1. Newbigin asks "what does it mean to write or to tell history? It cannot mean the recording of all the uncounted millions of things which have happened int he past. It involves selection." (pg 89-90) That selection he speaks of is the key to understanding the Bible and how it acts as the universal history for the world God was the one who selected what would and would not be included in the Bible. He was the one that directed and told the writers of the Bible what to write. If you look at the Old Testament, you see primarily historical events and happenings that lay the ground work for the Jewish religion. From archaeological digs and other writings we see that what the Bible speaks about was accurate and thereby was recording what was going on in the world at that time. The New Testament can be viewed initially as the telling of Jesus' life, but then it continues on with more historical events that happened afterwards. It concludes with the recording of a dream or prophecy. Again, through physical evidence we find that the Bible is proven correct and accurate. I once heard a radio evangelist comment that people question things about the Bible, specifically some of the details that are omitted. He commented that someone had asked him what he thought Jonah did while in the belly of the great fish. His response was, if it was important enough for me to know, God would have included it in the Bible. Since it is not there, I don't spend time thinking about it or arguing about it. I really like this train of thought and often use it and share it with others.
2. The PM the mind set is that there are no absolutes, that what is good for you might not be good for me. However, as Christians and especially as an ECM, we need to stick to our guns, so to speak and present only the gospel and what it represents. PM's will view the gospel as a truth and will therefore accept it. However, the challenge comes when we continue to stress that the gospel is the only truth. Newbigin references how Marxism, Communism and Islam all tend to spring up where Christianity begins to grow and show strength. If this isn't a blatant attack by Satan to create confusion then I don't know what is.
" 'As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.' " (Rom 14;11, NIV) In this scripture we see that every knee will bow. Now whether that means that we will bow humbly or whether it means we will bow because we are forced too, every knee will bow. Knowing this we need to heed Newbigins words, "patient endurance."
3. Newbigin speaks on both sides of the Mission in word vs. the Mission in deed. One side feels like they should merely be building up the Church by "preaching the gospel of salvation from sin and offering eternal life." (pg. 135) This is all well and good because how can nonbelievers be saved if they are not told the Good News? How can the church increase its numbers if it isn't out converting others?
On the other hand the other sides feels that this is not kingdom work and therefore focuses their energies on helping the poor, healing the sick and freeing the enslaved. This too is all well and good, but how can those who are sick or poor or enslaved every truly rise above their situation if they are only helped out of their predicament and not taught how to over come it? It reminds me of a saying I learned in the Special Forces, "give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime."
Just as Newbigin suggests, both sides need to take a step back and include some of what the other side is doing. A church should be spreading the gospel of salvation, but they should be doing it while helping someone who is bed ridden. For Christians there are no absolutes, except Jesus. Everything else needs to be taken in stride.
4. Kaufman's argument is based on the fact that in his mind unity means everyone and everything getting along and not fighting. This is where his flaw is and therefore, why he doesn't believe that the Christian gospel can furnish the center for unity. The American Heritage Dictionary defines unity as "the state, quality or condition of accord or agreement; concord." To me this means that everyone is in an agreement. If we travel ahead to the end of the time, when Christ comes back everyone will be in an agreement. Those that have accepted Christ and his gift of salvation will have entered into an agreement with him. And those who have rejected Christ and his gift of salvation will also have entered into an agreement. For the first set of folks that agreement includes eternal life and getting to live with God. For the others their agreement includes eternal damnation and getting to live separated from God. Either way, they are still in an agreement.
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Thanks for your post Jason, I will share several comments for further refection:
1) Christianity is unique in many ways as a faith community we have a call to be a part of God's salvation history that has a purpose and movement towards a goal--telos. This is not religion that simply talks about God; we are testifying that God has revealed Himself in history, cosmos--creation, divine speech, covenant relationship with people, and ultimately in Jesus the Messiah.
2) Good insights about the counterfeit Messiahs & faith systems--pluralisms that will arise when the gospel is presented in a culture. There is also the issue of syncretism with the previous religious systems (examples: NE relgious systems with idols, Judaism, and paganism). Civil religion is also an issue since Christendom became an ideology of the West.
3) Your fishing workshop is a timeless illustration that carries a lot of freight. The resolution of the polarities of what is the holistic gospel that is centered in Jesus' person, life, ministry, and victorious atonement.
4) Kaufman illustrates a Mennonite gone liberal--Jesus is an ethical prophet but not the God/Man; his position is that our evangelical cultural lenses have distorted our historical consciousness when we profess Jesus as Lord, and mean it! Note on p. 150 that both believers and unbelieving skeptics like Kaufman have their epistemology based in faith system--Christianity or historical consciouness. Our apologetic is not based upon empirical proofs (modernity's methodology that was highlighted in the "Scopes Monkey Trial" creation was not on trial--e methodology was on trial) based upon faith in God and His revealation to us in various means including the inner witness of the Spirit.
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