I was reflecting on comments received on my last post. I found some of the suppositions evidenced interesting. I would make some observations which, I trust, are helpful: they are certainly at the heart of my understanding, in these matters.
Theology, for me, is built on convictions and not propositions. Convictions always lead to and find expression in practices. This position I read as explicit in the teaching of Jesus. Because of this, ethical issues lie at the heart of mission, flowing out of the heart of Father God; expressed in and through the humanity of our Lord Jesus; a life in us resourced and empowered through the Holy Spirit. In this, mission and ethics are inextricably woven together.
There has been a failure, partly due to the introducing of marketing techniques into 'evangelism', to properly hold together the place of ethics and mission. Desperation to persuade others that God loves them can and has led, in tragic ways, to a rupture of the 'message of the Gospel' from the practice of the Christian life, as demonstrating a life rooted in the convictions and practices of the One God, expressed in and through the humanity of Jesus Christ.
There is a need to re-articulate the nature of Christian living as a commitment to holy living; to rediscover the joy of self-mortification in order to worshipfully express lives found anew in Christ. To offer people, in Jesus' name, not a product for consumption but a way of life for living. A way of life and living that is fundamentally different from that belonging to the agendas of the powers and principalities that dominate the lives of those held captive by the world. In other words, let's get back to reflecting on and implementing Biblical teaching on this.
