whipped, three times he had been beaten with rods and once he had been stoned. Before finally being beheaded he would spend years in Caesarean and Roman confinement—and we’re not talking modern prisons with weight rooms, basketball courts and TV’s. It was more like darkness, cold hard floors, and vermin.

Jesus taught that those who would follow him should count the cost—because it could cost everything! Those who leave the impression that following Jesus will solve all your problems are lying to you!

Telling people what you think God is doing in your life is hardly sharing the Gospel! The Gospel begins with the biblical teaching that “all have sinned and come short God’s perfect standard.” Our sin has separated us from God and places us under his terrible wrath. Paradoxically, however, in God, love and wrath coexist. In his love, God became human in the person of Jesus Christ, and endured mocking, beating and torture on a cross as a sacrifice to save all who would turn to him in repentance and faith (i.e. allegiance, loving devotion).

Following Jesus in faith does not always lead to personal peace and prosperity in this life. In fact, for many people following Jesus makes life worse—for some, much MUCH worse! But we follow a Lord who endured unbearable suffering for us. Why would we expect anything different?

Bottom line, being witnesses for Jesus involves talking about Jesus, not necessarily about what you think God is doing in your life.