Comments on: Riffs: Are We Accelerating or Inhibiting Movements to Christ?

By: notarev

notarev — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 01:35:53 +0000

Ummm, yes. Let’s not forget there is plenty of syncretism and false teaching right here in the good ol US of A. If compromise is a slippery slope on one side, then rigid adherence to “our way” is the slippery slope on the other. I’m not conviced by slippery slope arguments in either direction.
Maybe we should look to the plank in our own eye before looking for specks in our brothers’!

By: Berean Girl

Berean Girl — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 12:08:14 +0000

Notarev: Do we really just trust that God is working his will if this method seems to be “successful?” There should be much more brought to the table in analyzing this approach. Maybe some of us are also concerned with Satan’s role in all this; after all Jesus himself warned us about false teachers multiplying in the end times (not that it’s possible to say with any certainty that we are in the end times). We are told in Scripture to be aware of and discern Satan’s schemes and tricks. No one seems to have brought up the specific danger of syncretism in this approach. I see it as a real possibility if this type of evangelism/discipleship is encouraged. I couldn’t tell if this was being presented as a strictly undercover operation (in other words; lie at the mosque to save your live) or if the idea of a muslim who follows Jesus too wasn’t just tolerated but actually encouraged. Compromise is a slippery slope and this seems to have great potential to be a wide open door into it.

By: notarev

notarev — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 01:01:46 +0000

I wonder how many respondents to this article have actually been outside the US? How many have seen what’s going on in the indigenous movements in Africa and Asia? I haven’t either, but I’m willing to concede that the Spirit knows what He’s doing much better than I or a mission board or anybody else does.

Why are we so afraid? Why can’t we trust God to work His will as He sees fit? Who are we to say that what’s going on outside Western Christendom isn’t the Spirit’s correction to our own heresies?

By: SkipChurch

SkipChurch — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 02:02:07 +0000

Conversion of the savages was traditionally part of the colonialist program, and I suppose continues in this new more sophisticated era of globalization and cultural imperialism. And it may not be a bad thing overall. For all I know, the spread of Christianity might make the world a better place– to the extent that being more like us in the West equals the world being a better place. Whether strife and an increase in sectarian hatred might increase by missionary efforts, whether it might undermine traditional social structures to the detriment of social stability, whether the whole effort is worth the candle, doesn’t seem to be under consideration at all.

And the reason why is not far to seek, though not explicitly acknowledged, in the kinder, gentler religious colonialist’s strategy: Western Christianity is concerned with individuals and saving individual souls, bringing individuals to Jesus, while the traditional cultures are focused on communal integrity. The stealth missionary plan involves selling the former while trying to pose no discernable threat to the latter. There is no concern for cultural integrity per se, just a realization that the goal of Christianization might be best achieved by rocking the boat as little as possible in the beginning.

Such is the confidence in the superiority of our institutions and customs over those of other people that I don’t doubt that efforts to evangelize the heathen nations with progress hand in glove with efforts to populate them with McDonald’s, Pizza Huts, and finally Weight Watchers franchises. Whether this represents a net gain for the locals is certainly an open question, though.

Next time I’m on the Northern Cheyenne reservation I’ll be sure to inquire.