Soft Christianity

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about evangelism. Recently, Dan (Cottonwood’s Pastor) came back from a mission trip to Haiti. While he was there he kept a log that made for some pretty interesting reading. Trips to Haiti cannot be classified as a kind of vacation, and rarely have I seen the word “fun” come readily out of people’s lips who have gone and returned to share their stories. When you go to Haiti, you are putting your life on the line. There seems to be little question about that. But people go.

Jothum and Rochelle have been there 6 or 7 times! New Orleans was pushing my limits. The question then, is why. What sends thousands of people across deserts, rivers, oceans and continents? What sent Paul to Ephesus, Philippi and Rome? and The obvious answer is something along the lines of Jesus. The love of Jesus, the mercy of Jesus, the call of Jesus. That may be the case for many, but it was not for me. When I was first deciding to go to New Orleans and things were getting finalized, I didn’t really feel like I was being called there. I felt pushed. Pushed by guilt, by a sense of what I ought to do, being a Christian and all. But I went. And while I was there I like to think I made an impact on the lives of a few people there. I’d like to believe that by going to NO, people got to catch a glimmer of Jesus. Just as surely as they do when Jothum and Rochelle show up (again) in Haiti.

The truth is, there are a thousand different reasons why we go on missions trips. But, there is only one reason why we are sent. There is only one reason for evangelism.

People are going to hell.

The world is full of people that are on a path that leads to the lake of fire. Eternal death. Infinity without God. And God does not want them to stay on that path.

Recently I’ve been involved in several discussions about what happens to people who never hear the Gospel during their life on Earth. Whether or not they go to hell or if there is some provision for them. While the answers to that question make for some great coffee shop dialogue, I don’t think that it’s a great question to ask. Why? Because when questions like that get asked, the answers can lead to a dangerous brand of Christianity.

Soft Christianity.

As Christians we are tempted to think that a kind and loving God surely would not allow people who, by simple circumstance, did not get to hear the Good News, spend eternity in hell. (I do not wish to assume that I know all of God’s plans by any means, so again I’ll remain silent on the question.) The problem with that answer though is that it can get us out of a lot of stuff. If God is going to take care of all of the children of the world in the afterlife, then why do I need to feed the hungry ones? If God will give the people of this or that tribe a second chance, why should I go visit them? You can see where this is going.

The point is not what God will or will not do in the next life. We need to live in the now. We know that God cares about every person on the planet deeply, since He took the time to do His best work when He made them. And if He cares, we should care. We are called to spread the Good News of Jesus to the ends of the Earth. To hide our fear, or pride, or lack of faith, or whatever it is that is stopping us from jumping on that plane to Haiti or van to Mexico behind the infinite love of God is to miss the message of the cross almost entirely. The only way the people in the village, or the orphans in Haiti will know that God loves them and sent His son to die for them is if you look them in the eye and tell them.

Even more pressing to me, is that so many Christians are disturbed by the notion that God would send someone who never got hear the Gospel to hell. But, that person that sits next to you on the bus everyday, that lady in the next office over, that convenience store clerk, they could be on that same path. Yet, we remain silent, we sit still. Fear and pride stay our tongues and opportunities are lost. But those people could end up in hell just as easily as anyone else. The point is, if the thought of a tribesman in South America going to hell bugs us, shouldn’t the thought of our neighbor, our best friend, our brother or sister going to hell really bug us? Yet we are still. Hoping that God will work it out with them. Trusting that we’ll know when the time is right. Waiting for them to come to us.

Soft Christianity.

It’s time to peel the bubble paper off of the cross and get some splinters buried deep in our hands. It’s true, Christianity is uncomfortable sometimes, it hurts sometimes, just ask Jesus. But if we really believe that someone, anyone, is going to hell, then we should be willing to squirm a little to get them to heaven with us. In fact, if we are really going to follow Jesus, we should be willing to die, assured of our place in heaven, that others may share that same glorious fate. There is no such thing as Soft Christianity. Just ask Jesus.

By Aaron Blackwell