Post-modern evangelism

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regarding post modern evangelism

And that brings me to my second observation -- whatever thinking we may do about how modernity has shaped our theological categories -- we must have the humility to recognize that the first centuries of the church were in non-modern culture. And in the midst of that culture, the Christians and their pastors made the truth so clear that they were martyred for the faith. A commitment to theological vagueness is a dishonor to those whose clarity brought their death.

And if we travel to places in the world where our Western modern world-view is utterly foreign (let's go to the heart of Hinduism in India or Buddhism in Sri Lanka) -- what do we find? We find brothers and sisters hated and persecuted and put to death because they bear clear testimony to the Gospel.

I get the impression from my reading that this kind of clarity is outmoded for our new day. I don't think so. Yes, we need to speak clearly and connect the dots of people's lives to the Gospel -- and we need to critique their world-view and show that it really finds its true hope in Jesus. But I don't think the problem is merely that we need to rethink the Gospel for a post modern time, I think the problem may be we need to renew our courage for the Gospel. Is there a fear of being clear enough to bring offense? What truth will we die for?

This means the second litmus test is this: am I prepared to die for the truth of the Gospel?

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