20 April 2007

Quote of the Weak - Proselytize

"Every attempt to impose the gospel by force, to run after people and proselytize them, to use our own resources to arrange the salvation of other people, is both futile and dangerous."

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

Taken out of context one might accuse Bonhoeffer of being "unevangelical." This would be a huge mistake.

Bonhoeffer saw clearly that modern methods of evangelism were dangerous because they cheapen the gospel, and present a god that is incapable of accomplishing His will. The begging, powerless and effeminate Jesus wants to save you, if you will only ask him to...
Bonhoeffer knew the all powerful, sovereign Creator of the Universe that commands all men everywhere to believe and repent. He boldly proclaimed the Gospel and knew that God was the only faith giver. He knew that men cannot believe unless God performs a miracle at the hearing of the Word. He knew too that there must be a preacher to proclaim the Gospel. With his very life Bonhoeffer paid the cost of his discipleship (he died in a Nazi concentration camp). At the end of his life it was said of him by a fellow non-Christian prisoner, "I never knew a man who's God was so real to him."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a flaming Calvinist to me