I posted this for the CNC and posting it here as well so the others can see waht we are doing this year.
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What is the Gospel?
We often hear questions such as “Are you saved?” or “Have you accepted Jesus?” or even “If you die tonight, will you go to heaven or to hell?” We also borrow a phrase from a milk commercial, “Got Jesus”?
Too often those questions, which are usually posed to strangers on the street, are ignored, throws confusion, or turns people off from Christianity all together.
I’m not saying these tactics never work; scare tactics or the “baffle them if you can’t dazzle them” can work for the Christian town crier as it does for the door-to-door salesman of wonder gadgets.
But what happens after that? Like the product you bought thinking it will save you hours of time and create wonderful gourmet dinners at a touch of a button, do you have the support, the instructions and is the warranty any good? How do you read this big black instruction book?
In this commercial and materialistic society today, we have been lumping Christianity along with the products we buy. We find ourselves buying our salvation, looking for phone and Internet support services, for entertainment of music, feel good talks and videos. We look for the “Church of our choice” and if it’s over five miles away, then look for a closer one. We are looking for convenience, and if one is not available, then we have our “church” at home, by ourselves!
Where is our support team? What 800 numbers do we call in an emergency? What happens when we “break” or fall apart or just can’t seem to get up and go? What happens when we think it’s all lost or that we feel our support has quit?
What happens when someone comes along with a shinier and fancier model? Is there a shinier and fancier model? Or is Christianity all boring and dull and nothing more than a history of bad examples? People have gone for years without Christianity and seem to be doing fine. What is this new lifestyle going to give them? What is in it for me?
These are the questions we need to answer and be able to faithfully give to our recipients without “cramming” our old ideas down their throats, and at least helping them overcome their old pet ideas about Christianity.
We need to understand what happened in the Garden of Eden.
What did man try to do to fix this problem? Can he fix it?
What did God do to fix this problem?
What is grace and what is sin? Who are the recipients of this grace?
Who are “saved” today and who are not? Can we tell?
Is there really hope for those who died without knowing the gospel?
What is necessary in our theology and what is not?
What baggage are we carrying thinking we are carrying the gospel truth when, in fact, we are trying to carry our own salvation and not God’s?
As the “town crier” for the naturist community, we need to be able to understand these questions and how to solve these problems.
What do we say? What do we show them? How do we answer their questions? Can we truly answer them with full satisfaction?
Can you talk to someone and with in a minute tell what kind of personality you are dealing with and adjust your message?
How does naturism fit in all this? Can we answer those questions to those who are already Christians?
Understanding the gospel at its core and understanding what really happened in the Garden of Eden as well as how salvation was brought to the world, can help us to relate to all sides; the non Christian and to the Christian in both naturist and non-naturist world.
Fortunately, we are not alone in reaching out the non Christian Clothed world; the Clothed Christians are out there reaching them as well. We need to reach the Nude Non Christians where the Clothed Christian’s are not reaching. But we also need to be a witness to the Clothed Christians when it comes to answering the Big Question: Why no clothes?
If we do not fully understand the gospel, we cannot fully explain our reason and mission. Sometimes, it may not be good enough, as we often say, “They cannot handle the truth”.
But we had better make sure it’s the truth and not just our own way of reading “into” the bible.
So our mission at
CNC (Christian Nudist Convocation) is to answer these questions and learn how to reach out to these people.
Boyd Allen
"May the Lord protect our nudity from the sight of those who will not benefit, and may he allow us to be seen by those who will."
