President's Challenge Answer the Right Questions by Blaine Donaldson, President, Fellowship of Evangelical Bible Churches
“Press 'one' for account balance.” I needed to speak with a banker about closing my safe deposit box. When I called, I had to listen to several options, each of which answered questions that I was not asking. Aſter what seemed like several minutes and well beyond my patience to listen, I finally heard, “Press 'zero' to speak to a human.” I find that when someone answers a question I am not asking,
I have very little tolerance to hear what they have to say — even if they may be telling me something that I need to know. We oſten do just that in our evangelism. On a plane a few days ago, the person beside me asked, “Do you know where you will you go when you die?” I’ve asked that same question many times. But for more and more people, that is a question that they are not asking themselves, and they don’t want to think about it. Please note that God still does oſten use questions like this. I am not saying we should never use it. With all evangelism, trust the Holy Spirit to guide you; don’t just use a “canned” opening line. Te speaker at a recent missions conference discussed the
differences between guilt-based culture and shame-based culture. I had certainly heard these terms before and had read about them, but now I realized that these terms hold a particular relevance for us as we seek to share the Gospel with North Americans in general and Eastern immigrants in particular. In guilt-based cultures, people recognize that they have a sin
problem. Tey are aware that there are righteous, ethical standards and that God is concerned about standards like the Ten Com- mandments. Tey have a sense in which they will give an account as it relates to this ethical standard. Even non-Christian people may try to outweigh their bad deeds with good deeds. Te Gospel
reaches people with a “guilt worldview” by offering forgiveness through faith in Jesus. Most Eastern cultures are not guilt-based, but shame-based.
Guilt feelings are one’s response when sin is understood as a violation of a law or standard to which the person adheres. But shame is the response when sin is understood as a public violation of community standards that results in strained relationships. Te shame-based worldview is most concerned about a per-
Our culture is changing. More and more peo- ple are defining sin by commu- nity standards rather than by an internalized divine standard.
son’s public standing in the community. One’s action is judged by whether the consequences of that action will bring honor or humiliation to the person and his family with- in their community. An action is judged by how it affects relationships rather than whether it is intrinsi- cally right or wrong. In such a culture, a person would ask, “Will I bring humilia- tion or respect to my family or my community by doing this action? Will my actions shame my people?” What the action does to relation- ships is the only important consideration. Continued on page 15 ...
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