What's a Gospel?
Here’s a test. What is the Gospel message? a) Jesus died to pay your debt of sin. b) Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand! c) A word that means “good news” Answer: b Many years ago, after some years in active rejection of Jesus and all things called by His name, and after the consequent despair arising out of ephemeral alternatives, I returned to Him. I had become acutely aware of my shortcomings and of my inability to rein them in. I knew that, although my case was mild, it did not differ in kind from others who drift into more consequential, death inducing, shortcomings. On the cosmic scales of justice I deserved punishment quite as much as they. It’s not surprising, then, that the Gospel of my Protestant upbringing reached me in a profound place of need. The Protestant Gospel is answer a), “Jesus died to pay your debt of sin.” What I needed was forgiveness, and that’s what I got, in spades. For an over scrupulous young man, I was assured of forgive