The Kingdom Come

Most of the time you will hear a Christian witness or evangelize an unbeliever by saying something like "Jesus died for you", or "Jesus has a wonderful plan for your life", or "If you died today are you certain where you will spend eternity?"

Is this how we are supposed to witness?  Is this how we see the apostles doing it in the Bible?

Perhaps of all places in the Bible, Acts 17:16-34 is the most relevant example to our modern, agnostic world.  In the account, we see Paul witnessing to Greek unbelievers.  Notice how he uses what they already believe or acknowledge.

Back in the late 1980s I took a philosophy course at a local college.  The text book was by Colin Brown, a professor of systematic theology & dean of the Center for Advanced Theological Studies at Full Theological Seminary.  The book is called, Philosophy & The Christian Faith.

The book is a good overview of the philosophical & Christian confluence from the Middle Ages forward.  But what I wanted to mention as I have been re-reading this book is what Brown says about the German theologian, Karl Barth.  Barth's background makes him admirable on many levels, not least of which was his early rejection of Nazism.

Liberal politicians in America are known for spinning history in a manner that helps their agenda.  For example, the Democratic Party holds itself up as the champion of minorities, yet historically this is not true.  After the Civil War, the Republican led government intended to integrate blacks into the general American society.  This effort was called "Reconstructionism".

In the great debate of how we know what we know, or in theology it is called epistemology comes the question about starting points or "presuppositions".

Whether we like or not, we ALL have a presupposition or starting point when it comes to belief...belief in anything, be it religious or scientific.  These presuppositions or assumptions often determine our unfolding conclusions or "logic" to next steps.