An Experiment
I want to try something.
If you read this, please click "comments" and answer this question:
As you understand it, what is the "Good News"? (as in Christians spreading "the good news"?)
Please please please please can you do this????? It'll only take five minutes... I'll give you a chocolate chip for your effort :) Don't be afraid, there is no WRONG answer.
If you read this, please click "comments" and answer this question:
As you understand it, what is the "Good News"? (as in Christians spreading "the good news"?)
Please please please please can you do this????? It'll only take five minutes... I'll give you a chocolate chip for your effort :) Don't be afraid, there is no WRONG answer.
posted by Thais at 12:23 PM
6 Comments:
You mean besides Thais? You're good news! =)
Good News... I guess I've always thought it was the fact that God spent a few years in the flesh to hang out with us and save us from our sins (which we sure need!), but now I'm wondering if it is a particular piece of what Christ did. Can we seperate the Cross, or the resurrection, or His ministry, or etc. from the whole life & work? I dunno.
I'm going to fall back on the stock Sunday School answer: Jesus.
The good news is a reference to the Gospel. The Gospel actually means "good news."
i believe the "good news" is the gospel... pretty much Jesus and what he did. i think it's good news that a perfect, completely sinless miracle worker died for millions and millions of people then and now and in the future so that we (pretty much the complete opposites) aren't doomed to Death. it's good news to know that God loves us that much.
mera
The Good News is that our wrongdoings and imperfections don't need to be the end of the story - if they were, we'd all be headed towards a pretty miserable end.
The Good News is that in response to that, we are offered something we do not deserve - at all - almost like a second chance.
The Good News is that there's nothing we can do to earn this gift. This Good News is about extravagant love.
The Good News is that - though his existence is proven by historians - we cannot go visit Jesus' grave.
The Good News is that God is faithful and constant, unlike everything else in this world.
The Good News, is that God chooses to dwell among and pursue us.
The Good News is that His promise isn't an easy path, but a safe arrival.
Good question.
I think that most Christians see the "good news" ("gospel" as jeff pointed out) as the story of God's love and what Jesus Christ did to forgive our sins. And this is completely true! However, I think that the "good news" needs to be understood/presented in the greater context of WHY Jesus' death could forgive our sins. If we simply tell people that a God/man named Jesus Christ came to earth, was sinless and died for our sins and then rose from the dead , we ARE sharing the truth of God with them. BUT we are failing to tell them a lot of who God is, why this blood/sacrifice was needed to forgive our sins and why we are in need of any salvation, why we should want it . I worry about presenting a "watered down" message to people, including those believers who are part of Church in the United States and elsewhere.
The "good news" encompasses the entire story of God and God's people. It is about God's love, grace, redemption, compassion and lots of other things. We need to start with God's relationship with Adam and Eve and the brokeness that came from their disobedience. We can't preach the "good news" of Christ's salvation to anyone until there is an understanding of our broken relationship with God (which others pointed out). Part of the news is that God desires unbroken relationship and fellowship with all of His children and that God loves us as He does (as mentioned earlier). It also means that becuase we are sinful, we require His help in getting there.
The "good news" also encompasses God's promise to and covenant with Abram/Abraham in Genesis 12, 15 and 17 and continuing through the patriarchs (Isaac, Jacob/Israel) and the twelve tribes of Israel, and through King David and Solomon and eventually culminating in God's fulfillment of the promise to Abram/Abraham in the person of Jesus Christ. And God's fulfilling of this promise means that ALL people can come to God (not just those from the blood line of Abraham), and recieve forgiveness for their sins through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We can't give "good news" to any non-Jewish believer without an understanding of how Christ fulfilled God's initial promise.
The "good news" of how Jesus can provide salvation/forgiveness from our sins comes in understanding sacrifice in the Bible. Prior to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, the way in which God's people (i.e. the people of Israel, who were from the line of Abraham) atoned for (covered over) their sins was to present animal sacrifices (see Leviticus 4-7 and 16). This sacrifice provided forgiveness for their sins, but many sacrifices were needed for their sins (no sacrifice covered all of their sins - past, present and future). The letter to the Hebrews lays this out very well (far better than I can, but I'll try). In the Old testament, their was a need for sacrifice to be offered over and over again and for a high priest to offer the sacrifice at the tabernacle/temple (the dwelling place of God). The sacrifice was an unblemished/pure animal and usually the choice of the herd. The shedding of blood and sprinkling of it upon the altar in the Holy of Holies (the innermost room of the tabernacle/temple where God's presence dwelt - seperated by a curtain) was required by the Levitical law. In the New testament (new covenant), Jesus took the role as the high priest (except that he was without sin, unlike the high priests of the old covenant). Jesus also took the role of the unblemished and sinless sacrifice. He was holy (set apart, pure) and his blood was shed for our forgiveness. There is significance to the account that upon his death the temple curtain was torn in two from top to bottom and at this point the centurion cried out "surely he was the son of God" (Matthew 27:48-54)
The "good news" encompasses this (long) truth of God's faithfulness, love, compassaion and salvation for His people. Obviously, this is in-depth and not the first thing you will rush to tell a non-believer, but it is an important part of understanding the "good news."
Additionally, we need to understand that the "good news" is not simply about why we needed to be "saved" from our sins and how we were saved, but that this truth opens up a relationship for each person with God - a God who loves us, cares for us, has compassion upon us, protects us, provides for ALL of our needs and offers "salvation" from oppression, injustice, hunger, thirst, etc (much of what Jesus preached as the "good news" as well as what Paul preached in his letters).
I guess that was far longer of an answer than you were looking for and was possibly too in-depth.
I would say the Good News is Jesus' redemptive message to the world, preaching Christ and him crucified for the sins of the world. As Oswald Chambers points out, there are many effects of the Good News (i.e. redemption and restoration of the entire created world), but the essence of the Good News is the death and resurrection of Christ (see 1 Cor. 15).
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