Kevin Palau, president of The Luis Palau Association. | (Photo: The Luis Palau Association)
Posted on 09/25/2019 7:47:01 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Many Christians in the United States are “practical universalists” who believe that many if not all religions will lead a person to Heaven, according to the son of famed evangelist Luis Palau.
Kevin Palau, president and CEO of the Luis Palau Association, was interviewed on a recent episode of the Dallas Theological Seminary podcast “The Table” about a Barna Group report indicating that half of Millennial-aged Christians think it is wrong to evangelize.
Darrell Bock, executive director for cultural engagement at DTS and host of the podcast, commented that he felt that such a conclusion was peculiar given the respondents’ self-identification.
“If you think about the traditional definition of what an evangelical is, and I’m thinking of Bebbington’s quadrilateral, where there are four characteristics, one of those characteristics is you share Jesus,” said Bock.
“You believe that Jesus Christ is the savior, that the Bible is the Word of God, you’re committed to the uniqueness of the Gospel, and you share Jesus. That’s kind of the definition. So we’ve got people in the category who aren’t in the category, or seemingly not in a part of the category.”
Palau, who was involved in the Barna research, explained that he was not surprised by the findings, as he has found in his experience that a majority of American Christians “are skittish about evangelism.”
“They hope someone else will do it, they hope the pastor will do it. They really don’t want to do it themselves. They love and hope the quote attributed to St. Francis is true, ‘Preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary use words,’ and they’re desperately hoping that it’s never necessary to use words,” explained Palau.
“With all the cultural pressures, young people, even if they live in the Bible Belt, they’re affected very much by social media, and it’s just not comfortable to express clearly the uniqueness of Jesus Christ.”
Kevin Palau, president of The Luis Palau Association. | (Photo: The Luis Palau Association)
Palau also explained in the podcast that he believes “many people are practical universalists” when it comes to the nature of salvation.
“They wouldn’t really want to be pinned down, but they, practically speaking, feel ‘God is good and loving. Everyone’s OK in the end. I definitely believe in Jesus. I love Jesus. I think it would be great if my friends knew Jesus. But if they don’t it doesn’t really make that much of a difference,’” he said.
Palau estimated that even among evangelical churches, only about 10-15 percent of the congregation actively engage in evangelism.
“We have a lot of work to do to evangelize for evangelism within the evangelical church and bring forth the biblical nature of it, the beauty of it, the joy of it,” he stated.
“I always say to people, ‘If you really believe the good news is good news, if you dwell on that, if the Holy Spirit’s revived your own heart and faith and love for people, you’ll find it easier. But the average person, it’s easier to stick with people that already believe the Gospel, and almost never open your mouth and try to share with someone who doesn’t.’”
Palau’s comments came in response to a Barna report released in February and commissioned by Alpha USA titled “Reviving Evangelism,” which found, among other things, that nearly half of Millennial Christians find it wrong to evangelize.
“Almost half of Millennials (47%) agree at least somewhat that it is wrong to share one’s personal beliefs with someone of a different faith in hopes that they will one day share the same faith. This is compared to a little over one-quarter of Gen X (27%), and one in five Boomers (19%) and Elders (20%),” stated the report.
“Younger Christians tend to be more personally aware of the cultural temperature around spiritual conversations. Among practicing Christians, Millennials report an average (median) of four close friends or family members who practice a faith other than Christianity; most of their Boomer parents and grandparents, by comparison, have just one.”
The study was conducted in May of last year, surveying just under 1,000 practicing Christians and 1,001 American adults who do not meet the criteria for "practicing Christians," including lapsed Christians and non-Christians.
Craig Springer, executive director of Alpha USA, told The Christian Post in a podcast interview earlier this year that the issue might be more a methodological issue than opposing evangelism.
Springer explained that the same research found that 94 percent of Millennial Christians believe that the best thing that can happen to an individual is for them to become Christian.
“The passion for Millennial Christians to see their friends and family come to know Christ is just as strong as any other preceding generation,” said Springer. “I do believe there’s something to look at the methodology.”
If I had been Jesus, and there was another way to get to heaven instead of what He endured...I’d have said, hey go for it. I’m not going through all of that.
Jesus said “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by me.”
You’ve got to get around that inconvenient statement to believe there is more than one way to heaven.
P.S. a more mystic and less dogmatic view of Jesus and God, WAS the church till Roman emperors, Jew hating Catholics and Puritan hypocrites co-opted it. I just love evangelist like Zacharias and Craig and others debate theology with their circular logic and self referencing source material. The Bible is completely true as we say it is because the Bible says it is...HUH???????????? I am going with my view that God is an all loving God, whose grace know no bounds. There is no asterisk to that.
Speaking as a somewhat skittish Christian...I don’t think jumping on people and shoving Jesus into their face at every opportunity converts anyone. I’ll cheerfully discuss what I believe and why I believe it when there is a genuine opening. Not big on going door to door on Saturday morning and saying, “If you die tonight, will you go to hell?”
God’s way or man’s way.
Something about hiding the candle under the bed, or burying your single talent comes to mind. Takes discretion but still, we should NOT be the lukewarm church of Laodecia.
You can believe what you want. The Bible says otherwise, but you don’t have to accept the Bible as God’s Word either. The offer of salvation has been made but no one is forced to accept it.
If someone is practicing one of Satan’s false religions, they aren’t going anywhere but down.
Christ’s teachings are very,very clear...very,*very* unambiguous. Difficult to follow...but easy to understand.
Before His ascent into Heaven, Jesus commanded His followers to “Go and teach all nations.”If you do not follow Jesus’ teachings, you are not a Christian.
You can’t pick and choose what you want to believe. That sloppy, phony faith will be exposed on Judgment Day. Jesus says in Matthew 7:22-24:
“Then I will profess to them, I never knew you, you who work evil.”
If a practicing Buddhist, though he may not know it, has the love of Christ in his heart, only God knows whether or not he will be received in heaven. Who are we to presume? See Jacques Maritain’s long essay, “Who is my neighbor?”
Well, if there is no Hell, and Heaven is so wonderful, with a loving God, then just check out now.
Save yourself any more agony here on Earth.
You won’t have to argue with dark-ages, fantasy dogma believers here on FR, either.
Marianne Williamson? Shirley MacLsine? Is that you?
Establishment Jesus is nanny state Jesus, promoting a state of permanent disability and dependency.
The Jesus of the Bible is the small government, personal responsibility Jesus.
Establishment Jesus heads a vast network of religious organizations whose purpose is to keep itself in business.
The Jesus of the Bible was crucified for causing all kinds of trouble - giving people ideas about how to go directly to heaven. He cut the red tape so those truly interested could walk right on through. Like what Cyrus the "Gentile Messiah" said (he got that last word in the Hebrew Bible), that you of God's people can go on up now.
Establishment Jesus keeps his flock occupied arguing about the wrong thinking of those "other people".
On and on. Establishment Jesus is the Jesus whom Jesus warned everybody about.
Who's going to recognize the real Jesus of the Bible, the one with the "let's do this" attitude, the one with all the skillsets to match, and the patience to teach those who genuinely desire to break free and learn and thereby ascend?
Does anyone even pay attention? What doesn't he know how to do and teach, so that people can look up and follow (EMULATE) him?
The message welcomed by most is the one from Establishment Jesus: "I'm from big religion and I'm here to help."
Disrespect Establishment man-god Jesus and expect the treatment for "undermining the faith", meaning threatening the dead status quo that is ironically fixated on polls for example.
Regular, simple-hearted people flocked to the real Jesus for compassion and healing because he was truly the only doc in town.
So-if there are many other spokes to that wheel, He could have easily left that spike out. He’s God. That’s why there’s not.
I identify as an orthodox Christian. As I age and approach my own destiny, my desire is for Universalism to be True. Truth is Truth and not subjected to any whim I might have. I would like to think that the God of Justice would distinguish a God-fearing Jew, for example, from a culture MOT who drove women to the abortion center.
For those who read the last Chronicles of Narnia, Lewis has similar sympathies.
How do you understand this passage in the Gospel of John:
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” (John 3: 17-18)
Yeah, right. Social media and the internet are the Great Enabler of Lies.
For all the good that comes with them, a lot of evil also tags along on the journeys some have undertaken into the depths of Hell in search of fame and glory.
If Islam had its way, they’d have mounted Jesus’ head on a platter alongside John the Baptist.
Yeah, right. Social media and the internet are the Great Enabler of Lies.
For all the good that comes with them, a lot of evil also tags along on the journeys some have undertaken into the depths of Hell in search of fame and glory.
If Islam had its way, they’d have mounted Jesus’ head on a platter alongside John the Baptist.
RE: If Islam had its way, they’d have mounted Jesus’ head on a platter alongside John the Baptist.
Jesus is a respected prophet of Allah in Islam.
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