The Difference Between Hope and Blind Optimism

Episode 65 Show Notes

The Difference Between Hope and Blind Optimism

From the Show

Is the religious pluralism in America today an opportunity for evaneglism?

We have to all be heralds of the gospel right or we live. Pluralism is not something we should be afraid of, we should embrace it. It's good that we come in contact with different people from different religious backgrounds. And for us who believe the gospel, it's an opportunity to share what we've received.

Look, the America of our imagination- Leave it to Beaver and The Waltons, was basically a white middle-class culture with the veneer of Christian civil religion. So, a lot of people tipped their hat to the unknown God but they didn't really understand the gospel. Donald Gray Barnhouse, almost a century ago, said, “What would it look like if Satan took over Philadelphia? Here's what it would look like, I think. It would be white picket fences, everybody would mow their lawn, kids would say ‘yes sir’ and ‘no ma'am,’ everyone would have manners, there would be no spitting on the sidewalks or chewing gum, no drinking, no smoking, and everyone would go to church every Sunday where Christ is not preached.”

That's what we should be afraid of. Not the mission field coming to the missionaries, but the missionaries not being ready. And the de-evangelizing of our churches by not preaching Christ,
that's a real challenge in our day. So, now we actually have to teach and preach the Christian faith, we can't assume anything. We can't assume that even people in our churches really know what they believe and why they believe it. Not just going with the flow of happy self-confident moralism. Our neighbors probably haven't even ever heard the gospel. — Michael Horton

Questions in this Episode

1. What do you think about the pluralism of our current American context, the reality that we live among people of different religious beliefs? I tend to see it as an evangelistic opportunity. What do you think?

2. Does God love everyone?

3. If God has given us the Holy Spirit, why is pursuing holiness so hard?

4. Is it possible to be saved and not believe in the Trinity?

5. What do Christians really mean by the word sin? What is sin? Is everyone really a sinner?

6. What is the difference between hope and blind optimism?