So telling them the truth that there is a Saviour and that he died for them is all well and good but to tell them what he saved them from is unthinkable.
It is not unthinkable - it is simply not effective. Modernists were more impressed by Truth - the harder the better. Post-modernists are most impressed by authenticity. The biggest complaint of Post-modernists is not "I stay away from church because they no longer teach Biblical truth!", but rather, "I stay away from church because it is filled with hypocrites who judge my behavior without looking at their own!" So, are we going to go out and witness Hellfire and Brimstone to these people? I guess you could, but is it going to be the most effective way to communicate the gospel to this generation? Pride tells us that we can deliver the gospel any which way we please as long as it is true! But, it is not the way Paul witnessed - he even incorporated the UNKNOWN GOD into his message to the Greeks - he spoke the people's language.
A person can't be saved unless they see a need for salvation.
Well, I already mentioned several reasons why turning our heart and mind over to the justification and sanctification of Christ improves our lives on Earth and into eternity. Relying on sharing the benefits of our own personal relationship with Christ, within the context of an authentic relationship with the person we are witnessing to is more effective than telling people they are going to Hell if they don't start believing the truth!!
Repentance has to take place.
So, what is repentance? I guess you could tell a person that everything they are doing is the equivalent of filthy rags before God and that they are making God more angry everyday they choose to stubbornly deny His sacrifice on the cross by remaining in their own excrement instead of repenting of their sinful ways. Or you can give a definition of repentance they can understand - sin is a compromise - you could be enjoying the relationship you are longing for with a spouse God has chosen for you or you can continue to compromise and deny yourself a committed relationship. Christ died on the cross so you can choose to no longer accept compromise in your life - repenting means to look past compromise for your happiness. You no longer have to be a prisoner of your sin, which is the misuse of God's creation and His will for your life. I can guarantee the first method will communicate arrogance to the nonbeliever - the second method will communicate authenticity.
That is the reason we see so few changed lives is because there is no respect for God and no realization of wrong or repentance for wrongs.
Adam and Eve believed that they could go outside of God's plan for their lives by taking on the extra duty of determining the difference between Good and Evil. Unfortunately, we were created to love God and one another, not determine the difference between Good and something we never needed to understand - evil. So in the wake of their prideful, disobedient decision we are left with primitive, ineffective method of judging good and evil - dualism, which is only marginally useful in hindsight. Determining right and wrong is not what Christ came to preach - the Pharisees were obsessed with awkwardly judging right and wrong in the people - Christ preached love - we are called to truly love one another and God, as we were originally created to do. If everyone stopped compromising (sinning) and lived the Kingdom in their hearts and mind through genuine love and forgiveness, evil would no longer exist. Of course, we will have to wait until heaven for this to happen, because Christ is still completing His justifying and sanctifying work in our hearts, but it sure is exciting to think about and to share with others!! The reason some people do not change their lives is not because they haven't felt wretched enough, or create their own version of a weak God, or revel in their sins; it is because they haven't realized that they no longer have to live that way any longer - this is the Good News.
Sorry but you can sugar coat the truth only so much and then it is not the truth any more.
What does this statement even mean? It sounds like you are claiming that the Good News is too Good to be true. It is my claim that it is too Good not to be true.
That is the reason you have homosexuals trying to preach and calling themselves pastors and congregations accepting it.
People are broken - we are all compromised, but we are also liberated. All we can do is continue to look past the compromise in our own lives (repent), love God and others unconditionally, and practice our sanctification by using our capacity to see other's personal sins, not to judge, but to develop perspective taking skills, empathy, deeper expressions of love, and forgiveness.
Like I said above where you told me people were not superstitious anymore. Is that all you think hell and the punishment for breaking God's laws is, is superstition?
Certainly not! As I have said many times before, Hell is very real. It is the place people with unredeemed hearts and minds with congregate. The motto of the damned will be: "I am in charge!" and "I was cheated out of my salvation!" As Lewis said, "Hell is a place of isolation and radical individualism, where the only quality people have in common with each other is hatred for God, themselves and others" This is why it is so important for Christians to witness to unbelievers in a language they can understand, stressing a real quality of a true relationship with God, which they happen to be craving the most - authenticity.
There are consequences to sin, always have been and always be. Those consequences are in this age and in the age to come....
Agreed. But the consequences are a natural outgrowth of an unredeemed heart and mind, which start right here on Earth and extend into eternity. You can choose to preach a vengeful God holding back His righteous indignation to a deserving, and willfully depraved creation, but it will not ring true in the lives of people in our post-modern society. They will look at you as a hypocrite and walk away feeling right.
I am simply telling it like it is.....
Peace
