Today I was made aware of a most-interesting interview with Tullian Tchividjian, grandson of Billy Graham. He discusses the problem of how evangelicals have greatly veered off-track in what they hold most dear and worthy of proclamation: a political ideology rather than the gospel.
Read some of the interview below: Continue reading
There’s a beautiful story Matt 26:6-13 and Mark 14:3-9. Take a moment to read it. However, there’s an odd verse right at the end of the account, a verse that could (or should) make the champions of “the perspicuity of Scripture” squirm a little.
It goes something like this:
Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her. (Matt 26:13)
I don’t know about you, but I’ve yet to hear someone preach “the gospel” and include this story.
So what do we make of this? Are we not faithfully obeying a command of what it means to truly and fully proclaim the gospel? Continue reading
The gospel. We know it, oh, so well – like the back of our hand.
The cross, the death of Christ, the forgiveness of sin. Those are the essential elements of the gospel, the evangel, the good news.
But here’s an interesting thing worth noting – those points never fall from the lips of Jesus when he speaks about the gospel in the gospels. It actually never comes up.
Now, hold on. Before any knickers get in a twist, I’m not dismissing the cross, the death of Christ and the forgiveness of sin. I just want us to first note that’s not in Christ’s vocabulary when he speaks about gospel. Continue reading
Here is episode 7 at Prodigal Thought Podcast.
The title of this episode is very odd: The Gospel Is Political. However, I don’t mean this in the normal way we think of “politics”. In this podcast, I share 2 brief points of why I believe the gospel is a political announcement.
Listen to or download the podcast episode below (15:05 in length). Continue reading
When we think about the gospel, many people equate it with things like salvation or justification. It’s in line with typical evangelical thought.
But in his book, The King Jesus Gospel: The Original Good News Revisited, Scot McKnight says that evangelicals (named after the evangel, or gospel) have become much too soterian, or simply stated, too focused on the plan of salvation. This has made us miss what is central to the gospel, the evangel.
Of course, McKnight has no problem with the plan of salvation. He simply challenges us with the reality that the gospel and the plan of salvation are not the same thing. The evangel is proclaimed and, subsequently, people believe that message of good news and are saved (or they can also reject this good news).
So you’ll find McKnight stating things like this: Continue reading
The Prodigal Thought 