Now to some things that have been swirling around inside of my head. I was just having a conversation with a friend of mine about some comments we got on our CT09 event here at the Mount. The comments were a bit disheartening to me.

There were two. First, someone expressed disappointment in our not passing out tracts at the carnival. For those that don't know, tracts are a little brochure that basically point out the plan of salvation. Some make you feel bad and think you are going to be going to hell, and other things. These used to be an effective way of evangelizing, now they are an effective way of wasting paper and causing litter. Here's why this is my opinion. We live in a culture that is post-Christian. What I mean by that is, while there are Christians in America and people who claim to be Christians, most Americans don't live with the same set of basic foundational principles that the Christian worldview is based on. This postmodern culture is full of the relative. What is true for you is fine, but it's not true for me and therefore carries no wait on what I believe or how I act. This culture does not carry with them the basic principle of sin. They don't understand that human beings are fallen, broken people. Postmoderns have the idea that human beings are basically good. Christians understand that every inclination of hearts is to evil, as Paul says. We are broken sinful, in need of a Savior.

So a tract that says you are going to hell because of your sins and you need Jesus makes sense to a Christian worldview, but seems like nothing to someone that doesn't even think there is sin. Our job then as Christians is to fill in the gap between our worldview and the postmodern worldview. We can't expect a tract to even be useful until we show the reason you need a Savior. I understand that some tracts start there. But this is a creation, fall, redemption issue. Those have to be established belief before the need for Jesus is ever even important. As a final thing, were you converted by a tract, or by someone who loved you enough to be there and to answer all of your questions and show you what love is, who God is.

The second thing, well, I'm going to make that a post for another day. Possibly tomorrow.

Just know that our witness now has to be a more all inclusive attempt than it has ever been before because the presuppositions of those around us is completely different than ours.