Friday, May 16, 2008

Evangelical manifesto

As some of you may have heard there has been an evangelical manifesto put together to speak out publicly what evangelicals in the US are about. With the over politicizing of evangelical ministry there are many misconceptions. So they released the manifesto

Here is an extract from the manifesto summary:

As followers of Jesus Christ, Evangelicals stress a particular set of beliefs that we believe are true to the life and teachings of Jesus himself. Taken together, they make us who we are. We place our emphasis on ...

1. Jesus, fully divine and fully human, as the only full and complete revelation of God and therefore the only Savior.

2. The death of Jesus on the cross, in which he took the penalty for our sins and reconciled us to God.

3. Salvation as God’s gift grasped through faith. We contribute nothing to our salvation.

4. New life in the Holy Spirit, who brings us spiritual rebirth and power to live as Jesus did, reaching out to the poor, sick, and oppressed.

5. The Bible as God’s Word written, fully trustworthy as our final guide to faith and practice.

6. The future personal return of Jesus to establish the reign of God.

7. The importance of sharing these beliefs so that others may experience God’s salvation and may walk in Jesus’ way.

Perhaps it’s just me, but do you notice something missing?

Other than implicitly in item 6 there is no mention at all of the resurrection. I find this strange. The resurrection is the central truth of Easter. I mean let’s be brutally honest here. Anyone can die on a cross, painful yes, but doable. But it takes something special to be raised from the dead! I think the manifesto is great, a return to some of the values that evangelicals started with. But perhaps they could have thought this out a bit better.

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