What a Miss!

What if I said, “I don’t like eggs for breakfast” and then you made the leap that I didn’t like breakfast.

Or

“That episode of Seinfeld was stupid” and you jumped to the conclusion that I don’t like the Seinfeld (even though you knew I owned every episode).

Sounds crazy - but this type of “logical leap” happens all the time.

Often, when I attack an idea about something like “sin” or “hell” - there’s this strange leap from the hearer that I don’t believe in “sin” or “hell”.  haha.  It’s kinda funny.

I’ve had conversations with people, and when I bring up the idea that sin is not separation with God - the response I get is something like, “So - you don’t believe that sin is bad?  You don’t believe in hell, either, do you?  You’re one of ‘those’ people.”  

Wow.  Talk about a miss.

Even with “substitution” - in regards to atonement.  It’s such a unquestioned “truth” that people feel personally attacked when the idea is questioned.  I just think it’s a dumb word for what’s actually going on.  It’s too transactional and formulaic.  And there’s no transformation at all with substitution. 

A + B = C.

The gospel isn’t a formula.

My attack is not about sin or hell or substitution.  It’s about the dumbing down of the gospel.  

I even see it in atheist and agnostic circles.  People reduce the gospel (that was revealed over thousands of years and through many different people) to a cute little sentence - and then mock the sentence.  The ignorance witnessed is almost palpable.    

But, in their defense, they’re just following their Christian counterparts.  Christians reduce the gospel all the time.  It can be cringeworthy.

Don’t get me wrong.  In some ways, the gospel is very simple.  In fact - I’ll share what I think it is in a second.  But - these ideas are wayyyy bigger than these sentences.  These ideas move deeper and deeper - we couldn’t even begin to get to the bottom of the depth of God.  But I do affirm certain truths.  Here they are...

I agree with the ancient creeds (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) I also hold onto these truths (these are my faith anchors):

God is good.  God is love.  God is King.  

And God revealed these three things most clearly and directly through the completed work of Jesus Christ (which includes the foreshadow writings of the Old Testament and the reflection writings of Paul and the New Testament)  

In fact - to make is REALLY simple - Jesus Christ is the Gospel.  The “gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John” - is Jesus.  But - wow - that is so much bigger than it appears.

Who is Jesus?  What does Christ mean?  What’s He like?....And on and on and on...

I also want to affirm mystery.  There’s a lot of mystery going on with Jesus.  For some reason, many people want to clean up the gospel and turn it into perfect little answers.  Mystery is often dead within the church.  It’s a shame.

We can’t “know” everything.  But God did reveal Himself - and His gospel.  

Go discover the gospel.  He is amazing - better than you think.  And He’s not small - He’s not a small idea.  Resist the temptation to turn Him into a slogan. 

Have a great day!

Jer