Living Waters
Posted on March 20th, 2006 by catalyst into the Sermons categoryWhile eating lunch yesterday, I picked up a small Christian tract that someone had left on the table next to me. The tract asked two simple questions?
Are you a good person? And then Are you good enough to get into Heaven?
I have a little experience with these types of questions, as I spent much of childhood at Pioneer Square and Saturday Market passing out Christian Evanglical tracts. And let me tell you, if the first question on one of these tracts is "Are you good enough?" I can pretty much gaurantee the final answer is going to be "no". There is no way a Christian Tract is going to conclude with, "Yep you lived a pretty good life. No worries. You're getting into Heaven."
But I looked at that second question and immediately thought, No. I'm not good enough. That's the whole point. We are saved by the Grace of God, not by our actions.
The tract is published by Living Waters and is sponsored by Kirk Cameron. I am not sure I want Mike Seaver telling me whether or not I am good enough to get into Heaven.
I guess I just tend to think that the days of the judgemental Christian Tract are over. You win people to Christ by sharing His love, not threatening them with Hell.
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March 20th, 2006 at 8:11 am
Mmmmmm….
March 20th, 2006 at 10:40 am
ditto
March 20th, 2006 at 12:00 pm
I agree. Christ is so much more than our ticket to heaven. Those tracts are doing a dis-service to people by portraing Him as just that. That kind of evangelisim ticks me off. Gosh!!
March 20th, 2006 at 1:04 pm
I like to leave those in lieu of a monetary tip when I go to restaurants. I think the servers appreciate it more anyway.
(sarcasm alert for the easily offended)
March 20th, 2006 at 1:10 pm
Tonight on a very special episode of Growing Pains, Mike explains to Ben why Dr. and Mrs. Seaver are going to hell.
March 20th, 2006 at 1:51 pm
But what better gratuity is there than eternal salvation? Perhaps it’s not such a bad idea.
March 20th, 2006 at 4:17 pm
I love it!
“Hi, I’m Kirk! If you’re not a christian, please click the YOU’RE GOING STRAIGHT TO HELL UNLESS YOU CLICK THIS BUTTON button.”
Awesome!!! lol.
March 20th, 2006 at 4:18 pm
Lol. My wife was CONVINCED that the link “wayofthemaster.com” would be to a Steven Seagal website.
Nope.
March 20th, 2006 at 4:34 pm
sounds like s & m porn…
at least they are being true to the Bible’s message tho…
March 20th, 2006 at 5:29 pm
Catalyst, I’m with you. None of us can be “good enough” to earn salvation. Ever. That’s why Jesus had to die on the cross in our place. There isn’t any other way we could be reconciled to God. Such tracts are atrocious. The whole “fire insurance” approach to salvation is ridiculous. Evangelism based on it is ineffective. It’s the kindness of the Lord that draws us to repentance. Effective evanglism = authentic Christians connecting with unbelievers and building authentic relationships.
Leave a waitress a great tip; that’s more likely to impress her with generosity and kindness than a tract!
March 20th, 2006 at 6:19 pm
My grandparents used to be missionaries and for as long as I can remember they used to include a tract with all their correspondance with me. Once a year I’d get a birthday card with a check for $10 and a tract. Some years I’d actually get a letter…oh, and a tract. After awhile, I was offended…at some point don’t you think they should have at least asked if I was a Christian? My dad always told me that they meant well…that it was out of love. Maybe they did…I don’t know. I do know that they would have shown me more “love” if they had wanted to get to know me. They never knew me and never tried to know me.
I also think street evangelism isn’t the end all. True, in some ways it plants a seed…only if it is done in love. The hard work comes later and is often NEVER done. Jesus told us to go and make ‘disciples’…which takes a whole lot more time, energy, and LOVE.
The fear of God is only the BEGINNING of wisdom. Obedience out of fear isn’t true obedience. True obedience comes from trust.
March 20th, 2006 at 8:18 pm
Did you say Fire Insurance?
March 23rd, 2006 at 12:41 pm
I was watching Kirk Cameron talk about that last night…I found it a little shallow. One comment was, “Pastors, I’m not even close to being worthy to wash your socks.” What?
March 23rd, 2006 at 12:47 pm
Oh, another thing…they interview people about what they believe and then humiliate them on camera. Then they ask, “So, are you ready to be saved?” Most of the people said yes because they were so embarassed to look even more stupid than they were made to look. They were ready to say anything just to get the hell outta there. Making people say it isn’t good enough. You have to be an example…make them want what you have…and they were speaking to the camera to pastors about how to be a proper witness…with slot machines in the background. Huh?
March 28th, 2006 at 1:43 am
Let me tell you about a tract I found recently on a window ledge in downtown Portland.
On the front are the printed words, “Real love”, but it is scratched out with ink and “fake” is written above it. Inside the tract the reader left little notes. Beside the words “real love is God’s saving love’ the reader wrote Fake, Pretended Beings Nonsense. Wherever Real Love is printed this person scratched it out and wrote Fake. The last headline of the tract reads, “Real love offers you eternal life”. Our angry reader wrote, Fake love offers you nothing but lies…
I don’t know why I saved it, or why I have it posted up in my office, or why I’m writing about this at 1:42 in the morning.
I really need to get a new hobby.
March 28th, 2006 at 8:22 am
Dear children, we must show love through actions that are sincere, not through empty words. (1 John 3:18 GW)