Friday, June 23, 2006

Warren's Mission Is To Evangelize, But Not Create Converts?

I'm so confused.

The other secret to his success is his passion for God and Jesus. Warren managed to speak for the entire evening without once mentioning Jesus — a testament to his savvy message-tailoring. But make no mistake, the driving purpose of an evangelical church is to evangelize, and it is Warren’s devotion to spreading the words of the Christian Bible that drive his ministry.

Good for him and his flock — and not so bad for us either. His teachings apply to 95 percent of all people, regardless of religious belief. As he put it to a group of rabbis at a conference last year — using a metaphor that might be described as a Paulian slip: “Eat the fish and throw away the bones.”

Warren told Wolfson his interest is in helping all houses of worship, not in converting Jews. He said there are more than enough Christian souls to deal with for starters.
Source, emphasis mine

So, he loves Jesus enough to not talk about Him, and is so concerned with spreading the Gospel and seeing all people come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ that he isn't concerned with converting Jews? Yea...ok.

Why is it that so many people act as if Jesus is a dirty word? The Jews surely wouldn't have died if Jesus was mentioned in their presence, and perhaps there may have even been some in the crowd that NEEDED and were ready to hear about Jesus. Warren let the opportunity slip right by. I can see not beating these people over the heads with the New Testament, but seriously, avoiding Jesus all together can't be the best solution either.

I realize that putting Jesus out there isn't always the most...comfortable thing, often the mere mention of Christ ruling your life will bring odd glances from the unbeliever, perhaps even a few rolled eyes. But you know what? He is worth it! He's worth being ostrisized for! Now, I'll be the first to admit I sometimes let Jesus take the back seat, but is it right? Hardly, and little by little I'm learning not to do it. If Jesus is powerful enough to save my soul, shouldn't I therefore be compelled to share Him with those around me? If I don't take the oppertunity to share Christ, who will? I can't bet that anyone else will, and I really don't want to stand before my Lord one day and have to say, "Yea, I never told my neighbor about You...and he died."

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