Christianity

How to Preach Christianity to the Children of Adam and Eve

What you preach depends on the status of your audience. It is important, therefore, to understand the three stages of the new evangelization. The three stages give you a framework within which you can operate successfully.

It is obvious, is it not, that something different must be said to an audience for whom the truth is still hidden by the illusions conjured up by serpent than to an audience for whom the illusions have been shattered?

It is obvious, is it not, that something different must be said to an audience who has just emerged from the darkness of the illusions than to an audience that is making their escape from godlessness to paradise on the escape route.

It is obvious, is it not, that preaching to settlers is going to be different than preaching to pilgrims?

It is obvious, is it not, that you do not offer the key of morality to an audience in whom a foundation has not been laid?

The audience determines what must be said.

There are three stages to the new evangelization. The first two stages lay the foundation. In the third stage, a Christian is built.

In the first stage, the sledgehammer of truth is wielded to shatter the illusions that hide the truth from the children of Adam and Eve. The sledgehammer of truth shatters the illusions as the blow of a hammer shatters glass. There are two illusions: 1) an illusion that camouflages the sweetness of paradise and 2) an illusion that sugarcoats the sourness of godlessness. When the illusions are shattered, the truth about paradise and the truth about godlessness become visible to us. We see the sweetness of paradise and we see the sourness of godlessness. Rational creatures seek the sweetness of paradise and flee the sourness of godlessness. It is contrary to our self-interest to do otherwise. The truth sets us free. The sourness of godlessness pushes us to its exit. The sweetness of paradise pulls us to its entrance. However, between the exit of godlessness and the entrance to paradise, a vast abyss sits. To make the great leap from time to eternity (Our Lady of Good Success), the new exodus led / served by the new Moses passes through the bloody wounds we opened in the body of Christ. He is the way, etc. (John 14:6). Through them, we make our way home. In stage 1, settlers are transformed into pilgrims

In the second stage, the children of Adam and Eve exit the darkness of the illusions and enter the light of truth. When we first enter the light from the darkness, we are disoriented and we ask, 'how do we get there from here - how do we get to paradise from godlessness?' At the moment - and only at that moment - it is the time for the Church to say that we know the way. We know how to get there from here. God built an escape route from godlessness to paradise, defined the escape route with holy places, made a map of them, established a Church, entrusted the map to the Church, and gave the Church the job of facilitating our escape - not the job of frustrating it, filtering it or fouling it up. The escape from godlessness to paradise is primary. Nothing else matters. Everything else is secondary. Anything that interferes is suspect. In stage 2, pilgrims embark on their pilgrimage.

Stages 1 and 2 are the foundation of a Christian. On the foundation of stages 1 and 2, a Christian is built.

In stage 3, it becomes time of offer the key of morality to pilgrims to unlock the cages of sin. Only pilgrims are willing to take the reins of morality into their hands, the bit of morality into their mouths and the bridle of morality onto their heads. Only pilgrims view morality as the key that sets them free. Settlers view morality as the straight jacket that imprisons them. Sharing the key of morallity with settlers is akin to throwing pearls before swine. The settlers appreciate the key of morality as much as swine appreciate pearls (Matthew 7:6).  Although morality is the key that sets us free, it fails to free us from the cages of sin when it is shoved down our throats against our wills by dint of omnipotence. Under such circumstances, our gag reflex is triggered and we regurgitate it. The prisoner locked in the cage of sin must voluntarily put the key in the cage door to unlock it. That is the only way morality works.

There is a tendency in the Church to skip the foundation - to try to build a Christian without a foundation. This shortcut never works. It fails all of the time. If you want to end the abortion crisis, build the foundation. If you want to end the shortage of priests, build the foundation. When the foundation is built, everything else falls into place.

Unlike coffee, there is no such thing as an instant Catholic. It takes time to make a Catholic. We do not become Catholic overnight. A human being develops from a baby in the womb through other stages of life including infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age. A similar framework of development takes place in the thinking of Catholics. A Catholic whose thinking is not quite up to speed with the thinking of the self-styled orthodox Catholics is still a Catholic for the same reason that a baby in the womb is still a human being.