Make Good Use of Parables to Preach the Gospel

【Preaching the Gospel to Parents】Pastor’s Chapter

Picture provided/Xu Zongshi

People often ask me: "How do I preach the gospel?" Especially to family members and elders. A group of tourists often ask more earnestly before returning to their hometown to visit relatives. I decided to write down some of my experiences to inspire others and hope to gain inferences.

Worship the God who created our ancestors

It is best to give examples when preaching the gospel, so that others can understand more easily.

I often ask those who worship ancestors: "How many generations have you worshiped?"

"The third generation I'm more familiar with."

"Then, do you want to worship the one above?"

"It stands to reason that ancestors of all generations should worship."

"Then are you the first one to say goodbye?"

"Yes."

"If the first ancestor was transformed from a monkey, would you worship the monkey?"

"Oh, I never thought about it..."

"If the first ancestor was created by God, is it reasonable to worship God?"

"Reasonable!"

My mother-in-law once visited Taipei Dongmen Presbyterian Church because of this.

To those who worship gods, I often ask: "What gods do you worship?"

"My son is in business."

"Then you are paying homage to Mr. Guan?"

"how do you know?"

"Many people walking around in the shopping mall worship Guan Gong. Guan Gong's son worships him, and he worships his father. This makes sense! Your son misses you, and you miss your father. It makes sense to keep pushing them up. Why do you go up to worship, but Going to pay homage to Guan Gong?" I gestured my hand horizontally, and he understood.

"Isn't it only reasonable that you should push it even higher and worship the God who created the first ancestor?"

"Reasonable!"

An eighty-three-year-old uncle Wang took his aunt and accepted Jesus together.

▲Pastor Xu Zongshi and Mrs. Chen Meijin visited calligraphy master Dr. Zhang Longyan (middle). Dr. Zhang is also a poet, a master of Chinese studies, an outstanding educator and a cultural ambassador. His life is full of talents and his art shines brightly. Mr. Zhang decided to believe in Jesus at the age of ninety-five.

God wants to have a relationship with people

Preaching the gospel to parents and saying "you are a sinner" is something that most Chinese elders cannot understand. They said, "I am worthy of heaven and worthy of humiliation, and I have never been arrested or imprisoned. How can I be said to be a sinner?" I think the concept of "sin" in the Bible is most consistent with "unfilial piety."

Once I preached the gospel to my father: "Dad, let's say you have two sons. The eldest son is very successful in the United States and deserves praise for good people and good deeds. But he is unfilial and does not recognize his father. The younger son has not achieved much and stays in the country to farm for you. But he is filial. Which one do you like?" After thinking about it, Dad said, "I think the younger one is better!" "Dad, you are the older one." My father understood!

I further said: "One day when you saw God, He asked: "Why don't you believe in me?" You said: "Because the Christians I met are all bad people." Is this reason valid?" Without thinking, my father immediately affirmed Answer: "This cannot be established!"

▲Mr. Zhang Longyan presented Linhe Shaoji's "Ritual Stele" to Pastor Xu Zongshi when he was studying in college.

I have been preaching the gospel to my late master, Dr. Zhang Longyan, a great calligrapher, for more than 30 years. I often say, "People are sinful and need to believe in Jesus." He doesn't like to hear it every time. After I became a pastor, my teacher declined tactfully: "You can just come and pray for me when the time comes." So my wife Mizu suggested, could we use another approach? Once I went to visit the teacher and I said, "Teacher, I have known you for many years. You are a decent person. God likes people like this and hopes to establish a personal relationship with you." When I preached positively, the teacher His reaction also became positive, and he said cheerfully: "Pray for me. When I was in Nanjing, I was a Bachelor of Arts who attended the church for four years."

The next time I visited him, he opened his mouth to pray and accepted Jesus. He was ninety-five years old at that time.

One year my mother was critically ill four times, and I rushed back to Taiwan four times that year. The fourth time, the doctor had given up. When I got to the intensive care unit, I used a metaphor and said to my father: "Dad, if there is a young man on the roadside begging you: 'Sir, I need two thousand yuan to register for school.' Will you give it to him?"

"Won't."

"What about your son?"

"Give him four thousand dollars too."

"So the first sentence God teaches us to pray is: 'Our Father in heaven.' You can only ask if you have a relationship. However, you are so hostile to God, can you ask? Are you willing to confess your sins, pray, establish a relationship with God, and then... Get up and pray for your mother?" He said, "Okay."

As a result, not only did my father confess his sins and believe in the Lord, but a miracle happened, and my mother was discharged from the hospital two days later!

▲Mr. Chen Meijin accompanied her mother Chen Su Jinxiu (seated) to watch autumn chrysanthemums. Mrs. Chen, who has been a Christian for many years, is the wife of Dr. Chen Jionglin, who is known as the "Pioneer in the Development of Pediatrics in Taiwan."

Strictly speaking, evolution is a hypothesis

Preaching the gospel will inevitably involve talking about science, reason and faith.

"How do you know that humans were created by God?"

I would tell him: There are only two possibilities for the origin of species, one is evolution, and the other is creation by God. There is no third option. Many people refuse to believe in God, so they can only believe in the theory of evolution. But the theory of evolution is just a theory. Strictly speaking, it is a hypothesis and a belief. It has no scientific basis. We have never seen organisms change from one species to another.

I usually ask him to give examples of the theory of evolution that he knows, and then answer them one by one to help him see that there is no real evidence for the theory of evolution. But if you still want to believe it blindly, that is personal freedom. I just point out objectively that believing that humans are transformed from monkeys requires astronomically greater faith than believing that humans are created by gods. It's like seeing a watch and knowing that it must be man-made; when copper plates are neatly stacked there, they must not have been caused by accidental collisions; twenty amino acids are strung together by natural collisions into an unmistakable protein, just like The possibility of asking a child to type out Shakespeare's sonnets in front of a typewriter is really slim! Such common sense is much more reasonable than the belief in evolution!

There are simply too many to mention here. As the Bible says, “God’s eternal power and divine nature are clearly seen, invisible, but they are understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20) Question It is whether people are willing to humbly accept the truth.

The true God must be revealed by God Himself, not invented by man

"There are so many religions, which one should you believe in?"

I usually say: The real God must be revealed by God Himself, rather than invented by man, because it is impossible for created man to find the God who created man. As the ancients said: "The boundless will follow the boundless." , almost." (from "Zhuangzi: The Master of Health Preservation"). However, when we still don’t know who is the revelation, we can fall back to the next best thing and go to the One God. Throughout the ages there have been only three monotheistic religions, namely Judaism, Catholicism/Christianity, and Islam. And these three all come from the same source, all talk about Abraham, and finally connect to the Bible. And the Bible is like an arrow target. It has been shot at by people for thousands of years, but it is reliable and has always stood firm...

What many people are most unhappy about is that Christianity is too absolute. My understanding is: philosophy is relative, but the absoluteness of religion is unavoidable, because it talks about God, and God is the "first cause" and the "ultimate concern." And there are absolute things, such as one plus one equals two, there is only one biological father, two parallel lines will never intersect, you cannot live without breathing air, etc. are all absolute. And absolute things are not divided into East or West, Chinese or foreign. There are so many religions, but there are only two possibilities. One is that one of them is right and the others are wrong; the other is that everyone is wrong and the right one has not yet been found. In fact, most religions are human speculation, spirit worship, and pantheism. Too many Chinese folk beliefs and the gods enshrined in temples are just revered figures in history.

Chinese people often talk about Buddhism, and I will tell them that Buddhism is not strictly a religion, but a philosophy and the teachings of the Buddha. As for the issue of ancestor worship, I would like to share that the Chinese people's focus has nothing to do with ancestor worship, but to express filial piety and be cautious about the future. "Today's filial piety refers to being able to nourish", and it is also said that "it is better to sacrifice abundantly than to nourish weakly". But respecting ancestors is still a fine culture of the Chinese people. We always have to express our feelings during funerals and grave sweepings, just like Americans taking off their hats and saluting the statue of Lincoln. I think it’s okay to bow and give flowers, because we also bow and give flowers when people are alive, but I don’t offer incense. Wearing linen and wearing filial piety does not violate the scriptures. It’s also good to take photos at home to commemorate, but I don’t worship my ancestors as gods. Once you grasp these principles, it will be easier to know how to handle yourself in various situations.

In short, try to use metaphors to explain so that people can understand. Don't rush to answer. Only respond appropriately after you understand. If you don't know the answer, just say no. It doesn't matter. Don't force people to believe. Listen more, understand more, care more, and don’t argue. “But in your hearts sanctify Christ the Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to anyone who asks you the reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and reverence.” (1 Peter) 3:15) It is true that the most touching thing in preaching the gospel is love. Seize the opportunity to express your love as much as possible!

作者小檔案 許宗實牧師是微生物學博士、芝加哥三一神學院道學碩士，目前為美國新澤西州傳福中心主任牧師。著有《飛出鳥籠》一書。