The Gospel

Over the years I have met many types of Christians who have vastly different ways of how they view the Gospel or came to the Gospel. After a while I sit down and ask myself, "are these all the same Gospel? Is my view and my experiences valid in the whole scheme of things?"

“I’m starting to find that everyone’s Christian faith is utterly, uniquely different. Not so different on loving Jesus and loving people — but the way we wrestle through doctrine by strict academia or by poetic reflection, how we sing at the top of our lungs or in quiet osmosis, how some of us pray at sunrise in a pew or at three a.m. on a beach, how some of us are dying to journal or would rather die than journal, how our political tensions clash so broadly and brutally, how one forgives so quickly and the other is bitter indefinitely, how some of us are strong in faith or we’re faith-weaklings, how we each hold onto quirks like Bible translations and worship genres and preaching styles, how we like to gather in crowds of thousands or a group of a dozen.

There’s no need to fight over these things. No need to accuse another of being wrong, or to try to be better than the ‘other’ church, or to recast the same mold. We are so many shades of an endless jewel, a glorious community of unified diversity fueled by the endless imagination of God. I hope we don’t dash ourselves on our personalities. There is room for you and for me in this Body.”  - J.S. Park

One way I think of the Gospel, and God Himself, is that the Gospel is vast, and cannot be completely understood from all sides by a single soul. It is like a vast ocean, and only a single drop is contained in a person. Take the story of the blind men and the elephant. Each blind man touches only one part of the elephant. One claims the elephant is like a snake, another thinks it's a rope. The others come up with imagery of a wall, spear, tree, and a fan. Now it is obvious when we look at an elephant we can see how these different analogies could be drawn from (ear, trunk, tail, belly, foot etc), but for now we on earth can only get glimpse of the Gospel through scripture, prayer, community, and miracles.

A better example is C.S. Lewis' beloved Chronicles of Narnia series. There are seven books in the series, each with a different iteration of the Gospel. Some of these iterations will resonate with a person than others. 

The Magician’s Nephew tells the Creation and how evil entered Narnia.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the Crucifixion and Resurrection.

Prince Caspian restoration of the true religion after corruption.

The Horse and His Boy the calling and conversion of a heathen.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader the spiritual life (especially in Reepicheep).

The Silver Chair the continuing war with the powers of darkness.

The Last Battle the coming of the Antichrist (the Ape), the end of the world and the Last Judgment.

(http://www.cbn.com/entertainment/books/deeper-truth-behind-chronicles-narnia-baehr.aspx)

God can work and exist within many cultures, but no culture can encompass all of God or His kingdom. The message of Christ cannot be boxed up or made into a cookie cutter. We are all part of the vast message of the Gospel. But God has very specific and unique ministry for each of us. He gives us specific tools, spiritual gifts, culture, sensitivities, friends, experiences, and our own personal road to the Gospel. Just like each of C.S. Lewis' books emulates a different angle of the Gospel (which is the analogous of how every book of the Bible reveals the Gospel in a different way), even within the stories each of the children find or meet Aslan a different way. Lucy definitely came to Him differently than Edmund, and even more different for Eustace. And Susan, who had the same experiences and revelation of Aslan's glory, she still decided to seek her own glory and life.

I once wrote that to know you have the true Gospel, allow all your feelings and personal experiences be stripped away from you. If what is left is still the Gospel, maybe in a raw and bare looking way, then you truly have the life of Christ in you, even if it isn't the Gospel you are most familiar with. Remember that the Gospel doesn't change as God doesn't change, but that each of us are an individual light that when all shining together make a compelling story told in the sky.

The greatest proof of Christ's resurrection is the life that we live, the only proof we can give to the world. 

"Being loved by Jesus makes you love like Jesus" Brent Campbell (the gospel in a sentence)