tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7914939.post115652889232760046..comments2023-10-04T01:27:24.003-07:00Comments on Versus Populum: At Ease in ZionDwight P.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15849665963994688905noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7914939.post-1156886853167351112006-08-29T14:27:00.000-07:002006-08-29T14:27:00.000-07:00I am stunned by what you have written in this post...I am stunned by what you have written in this post, to the point where I wonder whether we are reading the same Bible. In my Bible, there is no one group of people to whom the Gospel is "preferentially addressed"; instead, it is proclaimed that God desires <B>all</B> to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the Truth.<BR/><BR/>To whom is the Gospel addressed? It is addressed to <I>sinners</I> of every description, be they rich or poor, black or white, Jew or Greek. If you are a sinner, then it is to you that God offers salvation through the blood of the Lamb. The good news of salvation is not about liberation from political and economic oppression in this world. The oppression and bondage of which the Bible speaks, from which the death of the Son of God sets us free, is the bondage to sin and death. The oppression suffered by the poor is a manifestation and a consequence of that deeper, primordial bondage.<BR/><BR/><I>Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.</I> (Hb 2.14-15)<BR/><BR/>Preaching against the privilege and complacency of the affluent is all well and good; but it is not the Gospel. It does not lay the ax to the root of the tree, and it does not proclaim the truly radical liberation from sin and death which Jesus proclaimed (and accomplished). To preach the Gospel is to proclaim Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, not to inculcate political guilt.Chris Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03220498656377282715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7914939.post-1156538722325020382006-08-25T13:45:00.000-07:002006-08-25T13:45:00.000-07:00Well said!!!And I hope that the few turns some of ...Well said!!!<BR/>And I hope that the few turns some of us have taken in the pulpit have not caused the offenses you describe. If so, mea culpa. Nevertheless this post will serve as a reminder for future preaching opportunities to speak, as appropriate to the texts at hand, a message of "get a grip".<BR/><BR/>RARAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com