Grace today, saints!
Last time we saw how the first 32 events out of 251 total events in the Gospels are arranged to answer questions in at least 3 major areas of eternal interest:
- Do we need a deep relationship to speak into a person’s life?
- Is the gospel message primarily gentle and kind as defined by the West?
- Is it true there’s nothing propositional and/or conditional about the gospel?
In reflecting on these first two sections and the responses we received last week, we felt the Holy Spirit saying we should send a portion of the chart we used to tally the results so you may review it too.
After the chart, a sample of your responses is included, as they also tell a story.
But first, let’s reflect on the results we spoke of last time before the chart below:
“First, let’s look at the RELATIONSHIP the characters in the gospels, including Jesus, had with their audience. Of the 32 events, only 9 had a known relationship. Wow. That’s only 28%. Over 70%, or 23 events, reflect the fact that “NONE CERTAIN” was the most used term to describe this critical interaction of a relationship.
“Second, was the MESSAGE given by the characters mostly gentle, humble, kind, nice? Or was it more BOLD like a rebuke, admonishment, defense, exhortation, or a prophesy? Of the 32 events, only 3 (yes, only 3) could be even closely considered to be gentle as our modern culture defines it. The overwhelming percentage, or over 90%, were BOLD in content and style. Remarkable it seems.
“Third, and lastly, was the reflection needed to review if the message itself was PROPOSTIONAL AND/OR CONDITIONAL. That is, did the message REQUIRE SOMETHING SPECIFIC from the hearer? Did the messenger expect an action from his audience? Yes, he did. About 75% of the events, or 24 out of the 32, has propositional and conditional requirements. And most of the 8 events that did not were events dealing with the messenger rejoicing, prophesying, doing a miracle, or explaining a plain narrative relating basic information to the reader.
“The results of the data surprised us here, although we had surmised the trend was overwhelmingly in favor against what we had been hearing over the years. Jesus Himself shows up big time in Part B Preparation for Ministry. But his fellow messengers and those preparing His way in Part A also followed the same trend: the gospel so far proved to be very non-relational (in a very relational in-group/out-group mid-east culture), bold (where saving face is everything like we see in Iraq today), and propositional with conditions (which is very provocative in a in-group relational society).”
You may view and download the Gospel Events PDF chart here.
