| Randy D. Raysbrook
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07-05-2005 01:28 PM ET (US)
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While certainly God can use the Scriptures to confront people with the reality of their own sin, Scriptures are not the only meas God uses. If creation shouts his glory, then there are other means besides the Bible God can use to reveal himself. I think that the family and relationships are the essential metaphors God uses to express his personality. So if we talk about God as grieving father or party giver, people instinctively comprehend what those images represent. So, just appeal to that knowledge in a yet to be believer.
In other words, rather than trying to persuade someone to accept doctrinal truth (and that is not entirely bad)invite them into a relationship. Evangelism should be more invitation than persuasion. I can tell others that God is hurt, as any parent might be, when his children resist his care and provision and even use them as weapons against him. He runs after them as a wounded parent desperate for them to stop long enough for him to embrace them. They must stop running and admit the error of it for him to clutch them. They respond to his pursuit in honesty by saying to him that they were wrong and they need him.
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