essays

Apologies for being a bit quiet recently, I got rather bogged down in my essay ("Ecclesiastes is a book for contemporary society". Discuss). But, thanks to help from mrPM "Just sit down and write it" I have sent it in, and have finished the OT writings module (hurray!)
Unfortunately, that means I need to get on with the next module which is "evangelism". It's a compulsory module (there's no way I would be doing it otherwise!) and I am not finding it at all easy. For starters, it assumes I'm part of a church, which I'm not really at present. MrPM and I have started going to another church where we fit much better than the previous one, but it is some distance away and I don't really know anyone there yet, so wouldn't consider myself a part of it yet. The other problem is that the whole module so far seems to be written from the standard evangelical perspective of "if you don't believe Jesus died for your sins, then you're going to hell. Oh, and by the way, God loves you." I feel like I'm an alien from another planet. So the most important thing is getting my sorry soul into heaven when I die?
The Bible says that Jesus went about PREACHING THE GOSPEL. This was BEFORE he died. So how can 'the Gospel' mean "Jesus died for your sins"??? Cause it wasn't what Jesus himself preached as the Gospel. He seemed to more along the lines of setting captives free, and bringing the kingdom of God to earth in the here and now. Surely we are supposed to do the same? Work with him to bring God's kingdom here and now? To give hope where there is none? Work for justice and an end to oppression? To help those who have no help? To love those who are unloved?
And I object to those who do these things in order to entice people so they can then 'preach the Gospel' and ask them to make a commitment. That's operating under false pretences, and cannot be compatible with following the one who said he was the Truth. I do these things because it's what I understand God did in Jesus. Sure, if someone wants to ask me about my faith, I'll talk til the cows come home. And yes, I do these things because of my faith, because this is how I live it out.
There's also the small matter of the rest of creation. If God so loved the WORLD etc, it's not just human souls that get redeemed, it's the whole of creation that is reconciled to God. How much anthropocentric individualism has the church syncretised with Jesus' teachings and is now teaching as sound doctrine?
In short, I'm going to have a nightmare doing this module and I suspect I may well be ranting here from time to time. Prayers/ good wishes etc gratefully received....