The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum Gospel truth

Methinks it is important to distinguish between "Gospel", meaning the whole counsel of God, i.e., all that God's Word teaches, and "Gospel", meaning in the very narrow sense, a message that deals specifically with the salvation of sinners. And even then, "Gospel" in the narrow sense encompasses a great deal of information.

Today, it would appear that many, if not most, have the mistaken idea that to preach the gospel means that you must squeeze everything into one presentation. And consequently, since this is nearly impossible to do, the "dumb-down" process began. In just about every single case, the result is a distortion of the Gospel at best and just plain untruth in most cases, e.g., the infamous "Four Spiritual Laws"! <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/puke.gif" alt="" /> One rarely finds Paul or any of the other Apostles or Disciples giving a "full presentation" of the gospel in one sermon, other than Acts 2. But even there, we are not sure if what is recorded is the entirety of what Peter preached. And, it should be realized that the audience to which Peter preached was far more knowledgeable about the true nature of God, His commandments, prophecy concerning the Messiah, etc., all of which in our day is virtually non-existent among the populace.

Each of the elements that comprise the "Gospel" could alone be expounded on for great lengths. Volumes of books have been written on them and in some cases, one aspect of those elements, e.g., the extent of the atonement. One doesn't need nor should one attempt to create the proverbial "canned speech" which would be the "perfect Gospel presentation". There are just too many variables involved, e.g., time allotted, audience, place, and other circumstances which will and should determine what a person communicates to another, whether an individual or group.

In His grace,