Andy Rowell

Category: Evangelism

  • Who is elected and chosen by God?

    Brief thread with a few quotes because someone asked whether individuals are chosen by God to be saved or damned (according to Christianity). (This is an issue that most Christians agonize rarely about because the concepts below are quite commonly held today).

    "In fact, there is not a single passage in the Bible that explicitly affirms that specific individuals (apart from God’s Son) have been chosen before creation for either eternal life or eternal damnation."
    — @MatthewWBates, Gospel Allegiance (Brazos Press, 2019), 84.

    Oliver Crisp on Karl Barth's view:
    "All human agents are elect only in the derivative sense of having a saving relation to the set of the elect and its single member, Christ."

    https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/article/on-barths-denial-of-universalism/

    “For God’s eternal election of grace is concretely the election of Jesus Christ . . . And we in the world … are elected and willed by God in Him.”
    – Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, IV/2 (1958), p. 31, 33.

    Limited atonement (double predestination) or universalism (all are saved)? “If God told us the answer to the problem in advance of the eschaton, we would harm ourselves on one side or the other.”
    — Bruce McCormack, “So That He May Be Merciful to All,” 240.

    "churches need to be responsible for all … And for that reason, I would say, neither limited atonement nor universalism should ever be made church dogma."
    — Bruce McCormack, "So That He May Be Merciful to All: Karl Barth and the Problem of Universalism," (2011), 241.

    Timing of salvation is inexact because "Jesus Christ is not only the one who has come (in the incarnation); He is also the One who comes (in the power of the eschatological Spirit); and the One who will come (in His visible return)."
    — Bruce McCormack, "So That He …", 247-248.

    Jesus on people trying to figure out who is and who is not a child of God.
    “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
    “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them."
    — Matthew 13:28-29.

    Originally tweeted by Andy Rowell (@AndyRowell) on September 10, 2022.

  • You should throw a party and have people over. The value of gatherings.

    I asked eight students in my worship class whether they were the kind of person who plans and hosts parties and celebrations (Super Bowl, Halloween, birthday, anniversary, graduation, Academy Awards, hockey playoffs) and family gatherings (Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter).

    Or were they more of a party pooper or kill joy or wet blanket.
    All eight men said they were not much of a planner. The one woman present said she was more of a party-planner.

    Martin Short Franck GIF

    "But," I asked, "what about Sunday morning church worship services, baptisms, the Lord's Supper, weddings, and funerals? Do you think those are valuable? Are you interested in planning those and getting people together for those?"
    "Oh, yes," they said, "*those* are important!"

    The question is how those other human celebratory gatherings relate to the explicitly Christian gatherings. Is it concerning that a seminary student sees the value in the latter but not so much in the former?

    It seems to me, after a year more isolated from big gatherings because of the pandemic, that people are asking about both secular and Christian events: "Why should we gather together for events and celebrations? Did we really miss them?"

    These face-to-face gatherings in groups jostle us out of our logical, self-centered, routine lives and inject some sort of unexpected conversations, interactions, and insights. They are messy emotionally and mess up the house and kitchen too but we are enriched emotionally.

    The logical "Spock" person says: "Why get together to eat? I have food to eat at home."
    Often the social person is not able to articulate why we should gather and gives poor explanations like "We should" or "We were invited" or "It's tradition."

    There is a better explanation but it is still somewhat mysterious. Human beings are social animals. We don't function at our best alone. Solitary confinement is among the worst punishments.

    In the Bible, Adam was lonely by himself until Eve was created. The Jewish people gathered in Jerusalem a few times year for festivals and feasts. The stories about Jesus have to do with his interactions with strangers and crowds and his time at meals with his 12 or so disciples.

    And numerous studies show that church attendance correlates with happiness and health.

    So, yes, Hebrews 10:25 says Christians should "not [be] giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing." But that is not because "it's tradition" but because it is good for us. It's healthy. And the gatherings can "spur one another on toward love and good deeds."

    I grant that some gatherings are more important than others.
    – "Dudes, let's go to the bar and get hammered!"
    – "Come to my baby's gender reveal party!"
    BUT, I still think the convener, the gatherer, the host, the partier is on the right track. It is good for people to gather.

    Originally tweeted by Andy Rowell (@AndyRowell) on June 1, 2021.

  • Social science literature on persuasion

    Thread on social science literature on persuasion.
    👇

    It is a process of conversation and relationship over an extended period of time.

    To persuade, you will want to invite people to reflect.

    My comments on: https://twitter.com/AndyRowell/status/1222569455575760897 on

    "It is possible to talk people out of bigotry. But the method that seems to work is time-intensive, emotionally difficult, and requires a lot of careful work to keep people from reacting defensively." Thread from Ezra Klein.

    In the most effective sales call, the salesperson talks 46% of the time and asks 13 questions.
    – Amit Bendov of http://Gong.io to Michael Lewis @pushkinpods
    https://atrpodcast.com/episodes/the-data-coach-s1!68200

    Elevate your sales game: The 11 best discovery call tips

    "Felt understanding led to more positive intergroup orientations and action intentions in most contexts."
    Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, November 2020.

    Often people begin thinking like the people they are hanging out with.

    "As individuals realigned their party affiliation in accordance with their initial abortion views, their other political, economic and social views followed suit."
    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014759671930040X,

    And on the morality of persuasion:

    Originally tweeted by Andy Rowell (@AndyRowell) on October 8, 2020.