Ashamed of the Gospel? Missed Opportunity at Virginia Tech

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/FrankPastore/2007/04/22/ashamed_of_the_gospel__missed_opportunity_at_virginia_tech

This article was posted at a Townhall blog. It certainly is not a huge surprise that Christ was not mentioned and the gospel was not proclaimed by a “progressive” minister, nor that he was chosen to deliver the “Christian” words at the Va Tech convocation.

The first comment on the bloge read, “Ah, yes Just what we need after a tragedy like this. Another chorus of "We're right, everyone else is wrong."

I understand the obligatory hostile reaction to a non-relativist Christian suggestion. Mr. Pastore’s resume shows a graduate degree in philosophy. His studies have doubtless required instruction in logic, which quickly asks the question: How do you discuss a belief that says that contradictory statements are also true? Does the dissenter similarly object to the other presenters’ citations of their religious documents?

All of that aside, Pastore’s lament was not about the absence of an overt negation of “everyone else.” His lament was about the absence of the defining proclamation of the Christian faith: a positive one that says that God loves all men and has sacrificed of himself in Jesus Christ to redeem them from their offenses. For a “Christian” presentation, that is the omission of the essential component of the Christian faith. The “Missed Opportunity” was not the lack of an argument. It was, as Pastore said, the lack of a Christian message, which Christians naturally grieve.

But, just as I’m not surprised that a “progressive” Christian minister might omit it, I’m not surprised at a contemporary public university’s preference for a non-offensive “Christian message. Even more important than lamenting is for Christians to raise the question: “What should we do?” Shouldn’t we focus on being positive and engaging people who at the same time, cannot deliver a “Christian” message without the loving and redeeming Christ?

Mike Huckabee is focused on a positive presentation of an uncompromising and unapologetically Christian perspective। That’s probably the main reason I support him.

Larry