# An inoffensive gospel is also an inoperative gospel.



## Ronnie T (Feb 5, 2011)

That's what I heard a Christian friend say this afternoon.

*An inoffensive gospel is also an inoperative gospel.*

I agree.   Do you?
I wouldn't mind reading your thoughts.


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## gordon 2 (Feb 6, 2011)

Yes I agree. Many in the Kingdom are upset when it is pointed out to them that they excuse themselves from the Kingdom itself when dealing with what they call the "real" world. They call these offensive citizens throlls, lunatics, enemy and worse. Yet in time the Kingdom will call them saints.

The Gospel asks us to bring into league our spiritual blessings with our resource blessings. This is very offensive to many, especially to those who claim themselves saved or to Christ and live with these two seperate.


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## johnnylightnin (Feb 6, 2011)

Light came into the world, but men loved darkness.

I agree with the quote. The Gospel kills self-exultation and pride. It kills favoritism, racism, sexism, prejudice, and self-centeredness. We are a proud people who are told constantly by ads, media, and even science that we are the crown jewel of the universe...and we like that message.


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## Lowjack (Feb 6, 2011)

gordon 2 said:


> Yes I agree. Many in the Kingdom are upset when it is pointed out to them that they excuse themselves from the Kingdom itself when dealing with what they call the "real" world. They call these offensive citizens throlls, lunatics, enemy and worse. Yet in time the Kingdom will call them saints.
> 
> The Gospel asks us to bring into league our spiritual blessings with our resource blessings. This is very offensive to many, especially to those who claim themselves saved or to Christ and live with these two seperate.



I being called that here all the time, LOL


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## gordon 2 (Feb 6, 2011)

Lowjack said:


> I being called that here all the time, LOL




 LOL.

Yes but for which? For making out Obama a muslim? or seeing in him what is christian? For collecting End Time clippings? Or for nurturing the Born Again? For being bullish or a bear on the Kingdom? For which dear brother?


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## thedeacon (Feb 6, 2011)

Lowjack said:


> I being called that here all the time, LOL



If the shoe fits, go ahead and wear it


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## formula1 (Feb 6, 2011)

*Re:*

This depends!  The gospel is not offensive to those who have seen the Light, for they have fallen in Love with the Light. They have humbled themselves and repented and it has moved them into true freedom.

But to those who love evil the gospel is offensive because it exposes them for who they really are.  There is a cost to put Jesus on the throne and it goes against the very nature of man. This is why that road is narrow and few find it.

Shortly after John 3:16 you see this amazing word from our Savior:

18  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God."

And I cannot ignore this either:
John 15:19
If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Therefore if you are loved by the world as a Christ follower, perhaps then you are not following at all! 

This is a good topic as I am examining myself even as I write this!


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## Lowjack (Feb 6, 2011)

thedeacon said:


> If the shoe fits, go ahead and wear it



Proudly !  



New International Version (©1984)
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile 

Rom 1;16


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## Ronnie T (Feb 7, 2011)

No one like to hear someone tell them that they are lost.

"Lost"  It sounds very cold.  It sounds ignorant, weak, stubborn, unwilling.
The first message of the Gospel is that you are lost.
The second message is that Jesus had to die for you to not be lost.
It's very easy to take offense at the thought that someone died for me and I didn't even ask it.  And I don't see why I needed someone to die for me several thousands years before I was even born.

Lj posted part of these words earlier.
It's hard to see any offense in the words, but for the unsaved, they're there.

16For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH."

"it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes"
"in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith"S

Saul killed and brutalized believers because of those words.


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## StriperAddict (Feb 7, 2011)

formula1 said:


> This depends!  The gospel is not offensive to those who have seen the Light, for they have fallen in Love with the Light. They have humbled themselves and repented and it has moved them into true freedom.
> 
> But to those who love evil the gospel is offensive because it exposes them for who they really are.  There is a cost to put Jesus on the throne and it goes against the very nature of man. This is why that road is narrow and few find it.


You've boiled it down well what I was considering also.  What was once offensive to me in my old self, is now life and healing.  The cross kills the life dead in sin, and it brings life by Him raised off of it.  
I often need to remember my former attitude about it, to understand the hatred of it today.  It is to those lost/perishing a severe stumbling block, and only God can open the eyes.  Which is why we need prayer in all our ministry efforts.


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