Meeting the secular mind in uncertain times

Lessons must be given to humanity in the language of humanity."¹ The Bible is a living testimony that God meets people where they are. Every part of God's Word was given in the time, place, language, and culture of specific human beings.

Paul, with his "Ph.D.," expresses God's rev elation in a different way from Peter, the fisherman. John writes in simple, clear, almost childlike Greek. On the other hand, the author of Hebrews has the most complex and literary Greek in the whole New Testament (with the exception of the first four verses of Luke).

In Matthew, you have someone who understands the Jewish mind. He uses Jewish terms without explanation. Mark, on the other hand, reaches out to the Gentile mind. Jewish terms are explained to his non-Jewish audience (compare, for example, Mark 14:12 with Matt. 26:17).

Message among the ruins

New Testament language is quite different from the classical Greek of Plato and Aristotle. In the nineteenth century, many scholars thought New Testament Greek was some sort of "heavenly language," unlike any other form of ancient Greek. But then in 1895 an expedition to Egypt was organized with the express purpose of finding documents from the ancient world. Reports suggested that the town of Oxyrhynchus would be a good place to start.

The scholars stumbled upon a massive garbage dump there, with numerous piles as much as 30 feet in height, which included the rubbish of several centuries. In the dry climate of Egypt very little decomposition took place. The scholars found a treasure trove of ordinary documents from everyday life.

Meanwhile, other everyday documents were found in the ruins of houses. Some had been buried with their owners, and some were even used to make painted decorations on the wrappings of mummies, both human and animal. In fact, a cemetery for crocodiles in ancient Tebtunis by itself provided enough documents to produce a large scholarly volume. Among these everyday documents were personal letters, wills, accounts, bills and receipts, and agreements regarding divorce, marriage, adoptions, and the sale of land.

Perhaps the most shocking discovery was that the language of these everyday documents was not the scholarly Greek of Plato and Aristotle, nor the public Greek of law and government. Instead, it was the language of the New Testament, the everyday language of people on the street.

So, the New Testament was not written in a heavenly language, nor in the cultured language of the traditional elite, but in the everyday language of everyday people. God meets people where they are!

Form and content

Perhaps even more significant than the unique language and writing styles of the human authors of Scripture is the fact that God adjusted the content of visions in order to communicate more effectively to and through the inspired prophet. In Daniel 2 and 7, the same basic message was presented to two different persons. To the pagan king Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 2:29-36), God portrayed the future in terms of an idol, something Nebuchadnezzar could easily understand. But to the Hebrew prophet Daniel (Dan. 7:2-14), God portrayed the future in terms of the Genesis story (Genesis 1 and 2), from a turbulent sea all the way to a "Son of Man" who had dominion over the animals! God meets people where they are.

Best of all, when God chose to reveal Himself in person, He did not come as "Jesus Christ Superstar," but as an unassuming first -century Jew, living in Palestine, who talked in terms appropriate to the local language and culture, and who got dirty, hungry, and tired, who even at times showed frustration, anger, and sadness (see Mark 1:40, 41; 3:4, 5; 6:6; 10:13, 14). God didn't send us a superstar, but someone just like ourselves.

The incarnation of Jesus demonstrates the depth of God's commitment to meeting human beings where they are in their specific time, place, language, and circumstances.

"The writers of the Bible had to express their ideas in human language. It was written by human men.These men were inspired of the Holy Spirit. . . .

"The Scriptures were given to men, not in a continuous chain of unbro ken utterances, but piece by piece through successive generations, as God in His providence saw a fitting opportunity to impress man at sundry times and diverse places. . . .

"The Bible is written by inspired men, but it is not God's mode of thought and expression. It is that of humanity. God, as a writer, is not represented. . . .

"The Bible, perfect as it is in its simplicity, does not answer to the great ideas of God; for infinite ideas cannot be perfectly embodied in finite vehicles of thought." ²

Meeting people where they are

These are important points. Some think that one mode of outreach is enough. "If secular people don't find our gospel presentation attractive, that's their problem. We warned them. Their blood is off our hands!"

But that doesn't seem to be God's attitude toward struggling humans. He meets people where they are. And He asks us to do the same. This is clearly outlined as a conscious strategy by Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23.

First, we need to meet people where they are because that is how people learn.3 We are only now begin ning to discover that what we once considered as smart and stupid is often only a difference in learning styles. Truth must come to people in a form that they can grasp. This includes more than just using the same language. It includes culture,teaching style, appropriate use of media and topic selection.

For example, I love all three of my children, but I've learned I can't treat them the same, even though they are all descended from my wife and me. I remember when they were small. We used to sit down in the living room and read together. I would be reading a children's book about a bunny hop ping around. My oldest had an annoying habit (or so I thought at the time). Whatever I said, she would repeat it after me. I scolded her repeatedly, "I'm the one reading here, not you. Be quiet!" But it was no use.

Then I discovered that there was such a thing as an auditory learner. Auditory learners learn best through hearing themselves talk (know any one like that?). She was cementing the ideas in her head by repeating them to everyone else! In my well-meaning attempts to discipline her, I was preventing her from the very thing I was trying to accomplish!

My son, on the other hand, is a visual learner. When I read about the bunny hopping, he would run over to me, flop onto the arm of the chair, and try to seize the book (against my well-meaning protests) out of my hand. What disobedience! But all he wanted was to see the picture of the bunny hopping. That was how he learned best. And he's never had a problem with spelling as long as he could see the words first. Once again, my instincts as a father ran contrary to the learning styles of my children.

Needless to say, my youngest daughter was different from the other two. She is a kinetic learner. That means she learns best when her body is moving. Guess what she was doing when I read about the bunny hopping? Boing, boing, boing she went,bouncing all over the room like a rabbit! I hated it, but that's how she learned best.

Imagine a teacher trying to teach all three of my children at the same time! But truth is grasped most easily when it comes to people in the way that God designed them to learn.

Second, we need to meet people where they are because God has placed within human beings a natural barrier against persuasion. The stronger the barrier, the more stable the person. When someone comes along with an idea that is radically different from what we think, a psychological brick wall arises, and the more someone pounds against that wall, the more it is reinforced.

The only way around those "brick walls" is to approach people in the area of their felt needs, a point in that person's life where he or she is open to instruction. Students of world mission call this element of felt need the point of contact that point in a person's or a group's experience where an aspect of the gospel intersects with their conscious needs and interests.

Frankly, however, the felt-need principle makes a Christian's life more complex because secular people are as diverse as snowflakes. Without a fresh and creative approach, each situation may appear hopeless. But although the attempt to reach secular people will have its ups and downs, it is a great adventure.

Where to now?

Over the last ten years I have writ ten two books dealing with the subject of reaching the secular mind. Present Truth in the Real World and Knowing God in the Real World were both published by Pacific Press Publishing Association and are still available at Adventist Book Centers.

Present Truth was about method. How do you meet people where they are? What kind of strategies can open secular people to the gospel? What kinds of barriers prevent the church from being more successful in the developed world than it has been?

Knowing God, on the other hand, is about message rather than method. How do you present the gospel in terms that draw secular people and make it possible for them to under stand? How can people have a relationship with God when they can't see, hear, or touch Him?

Are the ideas in these books still relevant, or has September 11 changed everything, in the United States, at least?

I was anxious to find out. In October 2001, I led a Seminary fact-finding team to New York City. We went fully prepared to discover that things had changed dramatically and that secular New Yorkers were now open to the gospel in ways that they hadn't been before.

However, while some things in New York had changed, we learned that even the most "cutting-edge" churches were reaching few, if any, secular people. We went home convinced that strategies outlined ten years ago were still valid. As the case was then, secular people are still not normally reached by programs, calculated strategies, or high-tech extravaganzas. In the main, they are not reached by religious media or jargon. They remain highly resistant to what most of us call "church."

September 11 notwithstanding, the Western secular people whom I have observed are best reached one-on-one by people willing to live and invest in the neighborhoods and workplaces that they frequent. Secular people respond to relational approaches that meet them at points of felt need.

Secular people require freshness and creativity in those who are attempting to present the gospel to them. They need to hear the gospel in language that is free from parochial cliches. And regardless of how or where we meet them, it takes a lot of time for secular people to make the transition from reality as they understand it to reality as Adventists and other conservative Christians under stand it. Any "program" that ignores these realities is unlikely to have the kind of impact desired.

There is no magic potion. Those who would reach secular people must be prepared to meet them where they are. God's method is still the best method.