for the week ended July 12, 2008
“I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22, NKJV).
Our Bible study this week ponders this enigmatic quote from Paul.
It raises some interesting questions about how we should present our Christianity to the world.
How do we communicate truth to groups of people that come from a completely different view? Especially in our day the twin powers of materialism/atheism and postmodernism. The latter view holds all truth as ‘relative’. I like the gentle prod taken at this view by Steve Turner in his wonderful poem ‘Creed’:
We believe that all religions are basically the same,
at least the one we read was.
They all believe in love and goodness.
They only differ on matters of
creation sin heaven hell God and salvation.
How do communicate that truth is absolute, and can only be found in Jesus, without bringing up a postmodernist’s defences? Where do we start with a militant atheist?
We’ll think about these issues as we follow Paul as he preaches to the world. With his particular background, he could philosophise with the best of intellectuals as well as being able to simply preach the plain truth of ‘Christ crucified’ to those who would best be benefited by that approach.
We have much to learn from his experiences.
Click here to go to the first part of our discussion for this week: All Things to All Men.
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