I am in a local Starbucks and I'm posted up in this big comfy seat getting ready to study. I look across from me and I noticed this binder labeled Apologetics laying on the table next to this guy. So I discretely investigated a little further. Well I guess yelling out "hey! do you teach Apologetics?" would have been more discrete if everyone in the place didn't turn their head and look. What can I say, I'm a classy guy. Despite my awkward introduction we were able to strike up some really great conversation. One of the things we talked about was teaching scripture. He teaches at a local Seminary in town. We both agreed that how we teach the scripture today is dangerously far from the way Jesus taught scripture.
Pastors generally tell great stories but we fail to contextualize the mysteries of Heaven. The mystery of the Gospel is found in the "why" not the "how". Why love bloodied itself for the redemption of an unworthy human race is a mystery. When the Gospel gets presented in its truest form the listener will thirst for it to have personal substance.
The focus of our teachings can't be about how to prevent a screwed up life. We miss the point when we make behavior modification our focus. Jesus didn't teach the 3 steps to spiritual success because it comes with a condition. Intimacy in relationships comes from unconditional love. Love that looks you in the eye in the middle of your lowest moment and shows no reservation. I believe that Jesus always has and always will look at us with glossy eyes. He is divine and human, man and God. He knows all and he forgives all.
The way that we should teach is the way that Jesus taught. It's the most effective way to invite someone into the mystery that is eternity. The Parables were always about raising more questions than giving answers. I think we need to rip out a page from the Bible (is that legal?) and craft teachings that inspire the listener to pursue the mystery of love. The same love that is at the heart of the Holy Trinity.
Colossians 1
15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,[e]
16 for through him God created everything
in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
and the things we can’t see—
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
Everything was created through him and for him.
17 He existed before anything else,
and he holds all creation together.
18 Christ is also the head of the church,
which is his body.
He is the beginning,
supreme over all who rise from the dead.[f]
So he is first in everything.
19 For God in all his fullness
was pleased to live in Christ,
20 and through him God reconciled
everything to himself.
He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth
by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.
He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,[e]
16 for through him God created everything
in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
and the things we can’t see—
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
Everything was created through him and for him.
17 He existed before anything else,
and he holds all creation together.
18 Christ is also the head of the church,
which is his body.
He is the beginning,
supreme over all who rise from the dead.[f]
So he is first in everything.
19 For God in all his fullness
was pleased to live in Christ,
20 and through him God reconciled
everything to himself.
He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth
by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.
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