Pedro tem uma visão baixa da vida não-cristã, a vida que seus leitores viviam antes de serem convertidos a Cristo. De fato, se você estudasse e considerasse todos as formas as como os não-cristãos são descritos na Bíblia pelos profetas e apóstolos, e pelo próprio Jesus, você perceberia que esta é uma área na qual os cristãos contemporâneos têm feito a maior concessão.
Este compromisso é feito não somente por aqueles que são frequentemente acusados de afirmar uma teologia antropocêntrica, tais como os liberais e os arminianos, mas também por aqueles que supostamente sustentam uma teologia teocêntrica, tais como os cristãos reformados. Eles estão indispostos de seguir o que a Escritura realmente ensina sobre como conversar com os incrédulos e falar sobre eles. Pelo contrário, eles enfatizam alguns versículos bíblicos e ignoram outros, e aqueles que eles enfatizam, eles tiram do contexto e acomodam às suas interpretações, de forma que reforce o padrão cultural atual de interação social.
The result is that the unbelievers are making the rules on how we view them and relate to them. This might weaken the offense of the gospel, but it is not as if the unbelievers will thank us for it. And aside from the fact that to dilute the word of God like this makes us unfaithful stewards of the truth, the problem is that part of the power of our message is in its sting. If you remove the teeth and the claws from an animal, you might make it more approachable, but then you also permit people to ignore it altogether.
Rather than using the same words or the same categories of words to describe the non-Christians in preaching and in conversation, they tend to restrict themselves to using technical theological terms to label the unbelieving condition. So we talk about the "depravity" of the unbelievers. This is entirely appropriate, but what does it mean? The Bible refers to them as dogs, snakes, trash, and even excrement. We talk about the "blindness" of those who refuse the gospel. And what does that mean? The Bible refers to them as brutes and morons.
In an attempt to reconcile how Scripture looks at the unbelievers and how they would like to look at the unbelievers, Christians have made a sharp distinction between the beliefs and behaviors of the non-Christians and the non-Christians themselves. So they say to the unbelievers, "You are smart, but you believe and do some very stupid things." But why do people believe stupid things? It is because they are stupid! Stupid people believe stupid things, else why are they stupid at all?
The same people might become indignant if it is suggested that Hitler was in fact the most compassionate person in history, but it just happened that he did cruel things all the time. No, if a person does evil all the time, it is because he is an evil person. The Bible does not make the distinction between the beliefs and behaviors of a person and the person himself. In fact, the beliefs and behaviors of a person are the things that define or exhibit the nature of the person. Thus a low view of the non-Christian life must necessarily translate into a low view of the non-Christians.
Este compromisso é feito não somente por aqueles que são frequentemente acusados de afirmar uma teologia antropocêntrica, tais como os liberais e os arminianos, mas também por aqueles que supostamente sustentam uma teologia teocêntrica, tais como os cristãos reformados. Eles estão indispostos de seguir o que a Escritura realmente ensina sobre como conversar com os incrédulos e falar sobre eles. Pelo contrário, eles enfatizam alguns versículos bíblicos e ignoram outros, e aqueles que eles enfatizam, eles tiram do contexto e acomodam às suas interpretações, de forma que reforce o padrão cultural atual de interação social.
The result is that the unbelievers are making the rules on how we view them and relate to them. This might weaken the offense of the gospel, but it is not as if the unbelievers will thank us for it. And aside from the fact that to dilute the word of God like this makes us unfaithful stewards of the truth, the problem is that part of the power of our message is in its sting. If you remove the teeth and the claws from an animal, you might make it more approachable, but then you also permit people to ignore it altogether.
Rather than using the same words or the same categories of words to describe the non-Christians in preaching and in conversation, they tend to restrict themselves to using technical theological terms to label the unbelieving condition. So we talk about the "depravity" of the unbelievers. This is entirely appropriate, but what does it mean? The Bible refers to them as dogs, snakes, trash, and even excrement. We talk about the "blindness" of those who refuse the gospel. And what does that mean? The Bible refers to them as brutes and morons.
In an attempt to reconcile how Scripture looks at the unbelievers and how they would like to look at the unbelievers, Christians have made a sharp distinction between the beliefs and behaviors of the non-Christians and the non-Christians themselves. So they say to the unbelievers, "You are smart, but you believe and do some very stupid things." But why do people believe stupid things? It is because they are stupid! Stupid people believe stupid things, else why are they stupid at all?
The same people might become indignant if it is suggested that Hitler was in fact the most compassionate person in history, but it just happened that he did cruel things all the time. No, if a person does evil all the time, it is because he is an evil person. The Bible does not make the distinction between the beliefs and behaviors of a person and the person himself. In fact, the beliefs and behaviors of a person are the things that define or exhibit the nature of the person. Thus a low view of the non-Christian life must necessarily translate into a low view of the non-Christians.
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