Here’s how you can participate:

• Write a post explaining the gospel as you would or could to a person in your context.
• Briefly describe your context and the audience to which you believe this explaination or description of the gospel would make sense and be meaningful.
• Use [Grid::Blog::Gospel] as the title of your post (everything from [ to ], exactly as you see it).
• Check out what other people are saying by googling it.

This looks interesting, so here’s my two cents. Keep in mind that I tend to prefer dialogue to monologue, but I digress.

A person in my context – a rugged individualist that believes that anything that is not concrete is completely relative. In other words, do not tie me to a group of people, do not micromanage my life, do not meddle in my business unless I invite you in, and most importantly, do not question my honesty in asking questions.

That is my context where I encountered Jesus for the first time on a personal level. In a sense, I hope that this would help people like myself. The great thing about the gospel is that it transcends context. The gospel meets a person where they are emotionally, culturally, spiritually, and mentally. It is good news for all time and space.

Why do you ask about God? Don’t you believe that God is a relative thing? I see, it bothers you that I can refer to God in concrete terms. Does it bother you that I believe it is possible to know God and not just know of God?

Maybe the real question is “How can I know for sure?”. That’s a fair question. The reason I can know for certain is that Jesus made a promise. He said, “try me.” Seriously, if you want to know whether or not Jesus is for real, put his teachings into practice. That way, you’ll know for yourself and it has nothing to do with me, or my friends, or my church or whatever. I did and that is what has made it real for me.

Hmm? No, I don’t think it is true for all religions. I have tried several and found that the same promise doesn’t hold true. I studied to be a Latter-Day Saint, I studied to be a Jehovah’s Witness, I studied Buddhism briefly and I’ve read the Koran. You know, you should read the Koran some time – it makes some interesting claims about the Bible and Christianity as a whole. I agree with Islam that Christians are “people of the book”. Again, though, if you need to explore it, then explore it – don’t just take my word for it. I believe that God can speak to you if you are really trying to find him. He will guide you in the way to go.

Yes, it is important that you are trying to find Him. But if you’re at a point where God is still a concept, that’s okay, too. We all have to start somewhere, just be honest about where you are now. Otherwise, you are putting yourself at the mercy of a smooth speaker. The very first thing to do when asking about God is ask yourself, “what do I think about God?”. Do you believe there is an unknown force that mankind calls God? Do you believe that there is no God? Is God a He, She, It, or Concept? Start with really basic statements and work your way up. I know you have some thoughts on God, otherwise you wouldn’t have asked me mine. However, in fairness, I’ll tell you mine, first.

I believe that God created the universe and everything in it. I believe that God is knowable, but being infinite, He is not subject to anyone’s mental framework or worldview. I believe that God wants to be known by men and women everywhere and that he communicated to mankind in the best way we could understand. I believe that God is the definition of love and as such, has our best interests at heart and is not trying to play a big trick on all of mankind. I believe that he demonstrated that love through the sacrifice of his son, a man named Jesus. I believe that in God brought Jesus back to life so that all mankind could know God personally and intimately…

Why is there evil in the world if God is a loving God? Now we’re getting to the heart of the matter. I’ll give you a short answer later, but it’s really something that you need to come to grips with yourself. When it comes to knowing who God is or what God is, we need to determine if how I defined God is true or not. How can I know if it’s true or not? Again, like I said earlier, Jesus said to put his words to practice to see if they are true. Like any other relationship, knowing God is a risk: it is not an intellectual exercise. If you want that, I’d suggest the Buddha or Zoroaster.

Why am I confident? I believe that God wants to be known by men and women everywhere and that he communicated to mankind in the best way we could understand. I believe that the best way we could understand is through a book. If He spoke to someone directly, we can dismiss them as crazy. If He speaks to you, how will you convince someone that He did? They’ll think you’re crazy, too. I think He showed up in person and left a record. Would it have been easier if He showed up today? Maybe, but then we’d hear about him through the networks, BBC, Al-Jazeera, and all other sources. What’s the difference between getting a news report about someone today that preaches a bunch of things and reading about them in a book? Nothing but video images, really. Would seeing a picture of Jesus really make that much difference to you?

So how do I know that this book is true? Again, I tried it. It’s true that it claims to be a written testament of God, but that can be dismissed as promotional hype without some first-hand experience, right? For me, I found Jesus’ words to be true and then worked backward to taking the entire Bible to be true, but stopped short of taking any other books as testimonies of God.

Why do I keep changing the subject to the Bible when you asked about God? It’s simple, really. I believe that I know God through the Bible. I also believe that because God makes himself known through the Bible, that you can embark on your own exploration of Him. I’m really trying to remove myself and my opinions from your exploration of God. I’d love to help because I’ve been through some things and I think I’ve learned a few things, but it’s important to me that you find God and not my religion. Again, God is larger than my mental framework and personal world view.

Give me the benefit of the doubt for now and go explore on your own. If you read John 1, it’s basically an expanded version of what I said that I believed. John was written by a man that claimed to be an eyewitness to Jesus. He also said that he wrote this book so that others could know who Jesus is.

Where does Jesus say “try me”? It’s in John 7:16-17.

Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me. If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.

You’re welcome. I hope it helps. It’s where I started and it helped me. Seriously, though, I think that if you are looking for Him (meaning God), you’ll find Him in whatever path you choose. Call me if you need anything.