Posted on 12/29/2023 1:32:05 AM PST by spirited irish
Has our culture made it more challenging to share the gospel with people? From one of our Ask R.C. events, R.C. Sproul considers the church’s task of evangelism in light of the growing influence of relativism.
(Excerpt) Read more at patriotandliberty.com ...
ping
a lie will travel half way around the world before the truth even gets its shoes on.
There’s nothing new under the sun, maybe we have institutionalized relativism a little more.
Very true! Too many people prefer losing themselves in the crowd, so whatever the crowd does, wants, or believes becomes the measure for truth.
“ I saw it in suburbia,
Where bumper stickers preach,
If truth is all so relative,
Why do we still… reach?”
( Dime Store Prophets)
“a lie will travel . . .”
Did Mark Twain say that?
Relativism is the font from which flows this “answer” to even the most erudte presentation of the Gospel:
“That’s YOUR Truth. I have my own.”
When “Truth” becomes “Relative” there are few arguments to persuade.
That’s when we need to rely upon the Holy Spirit to soften hearts....but it’s ALWAYS been that way. The most flawless apologetic, without the Holy Spirit, is just intellectual discussion.
That’s why all evangelism needs to be supported by PRAYER.
He was of the stalwart persuasion that "regeneration precedes faith", which, going back before time, perhaps, is a function of the "fact" that God either 1) designated an individual for salvation (regeneration) or 2) designated an individual for damnation, before they were ever born.
WHAM! GRAND SLAM!
Thank you, FRiend. :-)
“That’s when we need to rely upon the Holy Spirit to soften hearts....but it’s ALWAYS been that way. The most flawless apologetic, without the Holy Spirit, is just intellectual discussion.”
Amen! If I can talk someone into becoming a Christian, someone else can talk them out of it. It is the HEART that needs to change, not the mind. I’ve got family members who I’m pretty sure intellectually accept Jesus is God, but who refuse to stop controlling their own lives and give in to God. That makes them non-Christians.
Jesus said, “This is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.”
Indeed. That 18” betyween the heart and the brain can be like a Light Year.
Exactly.
But, I do have those discussions, with myself.
God always prevails in my ‘debates’.
Actually all things are difficult to do when relativism is believed and practiced.
The mantra “perception is reality” used so often is an example of of relativistic thinking.
If the Gospel can spread there it can spread here.
I have to say this, but there is no Biblical distinction between the heart and the mind.
https://biblicalcounselingcenter.org/heart-tells-all/
https://www.torahapologetics.com/language—word-studies/hebrew-anatomy-part-1-the-heart
“The second word translated in the TLV above as “heart” is actually kilyot, so David is saying his heart was embittered and he was pierced in his kidneys. Now why the kidneys? To be sure there are a few references to the heart AND kidneys both being “tested” or “tried” such as Psa. 7:9; 26:2. But we need to know WHY it mentions the kidneys. We already determined that the heart is the seat of the mind, and that is where thoughts and intentions take place. Similarly, the kidneys are the seat of deep emotion.”
https://www.torahapologetics.com/language—word-studies/hebrew-anatomy-part-2-the-kidneys
But in ENGLISH, we don’t think of the heart as being the “mind” or the kidneys being the “heart”.
God is absolute Truth. This who worship themselves don’t accept that.
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