What Christians Believe? - Peter Kreeft-6- Questions

What Christians Believe? - Peter Kreeft - 6 - Questions
cinops be gone Monday. April 28, 2008
Final notes from a talk given at the C.S. Lewis Summer Conference 2003: A tape from St. Joseph Radio – P.O. Box 2983 – Orange, Ca. 92859 (714) 744-1998
www.stjosephradio.com This tape is a classic on Lewis’s book, Mere Christianity.

4. You mentioned we should be Christo-centric. Some theologians have criticized Fox for being too Christo-centric. Can we be too Christo-centric?

Only if we set up an either or; between the persons of the Trinity: But that is of course, not Christianity. Some of you have heard the story of Karl Barth’s last public lecture, before he retired. There were questions from the audience and one person said. Professor Barth most of us in this room believe you to be the greatest living theologian. Please tell us what is the profoundest idea that ever entered into your mind? He replied, “Jesus Loves Me.” That’s a profound theologian.

6. When we go into other cultures to share Christ, how can we avoid ethnocentrism and imposing culture rather than just Christ?

First of all we do not impose, we propose and secondly we do what St. Paul did in Athens. We find Christ in that other culture and start from there. And missionaries say its amazing how these benighted pagans who are worshipping idols still have some light of the true God.
Look what Paul did in Athens. His heart burned against the idolatry because the Athenians were worshipping hundreds of Gods and yet there was one of them that he commended them for the unknown God.
Socrates was a stone cutter by trade and stone cutter as distinct from sculptors just did square straight things like altars and inscriptions but not statues. Well this altar unlike the others had no statue on it because nobody knows what the unknown God looked like. Socrates may have cut that inscription himself.
So when St. Paul says in Act 16 or l7 I noticed this fascinating inscription to the unknown God and the next sentence is startling. – The God you are already worshipping – present progressive tense in Greek I am telling you about - You are worshipping him in ignorance.
I now enlighten you. God does not leave anyone without light. So you make a connection. You find a spark and you say that spark I want to tell you more about that spark.
Today, you go to China and you see a Taoist talking about the Tao. And you notice the Chinese Bible began in the beginning was the Tao and the Tao was with God and the Tao was God. Profound! How in the world Tao know so much about the way that ultimate reality worked – by self-sacrificial love – that was divine inspiration. Confused – like all the myths but good dreams.
So you look for the light and if others are looking for the light, you share the light. We know more about that light- that light became a man and those who are true to that light like Ana in the last battle will say now I see, now recognize that’s what I was worshipping.

George H. Kubeck, Duplicate and or translate into Spanish and Vietnamese.