Your response/post illustrates the point I was making in my article: Far too many Christians are quick to judge, quick to condemn, quick to point out why “I’m in and you’re out.” Your perspective (and perhaps, fear) that other Christians are “watering down the Gospel” colors your interpretation of my message.
I love Jesus and have spent the entirety of my life serving Him. I have studied the Word and theology in graduate school and have spent nearly 15 years in missions.
Mark 12: 28–31 says this,
One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.”
This is what true evangelism looks like. Love your neighbor as yourself. That means treating them with the same respect, the same concern, the same grace you give yourself. To look past how they are different from you — how their sins are different than yours — and see the child of God, the brother or sister to you they actually are. It’s then that we can share the Good News, the news that God is with us — with THEM — that He loves them so much He went to the greatest length to make it possible for them to live forever in His presence.
I did not use the parable in Matthew 13 loosely. This is the Lord speaking:
“Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time **I** will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.”
We are the harvesters, and we are told (by God Himself) to let the weeds and wheat grow together, because the Lord knows we cannot determine ourselves what is wheat and what are weeds. At the time of the harvest, it is God and God alone who determines that.
Your response certainly did not bless me. The fact that you thought it would is beyond me. You are sarcastic, confrontational, condescending, and you question my faith and knowledge of the Word. If you treat other believers like that, how on earth will others see the love of Christ in you?
