Dr. Mohlers Tribute to Nelson Mandela - 1505 Words

On Thursday the 5th of December, former president of South Africa and Nobel Peace Prize winner Nelson Mandela passed away. My purpose today is not to write a tribute to this man as more capable men have already done this. The best one I have found so far is Dr. Mohler’s and you can read it here. As I write this I am watching the memorial service of this historical figure. Since his death I have read many articles and statuses spread across social media platforms. What has been most saddening is the reaction from certain quarters of Christianity. When some see Mandela, all they see is a communist terrorist who to some degree has been part of a secret white genocide plan; an interfaith, liberal, corrupt leader; a champion of abortion and†¦show more content†¦If you are not filled with indignation you won’t have the courage to do what he did. And if you are only filled with indignation you won’t have the gentleness and the care to get into people’s questions, to understand them, they won’t feel respected, they will tune you out Paul was neither obnoxious nor cowardly. He was filled with holy loving jealousy. We are not. We are either to afraid to open our mouths, too cowardly, or when we do we are obnoxious. How do we overcome that? The answer is this, Paul told the Corinthians that when he first came to them, he was filled with fear and trembling, and he resolved to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified when he was among them . Anybody who says they are a Christian but are harsh or condemning, the problem is not that they are too fanatical about the gospel, it’s that they are not fanatical enough... because the real gospel, is the only place where we see a God who is not more fundamentally holy than loving. Anybody that understands the real gospel, is turned into someone who is both thundering and tender. What did Paul feel? Holy Jealousy, deep complexity, indignation and compassion. He didn’t start by railing against the flagrant idolatry. No, he found a point at which to connect with the people, and show them the true God. All of this to say, that responding to so called idolatry by calling it out and making self-righteous statements is not conducive to the gospel message spreading, and it is not exampled for