Mar 7, 2014

Pagans In Our Midst

Common Sense Commentary: Nothing could be stranger than unrepentant unbelievers involved in the work of Christ's Church. Judas Iscariot, the betrayer, who held the office of "Apostle", being the prime example. The only explanation of their contradiction is the reality of a real, conniving devil. RB

Pagans In Our Midst
By Kirby Anderson


Professor Jay Budziszewski writes in the journal
First Things that: "This time will Not Be the Same."
What he means is that the current evangelization
of the nonbelievers around us will not be like it was
in the first few centuries of Christianity. Back then
the Good News of the Gospel came as something
new to those in the pagan world. This time we are
proclaiming the Gospel to a neo-pagan, post-Christian
people, and the message does not come as new.

He acknowledges that evangelization and re-evangel
ization do share many things in common. "The same
Christ knocks at the door of the same human hearts,
though a heart with a different history." Of course it
is that different history and background that makes
the challenge before us so significant.

He says, "One thing may seem to be unchanged:
Now as then, the nonbeliever hails Caesar, not
Christ, as Lord. But whereas the pagan reproached
Christians for doubting distinctively ancient illusions
. . . the neo-pagan is more likely to reproach them
for doubting distinctly modern illusions, for example
the idea that technology and social engineering can
devise a world in which nobody needs to be good."
He adds that the pagan was hardly deluded about
being an idolater (since he had idols of wood and
stone in his home). The neo-pagan is much less
likely to believe he is an idolater.

Perhaps the biggest difference between the pagan
and the neo-pagan is location. "In the ancient world,
the people who needed to be evangelized were
outside the walls of the Church, today they include
thousands who are inside but who think just like
those who are outside." He concludes that the "pew
is a difficult mission field. It is hard for the shepherds
to bring home the sheep if they think they are already
in the fold."

The challenge for us today is significant. We must
reach pagans in our world who may even be in church
but are not convinced they are sinners and therefore
don't believe they need a Savior. 


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