This is how you present the gospel
Stop trying to convince people to believe in God…because they already do.
I don’t know if Jeremy Rifkin intended to present the Gospel, but he did. Maybe it’s just me, because this is how my brain works. You may think you hear a pluralistic doctrine, but this talk doesn’t complete the story…it is merely a springboard to which the conversation can be completed. You can’t introduce Jesus until you can get this far in the conversation. I don’t know anything about Rifkin, I assume he is an atheist/humanist. I imagine your first reaction will be to consider what he is saying that is wrong, but look for the common ground you may have with this conversation.
Loved it Vince.
Basically, if you believe the earth is 2000 years old, you'll hate this.
But if you believe the earth is MUCH older than 4000 or 6000 years old, I think this rings true.
I think all this stuff is a TERRIFIC landing place for us to engage those outside of the Jesus conversation in a way that can help introduce God and Jesus to them in a new way.
Also, I think it's true.
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The video blew my mind when I came across it.
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It seems to answer evil with our institutions without ever really addressing the problem of evil which is a primary detraction for people as they consider Christianity.
So, how would you continue the conversation? Because it is obvious we cannot build institutions to make us more empathetic. And, twitter surely will not change the plight of Haiti since our darker side is more interested in the new iPhone than in empathy for others.
All the social media does is amplify. Our brains really cannot be that different than those that have lived before us. Our behavior can be seen in the ancient text as real as a modern reality TV show.
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Vince Reply:
July 1st, 2010 at 12:57 pm
I think we will be driven more towards an empathic civilization as we become more equal…especially in terms of the big thing that separates various cultures; economics.
I think that's why we are seeing that modern philosophers are economists like Rifkin and Peter Schiff. This is because the current zeitgeist is economics.
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