Jesus never soft-peddled truth in order to keep from offending men who were offended by the God of truth. In fact, He confronted God's enemies head-on. (Those enemies can even be found within the walls of your religious institution. Peter at one point was one such enemy that Christ had to rebuke him: "Get behind me, Satan.") The way you deal with God's enemies is to confront them head-on with God's truth. You do not coddle them or try to get them to somehow agree with you. You confront them and demand that they bow to God's revelation.
A person will be saved when they bow to God—and not before. You can become a Catholic, an Anglican, a Lutheran, a Calvinist, a Presbyterian, a Baptist, a Pentecostal, a Methodist, a "Calvinist," an "Armenian," etc., by argument and persuasion. You will only come to know God when you bow to His revelation in His Word. Period!
You want to discuss theology? You want to discuss doctrine? You want to discuss the truth of Scripture? Let's have at it! Let's look at what the Bible has to say, and let's expose the false beliefs and man-made traditions you have been taught and have clung to desperately. If it cannot be found in, or substantiated by, Scripture, then you need to let it go!
"Ecclesia, semper reformanda secundum verbi Dei."
("The church, always reforming according to the Word of God.")
("The church, always reforming according to the Word of God.")
God's true Church, the people, should always be reforming in order to be in accordance with the Word of God. If the holy Scriptures teach one thing, and you refuse to accept it and instead cling to the traditions that have been handed down to you, then Anathema upon your head! You are not a faithful follower of Christ Jesus. Are you afraid to reform? Why? Providing you do not quench the Holy Spirit, Jesus promised that the coming Comforter would guide us into all truth. Yet when He desires to do precisely that, because it goes against the status quo of the traditions you have been handed, you ignore Him and stifle Him. To top it all off, you claim to be lead by the Spirit, and that He taught you such-and-such, despite the fact that what you claim "He" taught you contradicts and opposes what you find in the holy Scriptures. Your thoughts, your desires, are not the Holy Spirit speaking to you! Stop attributing you to the Holy Spirit!
As I have said before, Gospel preaching is always confrontational. Why? Because you are challenging world views and systems of belief. Do you find my writing to be challenging? Do you find my writing to be abrupt? Do you find my writing to be abrasive? Do you find my writing to be confrontational? Good! More than likely it is you who need to be confronted and challenged. Perhaps you are a little too pompous and puffed up, thinking more highly of yourself than you ought. Perhaps you are jealous of the way God has gifted me. I do not know, nor do I care. God knows, and God will be your judge.
"You should be more gentle and loving with your brothers and sisters in Christ." Oh, for sure! Except for those who are merely religious, whose Christianity is nothing more than religion. Then a firm hand, a harsher tone, is required. Jesus was gentle and loving toward the lowly, but He was harsh and loving toward the proud and religious. You want to claim that I am abrasive? Fine! I do not care about your feelings! I care about your soul, and I care about what it is you believe and practice! If your feelings get hurt in the process of making sure you are on the straight and narrow and conforming yourself and your beliefs according to everything in the New Testament, then so be it. Better for you to be offended and aligned with Scripture than for me to cater to your feelings and make you comfortable as you slide down a greased pole into Hell for eternity!
You sit and wonder how my writing will make you look; how people will associate my writing with you. Have you ever stopped to think about how Jesus wonders how you make Him look; how people will associate you with Him? How ashamed Jesus must be of you. Jesus was extremely confrontational, especially with the religious. Yet you have an attitude of passivity. You are afraid and ashamed to be confrontational, touting a false "love" as your methodology. Yet how many people have you brought to Christ? You major on the minors and minor on the majors.
Every member of Christ's church has been given at least one gift to use for the edification of the body of Christ. No one needs a special education or a special degree or a special title in order to use their gifts. The ones possessing these special educations, degrees, and titles are usually the least qualified to be attempting to lead God's people. Why? Do you know what "homiletics" is? Homiletics is a "science, applying rules of rhetoric, which go back to Greece and Rome." Rhetoric (the art of persuasive speaking) came from the Sophists. From Constantine onward, the speaker had to take special classes to learn how to use this rhetoric. If you did not possess this education, you were not allowed to speak and address the assembly. This same pagan mindset infects the modern church today: Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Calvinist, Presbyterian, Baptist, Pentecostal, etc. If any of the Apostles came to your church today and desired to preach, you would cast them out on the street because of your ignorance and long-held pagan traditions and beliefs.
You know what else is of pagan origin? Paying the speaker for speaking to you! Sophists made their living this way. They were paid to speak using their rhetoric. Aristotle provided the three-point speech to their rhetoric, which is still used by most speakers in religious institutions today. Contrast this with the Jewish rabbis who took up a trade so as not to charge a fee for their teaching/speaking. Tell your priest/pastor that you will not be paying him a salary any more and see what happens. How concerned is he with the flock? Most Christians are addicted to the "Christian" sermon in the same way that the Greeks and Romans were addicted to the pagan sermon. The structure of modern churches encourages passive spectatorship rather than communal participation, and it hinders and stunts spiritual growth. The Spirit-inspired dialogue between speaker and listener was replaced by the monologue. A single speaker with their knowledge, gifting, and experience addressing the congregation rather than group participation. How does this benefit the whole body of Christ? How is each member doing their part when they are encouraged to sit and listen like a spectator being entertained?
Whether your denomination wants to admit it or not, it still retains elements of the Catholic Church in the way it does things, which were taken directly from pagan religions and the Greco-Roman culture. I hate to break it to you, but your "Christianity" is more pagan than it is Christian. And I will bet that you are too arrogant and proud to admit it. How Christian is your Christianity when you go through the motions of pagan rituals and practices every worship day? You have more in common with the Devil than you do with Christ!
How's that for abrasive and confrontational? ;o)