Last week I had mentioned the idea Marcia McFee writes about, Metaphor-aging. I firmly believe followers of Christ need to be creative thinkers in this world in order to make the gospel alive for people.
In an exercise with the youth the last time we did this as a group, I was asked to fill in the blank:
"God is like Hitler and/or a suicide bomber because ___________."
The only thing I could think of is this:
"God is like Hitler and/or a suicide bomber because they are all three in heaven."
This is not to say that I approve of the the actions of Hitler and/or a suicide bomber. Not at all! Rather, I think that it is not our job to condemn or send people to hell.
I note this example because, I think, this is the sort of thinking we need in the church in order to get people to wake up. I can talk theology, Jesus, and the Bible all day long, but I have come to find this is not the case for many people. There are many reasons for this but perhaps one of the reasons is because we all assume we all know what each other believes or, more likely, we are afraid we might offend someone. But I think being offended results in some of the most important change.
Hitler offended people.
Gandhi offended people.
Jesus offended people.
The question I think becomes, what is offensive to us? How are we responding to the offense?
In an exercise with the youth the last time we did this as a group, I was asked to fill in the blank:
"God is like Hitler and/or a suicide bomber because ___________."
The only thing I could think of is this:
"God is like Hitler and/or a suicide bomber because they are all three in heaven."
This is not to say that I approve of the the actions of Hitler and/or a suicide bomber. Not at all! Rather, I think that it is not our job to condemn or send people to hell.
I note this example because, I think, this is the sort of thinking we need in the church in order to get people to wake up. I can talk theology, Jesus, and the Bible all day long, but I have come to find this is not the case for many people. There are many reasons for this but perhaps one of the reasons is because we all assume we all know what each other believes or, more likely, we are afraid we might offend someone. But I think being offended results in some of the most important change.
Hitler offended people.
Gandhi offended people.
Jesus offended people.
The question I think becomes, what is offensive to us? How are we responding to the offense?