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I am confused by your question because the UMC is technically an evangelical denomination. One of the founding principles of the church is personal faith in Jesus Christ, and social justice which is what evangelicals are known for.How is UMC different from Evangelicals? How would you explain it?
It depends on what your definition of 'evangelical' is*. But if you're using it as a synonym for the Religious Right/Moral Majority/Fundamentalism-Lite demographic,
There is a long history in Christendom that fights against this truth. Starting in the aftermath of the failed Bar Kochba revolt, the ECFs did everything they could to turn Christianity into another religion, completely severing it from Judaism. So much so that to a traditional religious Jew, Christianity appears completely pagan.Do they even realize that Paul's conversion experience in Acts shows us not one who left Judaism for Christianity as if they were two different religions, but one who went from being a conservative Jew adhering strictly to the traditions passed on from generation to generation as normative interpretations of the Torah to being a liberal Jew capable of a new understanding and application of Torah.
One's view of the world often depends on where one plants his/her feet.So much so that to a traditional religious Jew, Christianity appears completely pagan.
And yet we are called to take the gospel (i.e. be evangelical) to the Jew first. Rom 11.11 says the gospel went to us gentiles to make Jews jealous. As far as I can see, that is the ONLY direct reason given in scripture to us being brought into the faith.One's view of the world often depends on where one plants his/her feet.
And yet we are called to take the gospel (i.e. be evangelical) to the Jew first. Rom 11.11 says the gospel went to us gentiles to make Jews jealous. As far as I can see, that is the ONLY direct reason given in scripture to us being brought into the faith.That, and the fact that God so loved THE WORLD, not just the Jews, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes might be saved. I suspect that to be another reason the Gospel was given to us gentiles, because God was manifesting himself in the world in order to reconcile the world back to himself.
In the words of Simeon:29 “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace,
according to thy word;
30 for mine eyes have seen thy salvation
31 which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples,
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and for glory to thy people Israel.”
I suspect that this is neither because of what we have nor how we worship, nothing to do with style at all, but much to do with the content of our worship; and for the same reason that Paul himself at one time thought that Christian worship was a form of paganism and blasphemy, simply because of WHO we worship. And while we can, and often do, change the style of our worship; I don't believe we can change the focus of it and still be Christian.So if we have something that looks pagan and foreign to Jews, how do we make them jealous?
Consider the question that is included in the verse you referenced above: "So I ask, have they stumbled so as to fall?" Even though Paul answers that question "By no means!" Also recall that Paul claimed "we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles." If there is something wrong with that (e.g., it looks pagan and foreign to Jews), then it would follow that we should not be preaching Christ crucified. But, of course that would mean not only a radical change in the whole history of Christian preaching and teaching, but to also to radically reinterpret Paul meaning of this and (virtually) every other verse of scripture he ever wrote.
It is one of the few things I really am confident of.Are we that sure our own feet are planted in the right place?
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