Should the gospel be "watered-down" to cater to seekers or the lost?

Question

Someone was speaking in my church the other day, and pointed out the fact that "seeker-friendly" churchs tend to paint of more flowery picture of the gospel, presenting it almost as a self-help mechanism.

I think that the gospel is simple and glorious, so why dumb it down.

Perhaps the thinking is that if people find out the Christian life is sometimes still hard, that they won't stick around. On the other hand though, salvation is a work of the Lord. What do you guys think?

Answer 1

The Word should never be watered down. Once we start doing that it won't be long before we start making it politically correct.

Answer 2

Christ's blood was not watered down.

A flowery picture of the Gospel , what Christ did on the cross, and of Christianity as a whole is a dangerous thing. It sends the message to the unbeliever, "get saved and everything will be OK your whole life will be perfect. " Then something goes wrong and they blame God and Christians, and turn their back on God & become bitter. Christianity is not a 'feel good' religion. Those that preach this- will answer to God someday for this false teaching.

BTW Salvation IS the work of the Lord that requires "presentation" by his flock. And remember, we are always "presenting', by our actions, speech, and testimony. You dont have to be a preacher or missionary to be a witness.

Preach the Gospel at all times, if necessary use words.
(a modification of a St. Francis of Assisi quote)
http://www.americancatholic.org/Messenger/Oct2001/Wiseman.asp

Answer 3

The bible has already been watered down in some respects Sarah. If you study the various texts that were excluded from the Bible you soon see that a real effort was made to exclude any text that made too much of the idea of an unconditionally loving God.

The bible hints that God unconditionally loves us, but it also lists endless conditions that could make us less pleasing in Gods eyes if we did not follow them.

Unconditional means no conditions. I'm betting this is the way the real God thinks, not the conditionally loving fictional God so often portrayed in the Bible.

Think about it. Don't let the lies you have been told about a judgmental punishing God scare you into compliance with the nonsensical ideas that have been spread about Our loving Father/ Mother.

Those who spread these silly lies about a God that loves only if the proper conditions are met, always say that any idea that speaks of God who loves us with no conditions attached, is watering down the bible.

I’m placing my faith in a God who loves all of us all of the time, perhaps you should consider doing this also.

The way I see it, this is having perfect faith in God.

Anything less is having only partial faith.

Don’t worry, You can’t make the wrong choice. God will always love you even if the confused people tell you differently.

In your heart this idea feels like the truth, this is because your heart remembers what Gods love is like. It can't be fooled like you mind can.

Understand also this is something that you do in your heart. You don’t need to tell or argue with anyone about this. You just do it because it is the only thing that really makes any sense.

Love and blessings.

Your brother don

Answer 4

The Bible or the gospel of God is simply a guiding Book for Christians, a living testament of God's sacrifices and yet declares wonderful promises, hope, strength and love. If by explaining that, people see it flowery, or simply a picture of self-help system, why a lot of Christians continued to suffer in their Christian life and yet believe on what is taught by it.

We share the gospel by how we understood the gospel and by how we experience its works through our christian lives, i dont think churches share the gospel on what is only the PROS of the Bible but am sure we tell seekers on the struggles as we put our faith on each of every words written in the Book but have SURVIVE by God's grace.

Answer 5

Well some wanna say that the times has changed so surley God aint like the way he was in the old days. They wanna assume he is all love and not wrath. Some preachers wanna draw the crowds by giving them what they want. So he teaches on the love of Jesus and not the wrath of God. So they change the music teach half the word of God, which makes for a dead church.

Answer 6

Don't you think it already is edited, watered down in spots and beefed up in others? The Jewish Torah is almost the same as the Old Testement...except the Christian version is missing a few chapters/books.

Answer 7

Some people will respond to the message of love, while others will respond to a message of fire & brimstone.

People should know that there are still going to be hard times when they become a Christian, but they need to know that Jesus will be there with them (the Holy Ghost within).

It takes His leading to know what and when to say things different people.

Answer 8

I would never water it down. It's a serious matter, where your soul goes after you die.

The best sermon I have listened to about being saved was not watered down at all. It's called "Hells Best Kept Secret" by Ray Comfort. PLEASE LISTEN TO IT!

He talks all about how presenting the gospel without using the law to point out our depravity would be like watering it down and create a lot of false converts. Everything he says totally makes sense! There are a lot of real life examples he uses to really illustrate his points.

Go here to listen to it, PLEASE, for the sake of your soul!
http://www.livingwaters.com/listenwatch.shtml

Answer 9

I think it should be presented as the brutal, aggression-filled document it is. 'Watering it down' gives the impression that 'well, it's not all that bad, really...'. People should see the Bible for what it really is. Then they'll be sure that rejecting it is the best alternative.

Interesting that we agree, eh?

Answer 10

check out http://thewayofthemaster.com and watch some of the video clips. They do it the way Christ did and it works in today's world. Why should we water down something that is already perfect?