The Jesus We’ve Never Known (I) from the Gospel We’ve Never Heard (II) Out of the Bible We’ve Never Read (III) in the Church We’ve Never Experienced (IV)
I The Jesus We’ve Never Known (with apologies to Philip Yancey) Reading fiction requires what literary scholars call a “willing suspension of disbelief.” We must enter the world and characters the author has crafted “as if” it is the world we inhabit. Only then can we feel the impact of the story that unfolds and have our imaginations stirred by what we read. I need to ask you to hear my presentation with that same attitude. What I say is not fiction, to be sure. But it will seem like it to you, at least at first glance. Indeed, my lengthy title claims that those of us in North America have not really known Jesus, heard the gospel, read the Bible or experienced the church! If this seems to you as untrue or far-fetched I beg you to exercise “willing suspension of disbelief” and entertain the possibility that it may just be true and there just may be something you might want or need to see. My theology is orthodox. I believe in the reliability and unique authorit...