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Yeah, OK ... whatever.
You obviously do not know how Paul ministered. It wasn't with a club. It was with a velvet glove. He only used the club on believers.
To Christians, not to the unsaved.
Yes. He said it to churches, not to the unsaved.
As Christians, yes, not to the unsaved.
You need more study, my friend.
"Particularly in these days??"
No. I stated quite clearly that it is people who have changed.
... which is all about the state of the man/woman in this culture. It says nothing about the truth and effectiveness of the Gospel. Spurgeon, Billy Sunday, Ironside -- they could get away with preaching "fire and brimstone" repentance. There is no way that message works today.
I'd like someone to explain to me -- you or anyone else -- why you believe repentance must be preached with a vengeance. "Meeting them where they're at" simply means reaching out and relating to them, loving them -- for example, my own experiences with PTSD, problem drinking, disordered gambling, and adultery enables me to speak directly to any man in any of those sins. I don't condemn anyone.
As long as it expressed with love and not condemnation, certainly.
And you gather from what I've said previously on this thread that I don't preach repentance, exactly how?
I could rival Paul as the "foremost" among sinners. I'm well aware of that. I am well-heeled in the knowledge of from where I came. When you repent of your arrogance, I'll repent of a pride I do not have. Fair enough?
People are the same today as they were 2,000 years ago. They need the same message. The law and gospel cannot be altered according to your sensibilities.
I don't think the way they preached can be narrowed-down by your phraseology. But again, the nature of people has not changed through the last 2,000 years. Folks still need to hear the message of the law/gospel.
You are wrong.
Paul, after his conversion wasn't the same man as before. Your absurd characterization of him as being a great psychologist is wrong-headed. As a Christian, knowing his sin and the state of his pardon by the Lord he was given spiritual insight. He didn't have that before he was saved.
Who mentioned Billy Sunday? The very nature of the gospel compels one to speak of sin. Speaking of sin to a person is showing them love. If they don't see their sinfulness they won't see their need for a Savior.
Does the Bible condemn sinners? Are we not under the condemnation sin?
Really? You don't think the advent of the communication age, with radio, television, smart phones, the Internet, Skype, etc., has changed people?? For one thing, Americans' attention span has dropped significantly just in the last 15 years. Additionally, both politically and socially, polarization, fragmentation and division have become familiar themes and make it far more difficult for people of differing social, spiritual and political opinions to find common ground. Far more likely, they will reject and label one another without actually learning anything about one another. This is just as true of Christians as it is the lost.
Sin hasn't changed. Mankind has changed dramatically. And the Bible confirms this will happen, and in fact, it already is:
Did you read the question? Because to say that is not true is utter fallacy.
The statistical information that follows that selectively quoted line proves your answer incorrect. Likewise, the entire post would have been better quoted, with a full response.
If anyone honestly believes that, today, the Gospel is spoken more than is condemnation of the sinner, they are out of touch with reality. Graham's grandson, William Graham Tullian Tchividjian, pastor of Dr. D. James Kennedy's Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Ft. Lauderdale, doesn't agree with his grandfather.
We in the church have a far greater tendency to condemn others, particularly lost, hopeless and helpless sinners, rather than share the love of Christ and His good news with them. That's a fact, like it or not.
One, it stands to reason if I'm railing against such behavior, I most likely am not participating in it, but rather calling attention to a problem I see (though I admit some would be that two-faced and double-minded).
Statistics, not opinion, prove the point. As Tchividjian said, ask the "religious nones" why they left the church and feel they have no relationship with Christ. It isn't because they felt too loved.
You keep saying that as though it is a point of issue. It isn't. It goes without saying. I'm not writing about what is said on this board. I'm writing about what is going on in the hearts and minds of Christians across this country, and what I see disturbs me. Like it or not, we're going to be seen, as the body of Christ, as bigots in the next five to ten years, given our focus on condemnation of, for example, gay marriage -- and not it alone, but it is certainly the most visible issue -- if we are not actively pursuing heart change in the very people who foment this evil in our land. Railing against sin doesn't curb or stop sin. The Gospel does. We need to preach it. With love.