But I'm seriously toying with the idea.
Don't get me wrong. I know where God has me going next year and I'm not backing out of that. I'll be there come August 20th. But the steps to get there. I'm not worried about support, or anything that's out of my control. All of the stuff that is out of my control is in God's hands, and therefore completely assured. What I am worried about is the stuff in my control. Specifically memorizing tracts.
Well ok I only have to memorize the 4 spiritual laws tract, but still after the 4 laws themselves (which is the easy part) there are 4 more pages of crap... er, I mean meaningful guidelines for spiritaul growth. Conveniently some of them actually make the acronym G.R.O.W.T.H.
Hear they are:
G: GO to God in prayer daily (John 15:7)
R: Read God's Word daily (Acts 17:11)
this one I have some problems with the verse selection here
"11Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. 12Many of the Jews believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men."
Now I added verse 12 to add some context. It just doesn't seem like this verse really means you should read the Bible everyday. It says these Jews who were better then those in Thessonalica were comparing all the things Paul was saying with the scriptures (which I am assuming means the Torah, because a. they were Jews and b. Paul wasn't alive when the scriptures included the New Testament). I don't know, it just seems like they can find a better verse than that. Now that I've said that I was looking around and I can't really think of any really good verse about reading the scriptures daily. Hmmm sounds like that's not biblical. Sorry, sorry sarcasm does not carry well over a blog. I mean Psalm 1 is about daily being in the law of the Lord. But maybe that's too much for a new Christian, "I'm set free from the law but I'm still supposed to meditate day and night?" Anyway so maybe that's just problematic.
Anyway, its really not that bad I'm just procrastinating memorizing the thing. I'm calling it rebellion against the idea of tracts, but that's not really me. It's really just acknowledging that I'm lazy. I'd rather freely tell someone about the Gospel than be tied to a tract, that's ideal. But I don't DO that. I don't have spiritual conversations. I like to think the way I live acts out the Gospel. I hope it does, but my conversations don't really. Maybe I do need to humble myself and acknowledge that I need a tract to help me explain what I stake my life on, who I am, my very core. I guess that's why I resent the tract, that I need it to explain me.
Though I really do have a problem with how the Spirit-Filled Life booklet starts out: "Everday can be an exciting adventure for the Christian who knows the reality of being filled with the Holy Spirit and who lives constanly, moment by moment, under His gracious direction.
Ugh. That made me want to puke when I first read it. It made me think of botox smiles and 5o's styles. Really the mental picture was something like the town in Edward Scissorhands before he shows up.
Anyway, I'm just frustrated with these things.
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3 comments:
a lot of tracts really bother me too, but i think that it might be because i am the rebellious type. i'm a pretty proud guy who doesnt want help doing anything, and i'm definitely too lazy to memorize anything like that tract that you mentioned.
its too boxed in, too impersonal, too methodical, and my rebellious spirit just cringes with arrogance induced disgust.
when i have a clear head, however, i can admit that these things have value, at least in helping us to think about why we believe what we do and how to articulate it to others. i think tracts are great for that sort of thing, and we certainly could use something that does that for us.
maybe i dont actually have a problem with the tract; maybe what i have a problem with is the fact that you are being made to memorize it. reading or reciting someone else's words isnt going to inspire very many people to devote their life to Christ, but instead may be a turn off to some. a personal account about how I was changed and how Jesus has rocked my world is going to be the really powerful stuff. adding a personal flair to it, some honesty and openness and transparency, that kind of thing will be more likely to mean something to someone else because they will see that it means something to you.
a tract can probably help you to come to that, but a tract is no substitute for a healthy dose of introspection as to how to best share the Gospel through your "T-mony".
With the Gospel tract and Colin's testimony's powers combined, I am Captain Planet (for the Gospel). I think we're all in agreement. And I apologize for extending Colin's Captain Planet reference. I see now that it was terrible of me and completely unnecessary.
youre absolutely right sam, but we should make sure that they aren't cheesy and that they don't make claims that aren't true.
the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the most universally relavant set of ideas, and outdated, unattractive or cheesy tracks may make the Gospel seem irrelevant to someone of a certain disposition, age, intellect or profession. tracts certainly have a great amount of value, but they should conform to an appropriate appearance and language and theological depth which is completely dependant on the person who is recieving.
we should definitely read curious george to most kindergarteners and not dostoevsky, but we should first make sure that we read it in their language, that we don't bother to show a blind kid the pictures, and maybe if the kindergartener is a child genius it might be much better for us to read them excerpts from the brothers karamazov.
tracts are great, but i think we all agree that there definitely needs to be huge amounts of consideration put into who the audience is.
of course if you want to be a great evangelist, prayer doesnt hurt either. at the end of the day its not you or me or the tract that does any work anyways, but the Holy Spirit.
by the way, is it "tracts" or "tracks" in this context?
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