“If you were on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?”

How many of us today are willing to say a good word for Jesus? This is particularly true of Orthodox Christians. Fr. Theodore Bobosh published a study of converts* to the Orthodox Church and discovered that one of the main complaint of those who found their way to our church was that there was no active Orthodox witness. Let me quote what some of them said:

“There was no active Orthodox witness to attract me to the Church. I somehow found my way in.”

“I never came into contact with any Orthodox witness.”

“The indifference to the Faith on the part of so many ‘born Orthodox’ is appalling. Many even of the clergy don’t realize the need for an Orthodox witness and mission and would be just as happy if there weren’t any.”

“My greatest sorrow is that we seem to have almost no need, or urge, to proclaim salvation.”

“Evangelism, evangelism, evangelism—we have the greatest gift of all, why are we so reticent about sharing it.”

11210404_621451201290014_4304618345692130593_nIf that well known question was asked to us: “If you were on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” would there be enough evidence to convict us as Christians?

We are like that young Christian person who went to work one summer in a lumber camp. Some of his friends told him that the tough lumbermen would make life miserable for him because of his Christian faith. Bravely he went and spent the summer. When he came home his friends asked him if the men had laughed at him for being a Christian. He said, “No, they didn’t laugh at me because of my being a Christian. They never found out.”

“Those who are ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the son of man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his father with the holy angels” (Mark 8:38).

 
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