Anyways, the message ended up being pretty solid, and at one point, he used this video as an illustration.

The video is a 5-minute “Penn Speaks” bit, where ‘Penn’ of ‘Penn and Teller’ fame, describes an encounter he has with a Christian after a show.

Check it out:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JHS8adO3hM

What do you think? Don’t we need more dudes like this?

What if this was the reputation that Christians shared all over our country and our world?

Let’s talk about it here. Why isn’t this the case? What needs to change?

(I’ll keep this post at the top of the blog for a little while)

It describes an article based on a section of the book Bono In Conversation, where Bono essentially witnesses to an interviewer.

I love this because it’s such a classic scenario, capturing the stereotypes and assumptions that so often blur our communication about the Gospel. This interviewer is working on the assumption that Christianity is for the feeble-minded, and that anyone who would accept the idea that God came into the world as a man and died for the sins of the human race must be a fool who hasn’t thought it out all the way.

And here’s Bono, the iconoclast of ‘cool’, explaining grace! And what’s more, he gently calls this dude onto the carpet and basically explains to him C.S. Lewis’ argument from Mere Christianity: you can’t be luke warm about Jesus. He is either The Messiah, or he was nuts and should be dismissed as a lunatic.

For all my friends who have wondered what it looks like to share the message of Jesus effectively and contextually, just have a look at this!

Check it out and then tell me what you think:

Is Bono, the lead singer and songwriter for the rock group U2, a Christian? He says he is and writes about Christianity in his lyrics. Yet many people question whether Bono is “really” a Christian, due to his notoriously bad language, liberal politics, and rock star antics (though he has been faithfully married for 23 years). But in a new book of interviews, Bono in Conversation by Michka Assayas, Bono, though using some salty language, makes an explicit confession of faith.

The interviewer, Mr. Assayas, begins by asking Bono, Doesn’t he think “appalling things” happen when people become religious? Bono counters, “It’s a mind-blowing concept that the God who created the Universe might be looking for company, a real relationship with people, but the thing that keeps me on my knees is the difference between Grace and Karma.”

The interviewer asks, What’s that? “At the center of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics — in physical laws — every action is met by an equal or an opposite one,” explains Bono. “And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that…Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I’ve done a lot of stupid stuff.”

The interviewer asks, Like what? “That’s between me and God. But I’d be in big trouble if Karma was going to finally be my judge,” says Bono. “It doesn’t excuse my mistakes, but I’m holding out for Grace. I’m holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the Cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don’t have to depend on my own religiosity.”

Then the interviewer marvels, “The Son of God who takes away the sins of the world. I wish I could believe in that.”

“The point of the death of Christ is that Christ took on the sins of the world, so that what we put out did not come back to us, and that our sinful nature does not reap the obvious death,” replies Bono. “It’s not our own good works that get us through the gates of Heaven.”

The interviewer marvels some more: “That’s a great idea, no denying it. Such great hope is wonderful, even though it’s close to lunacy, in my view. Christ has His rank among the world’s great thinkers. But Son of God, isn’t that farfetched?”

Bono comes back, “Look, the secular response to the Christ story always goes like this: He was a great prophet, obviously a very interesting guy, had a lot to say along the lines of other great prophets, be they Elijah, Muhammad, Buddha, or Confucius. But actually Christ doesn’t allow you that. He doesn’t let you off that hook. Christ says, No. I’m not saying I’m a teacher, don’t call me teacher. I’m not saying I’m a prophet. I’m saying: ‘I’m the Messiah.’ I’m saying: ‘I am God incarnate’…So what you’re left with is either Christ was who He said He was — the Messiah — or a complete nutcase…The idea that the entire course of civilization for over half of the globe could have its fate changed and turned upside-down by a nutcase, for me that’s farfetched.”

What is most interesting in this exchange is the reaction of the interviewer, to whom Bono is, in effect, witnessing. This hip rock journalist starts by scorning what he thinks is Christianity. But it is as if he had never heard of grace, the atonement, the deity of Christ, the gospel. And he probably hadn’t. But when he hears what Christianity is actually all about, he is amazed.

…very interesting thoughts from someone I admire very much, but who doesn’t often say much on the topic.

Here’s a particularly interesting and insightful snippet:

Lastly, the fact that Jesus remains to this day an active evangelist is of great encouragement to me personally. It means that children who are aborted in the womb, those mentally incapable of understanding the gospel, and those people who have lived in times and places that missionaries did not visit are not necessarily beyond the hope of salvation. Indeed, Jesus could visit and save anyone anywhere because He remains The Evangelist.

You can read the whole thing here.

Any thoughts?

I know this is fairly length, but if you would consider yourself a follower of Christ, I really encourage you to give it a read, and then respond:

Perhaps you’re the type who agrees that evangelism needs to happen. You really do want for people to be directed toward God. But somewhere along the way, you decided that the task is reserved for spiritual superstars who can muscle a faith discussion into any conversation, anywhere, anytime. Your self-talk goes something like this: “I don’t have the right confidence level or the right skills. I don’t have the quick mind, the relational aptitude, or the gift mi. I just don’t have what it takes.” Some of you really do believe, for one reason or another, that you are disqualified from or ill-equipped for the work of evangelism.

 For those of you in this category, what perplexes me about your paradigm is the disequilibrium that must characterize your life. Here’s my point: If you genuinely think that evangelism should be a critical functioning the life of a Christ-follower, but you also fully believe that you are unfit to evangelize, at some point don’t you have to reconcile the two? I’m just curious how you live inside of that reality without the pressure to share your faith weighing you down and without guilt utterly overtaking you.

The issue used to really stump me, but over the years I’ve seen something play out that begins to address how many people salve their consciences: they make horse trades with God — little side bargains with the King of the universe. Sure, they’d never admit this in front of civilized people, but privately they come to God and say, “I’m really not cut out to take walks across rooms, God. I’m terribly uncomfortable with risk, edge, and adventure. And frankly, this whole ‘mystical’ realm is more unnerving than I can even articulate!”

They continue to chatter away to God, secretly hoping He’ll momentarily withhold His response while they hurriedly get to the best part of the arrangement. “But here’s my deal, God. I will get all over spiritual development. I will be a Bible knowledge hound! If You want, I’ll throw myself into building Habitat for Humanity homes — every summer, in fact. I will climb all over volunteerism — I’ll show up at church five nights a week if You ask me to. You let me off the evangelism hook, and I’ll prove my love for You a half-down other ways if it kills me. That’s my deal.”

…I’ve seen scores of Christ-followers get so cut off, having horse-traded away any sense of responsibility or adventure about reaching people that they actually get annoyed with those outside of the kingdom of God.

Instead of walking toward people who need God’s redemptive love, they step into a mode of no longer wanting anything to do with them. Self-proclaimed followers of Jesus Christ develop an aversion to nonbelievers, going to all lengths to avoid the exact people Christ came to redeem.

…And if I’m forced to nail it down, I see only one problem with this cocooning pattern: it is the polar opposite of the way of Christ.