sure, Jesus spent time with sinners. but he didnt compromise. he didnt try to "look" like them.
Jesus probably looked a lot like them since they were of the same race, culture and socio-economic class.
for many years, the lost were reached with the gospel of jesus christ. doesnt that work any more?
The problem isn't the Gospel. The problem is that the church is still trying to used methods of evangelism that were relevant 50 or 100 years ago. That wineskin can no longer hold the new wine.
Are you familiar with the Engel Scale of Spiritual Decision? It was developed by Missiologist James Engel to describe the progress that individuals and groups take in understanding the Gospel, as the Holy Spirit draws them. Here are the degrees on the Engel scale (read it from the bottom up):
+5 Stewardship
+4 Communion with God
+3 Conceptual and behavioural growth
+2 Incorporation into Body
+1 Post-decision evaluation
New birth
-1 Repentance and faith in Christ
-2 Decision to act
-3 Personal problem recognition
-4 Positive attitude towards Gospel
-5 Grasp implications of Gospel
-6 Awareness of fundamentals of Gospel
-7 Initial awareness of Gospel
-8 Awareness of supreme being, no knowledge of Gospel
Most people have multiple encounters with Christians before actually accepting Christ themselves. Hopefully, these encounters are positive and bump the person up the scale.
now, it seems we have to resort to christian "night clubs" and christian death metal bands. we have to resort to "bibles" masquerading as a maxim magazine look-alike (there's one that looks like Cosmo for the ladies).
My issue with these things is that they often exist primarily (it seems) to entertain Christians. We have Christian "night clubs" so that Christians can have the night club experience without having to mingle with lost people. We have "Christianized" copies of secular bands that play concerts for Christian teens and sell their CD's in Christian bookstores and get airplay on Christian radio. It's a Christian ghetto. Instead of being "in the world, but not of the world" we've walled ourselves off from the world.
My point all along has been that I respect Christians who
do get out
into the world in order to reflect Christ into those dark places. Obviously wisdom, maturity, accountability and not going it alone are all very important.
it is so easy to say that "the end justifies the means." however, the Bible tells us to separate from worldly ways. christians arent supposed to look like the world. or are they?
I don't know... Didn't Paul say, "Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings." - 1 Cor 9:19-23 ?
What are Christians supposed to look like? Geeks in lime green leisure suits? Shouldn't we look like the people we hope to bring Christ to? Are you familiar with the story of Hudson Taylor? He founded the China Inland Mission in the mid-1800's and had tremendous success in bringing the Gospel to the Chinese. When Taylor first went to China, however, the missionaries had had a terrible track record. Of course, they were European and insisted on maintaining their European manner of dress, eating European food, living in European style houses, etc. Taylor caused a scandal by adopting Chinese dress, growing his hair out into a "queue" (he actually wore a wig until his real hair grew), living amongst the Chinese, eating their food, etc. He identified with them and became one of them while still being a faithful Christian. The results were profound.