The Vision of a Believer

Throughout class, we have talked about common stereotypes and ways that the world sees believers. Going through class, most of the connotations of the attributes given to “Christians” have been negative. From this class, I thought of ways in which those believers who are grounded in truth combat this? I came to the realization that those believers who are built on the foundation of biblical truth, that is how to combat this. Understanding those truths and developing a desire to know truth is crucial. Throughout our society, the struggle to know Truth is real. So many people go to so many places in an effort to find this truth. Ultimately, when we go to scripture and we are in communion with fellow believers with accountability, we can find and understand truth.

In addition, throughout class I have been challenged with the 4 dimensions of Contextualization. What stuck out to me the most was the Intentional Contextualization. First, for Intentional Contextualization, we will find some degree of contextualization. Tim Keller would state that most leaders and believers in the church are not even aware of this contextualization which leads to an abuse in contextualization. Keller challenges us to be intentional about understanding this contextualization. Believe it or not, we do need to have judgment in context with understanding scripture. Although the times have changed, the core biblical truths still remain. Humans are sinful, in need of a savior, and have been offered the gift of grace. So many people get spun up on understanding context but then lose track of the main truths of the gospel. From this class with Professor Sweet, I did understand the importance of contextualization but also the importance of understanding the core truths of salvation through Jesus Christ alone. I have been challenged as I move forward to seek wisdom in contextualization while also understanding the same truth aspects that have the same context in everything.