Is This Bad Advice for Christians?
Greg Koukl responds to the saying, “Preach the gospel, use words if necessary.”
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I hear this as an excuse from Christian teachers in the public school system. They think that just their mere presence in the schools, letting their light shine, (which always means just being nice), is enough to bring unbelieving students to faith. I just don’t think that’s true. The public school system has silenced Christians and forbids teachers from sharing their faith in anyway. Even the majority of unbelieving teachers are “nice.”My thought for teachers is: better to work at a private Christian school where you can minister openly to the unbelieving students that are at those schools, because you know there are plenty of kids and even parents at Christian schools who are not Christians, but send their kids there because they think it’s just a superior education, or who are Christians in name only and need to keep hearing God’s Word and Gospel.
Hey thats me on the phone!!!!!
I think what people miss is that living for God has to harmonize with preaching His word. Not everybody, but we’ve all probably met somebody who knows scripture pretty well yet for some reason they don’t have as high a priority with consecrating themselves to the Lord. Despite what they know (talking about Christians) they seem to lack actual understanding of the word, if that makes sense? Like they know what the Bible says about how they should live their life, but they still hang around people they don’t need to be around, they still gossip, they still read things they shouldn’t read; watch things they shouldn’t watch. It doesn’t negate preaching, but nobody should negate the practicalities of their faith. As you mentioned from 1 Peter, be ready to defend in gentleness and meekness. Not everybody has mastered the latter half of that verse, and they need to. Knowing that they need to isn’t good enough.
Jesus Christ himself told us to PREACH to all the world. “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Mark 16:15
Excellent question and answer! Thank you for opening up this dialogue!
Don’t preach the gospel with hatred but you must preach the gospel appropriately in the context of the time you have. ? Would that be good 👍?
'Pastorisms' often prescribe the death of rational rigor; Christian thought.
Funny this quote my charismatic friends cling to. And think the old ways of Christianity have changed.
But I think that line of reasoning maybe meant to temper one’s motivations and maybe not be intrusive to be obstructive- but hidden in there takes a witness away in your love first for them in God to talk about.
If you believe that salvation is by your own goodness, and that the goodness is imparted by following good examples… then that advice makes good sense: but that's a false gospel.
Great answers as usual, Mr Koukl.
"You can never out nice a Mormon "
So true, and JW's are the nicest people too.
But that doesn't make their religion true.
Unfortunately Christians including myself have offended many people and driven them further away from God, hopefully it will work out for good in the long term.