Comments on: True Story 5: Conclusions

By: elderj

elderj — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 22:39:40 +0000

Thanks for your review. As a colleague and quasi-friend of Choung working in the same context (and actually interviewed in the course of his doctoral research) I must confess a certain bias. I think your points of critique are well taken, if somewhat imprecise concerning the heart of his message and outline. I’ve never been one that’s fond of gospel outlines generally, as they typically truncate the gospel and obscure more than they illuminate. However, I find his outline very useful in contextualizing and summarizing the full import of the gospel. Your critique seems to suggest a very particular understanding of the gospel which necessitates the mention of Jesus being crushed for our sin. Honestly as many people as I’ve had the fortune to usher in the kingdom and as much as I’ve been privileged to share, it has been rare that I’ve ever needed to convince anyone of sin or holiness.
‘

By: Nicholas Hill

Nicholas Hill — Fri, 30 May 2008 16:37:53 +0000

Thanks Trevor,

It reminds me of the three story evangelism strategy by Youth for Christ (of which I am apart). It is not so much what is there, but what isn’t. To take the uncomfortable areas of the gospel in an attempt to make it more palatable is to lose the gospel itself. I was just preparing a Matthias Media Bible study called “Just for Starters” for my youth this morning and I think that Ephesians 2:1-10 addresses many of the questions the author raises. It is a rich gospel presentation,

Nick

By: trevinwax

trevinwax — Fri, 30 May 2008 14:57:51 +0000

Thanks, Al.

I actually like the way that James starts off his gospel presentation. I think the common perception that the world is not as it should be is a great place to start.

The problem is not that James doesn’t start with personal sin against a personal God. It’s that when he does get around to talking about sin, sin is no longer primarily seen as a personal offense against God.

I look forward to reading the article in CT.

Thanks for the input!

By: Al Hsu

Al Hsu — Fri, 30 May 2008 14:23:25 +0000

Thanks for this detailed review and analysis of the book. FYI, Christianity Today will be running an interview with James Choung about True Story in the July 2008 issue. It answers some specific questions and objections that you and others might find helpful. For example, in response to the question, “How does sin–a central part of the biblical vocabulary–enter into your presentation of the gospel in the Big Story?” Choung answers:

“Evangelicals have traditionally assumed that we have to start every gospel message by helping people see they’re sinners. If we don’t, then we can’t move on to salvation or how Jesus gives them assurance that they will be in heaven when they die.

“It’s not that this message isn’t true, but the approach is jarring. We haven’t created any common experience or authority so that our message will have any weight. We just come out and say it’s the truth. And in a postmodern setting, that sounds arrogant.

“…So at the beginning of the Big Story, we instead talk about our common perception: The world is not the way it’s supposed to be. We all agree with that. … But we still come back to the concept of sin in the context of a broken world. Each person contributes to the mess. … then sin seems much deeper and more real. And our need for a Savior becomes stronger, not weaker.

“Jesus’ invitations into the kingdom seem to be summed up in a couple of words: ‘Follow me.’ Jesus didn’t always require people to see the depths of their sin before they started a journey with him. They just needed to be willing to change.”

By: Mike O

Mike O — Fri, 30 May 2008 14:00:22 +0000

Thank you for your careful treatment of this book. As someone involved with InterVarsity on a midwestern campus with a large chapter, I agree that a balancing push-back is in order.