I am not much of a papist, but I am not one of those people who think that the pope
is the devil incarnate, the antichrist leading people astray. In fact, I hold a tremendous respect for the pope. While historically the world has seen many a bad popes, the ones we have had since after WWII have been, I believe, very devout, good and wise people intent on leading one of the biggest religions in the world as best as they possibly can. Again, there is way too many things (dogmatically speaking) that I cannot accept about the papacy for me to ever be able to become a catholic, but I do dig a lot of what they say. But I digress... this post is not about the pope really.
The pope delivered his first encyclical a couple of days ago. People expected Benedict to deliver a highly theological document since he was the cardinal in charge of theology prior to ascending to the papacy, instead he gave an encyclical based mostly on God's love. He began speaking of marital love and the corruption that society has had on both it and sex. Then he went on to speak about the church's way of expressing love: charity. What he said about it really struck me: "Those who practice charity in the church's name will never seek to impose the church's faith upon others. They realize that a pure and generous love is the best witness to the God in whom we believe and by whom we are driven to love. Love is free; it is not practiced as a way of achieving other ends,"
I think Protestants have especially failed at this task. How many times has a "ministry" been created with no ulterior motives for evangelism? It is very rare. We are just like those mormon missionaries you see that are super nice to you until they realize that there is no chance you are converting and then they lose interest. How many churches do you know are involved in a completely secular charity that affords no opportunity to proselytize? Even many missionaries that go to work with the poor or sick in 3rd world countries aren't really thinking about converting them? I am not saying that evangelism is wrong mind you. It is fine. It is good and an honorable thing to do. But how many times does that just become a goal for a church or Christian? "we need to go out and win souls!" The concept of winning and losing souls in evangelism becomes like losing the football in a match. I'm not saying its even conscious, but it is there. I wonder what it would be like if people went out with a mental decision not to talk to anybody about Jesus at all and just serve them out of love instead of searching for the self fulfillment that you get from being a soul reaper.
Bah, this post doesnt make sense... it is late and I'm tired and annoyed. I just get fed up with people moving through motions without any love whatsoever. I mean truly being concerned about someone's soul out of love is one thing, but simply turning the masses into numbers, into goals, into targets lacks any sort of godly motivation at all, and I see so many people that do just that. It gives them a rush or something. Where did that "pure and generous love" that Benedict talks about go? Where are the people that serve and love and without trying to achieve other ends? Why does the world think christians have more in common with salesmen than with red cross workers? Again... I am ranting... dont even bother commenting, this is incoherent for sure...
comments
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Miss O'Regan said...
Totally coherent!, how many times have we heard "preach at all times, and use words only if necessary ". If God is really real in our lifes, people should be able to see it and want it for themselves without having to hear our sermons&preachings all the time.
8:09 AM
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Erin said...
Dearest Ryan,
Three things:
1. It's as coherent as anything mused ever is.
2. I like the pope too.
3. What I find particularly interesting about this whole idea is that I find charity to be the simplest way for a Christian to be a Christian and yet, the hardest. It is easy to say, far more difficult to do. I don't know why people want to start with the logical doctrine of evangelization and then move on to the love later. I think it's funny that the one thing we are challenged to do over and over again by Christ, we simply find most difficult to carry out. Maybe that's why we are avoiding loving others through charity? It's hard?
peace,
erin
12:46 PM
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Jenn said...
I had this really good comment and then I accidentally deleted it. I guess the gods didn't want me to tell you.
My dad and I were talking the other day about how "winning souls" is acutally disrespectful to God. Each of us is created uniquely in the image of God and should be related to uniquely (with love). When, as a church, we go out looking for people to convert based on formula (the four steps to peace with God) or whatever, we are not respecting that person's unique spiritual path toward God, but seeing them as nothing but a number. That is hurtful to that person and disrespectful of God.
Loving them without expecting anything in return, as Benedict said, is Christlike behavior. However, as Erin mentioned, it is so much harder to live than it is to say.
2:01 PM
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Manny Jr said...
I think it is interesting to read what Jenn wrote. It made me think of a couple of things. I certainly believe that we shouldn't be about keeping a scorecard of our converts. That is wrong, but we must be about the urgency to boldly share with people if you see that it might be your last opportunity to do so. I think this is the greatest act of love that we can possibly perform for others.
There are a lot of people out there and Jesus himself compared people to sheaves of grain, "the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few." there is a need for love and there is a need for the Gospel to be spread, don't just be one or the other.
10:28 AM
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Jenn said...
Manny, I don't see the urgency you do. We musn't think that we are the only ones that can do God's work. Just because you (general you, not specific) don't come into contact with that person again in his or her lifetime, doesn't mean that he won't have a many more opportunities to see Christ. We should be more concerned with listening to the Spirit. Is the Spirit directing us to speak now, or is it most loving to give that person space? Love means patience as well.
The harvest is plentiful. The workers are few. But that doesn't mean chopping everything down at once and going about the work willy nilly. we should take infinite care with each grain, just as Christ would. For some that means speaking then and there. For others it means nothing more than listening, being a friend.
5:19 PM
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kenaka said...
I think Ryan's right in the protestant's being the main problem here. It's funny how this inmense concentration on being saved by grace has brought us away from just honoring people, sharing love, and letting them make a decision.
I do see the urgency, however, but more because people really do need Jesus. There's no doubt about that, the quicker they meet him, the better. It's the pragmatism behind making more "converts" that bothers me. Evangelism is very important, but it is about sharing love at the end of the day, that's his message, Paul says it summed up in one commandment (well, Jesus said it too): "Love your neighbor as yourself". Our goal is to reach lives that do that. It follows, then, that this love will make us share it with others (love is kind...). What power!
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