What do you mean by the title of the book?<\/p>\n
Jonathan Dodson: Well, The Unbelievable Gospel is a kind of double entendre.Click to buy your copy of The Unbelievable Gospel in the Bible Gateway Store In one sense, the gospel is unbelievably good because it\u2019s honest to affirm the human predicament\u201d\u201dsinfully broken\u201d\u201dbut hopeful enough to offer a divine solution\u201d\u201dpersonal and cosmic saving renewal. The gospel is the good and true story that Jesus has defeated sin, death, and evil through his own death and resurrection and is making all things new; even us. It\u2019s as big as the cosmos and as small as you and me.<\/p>\n
The problem is that many people don\u2019t find the gospel to be true. This gets at the other sense of its un-believability. J.I. Packer says, \u201cEvangelism is man\u2019s work but the giving of faith is God\u2019s.\u201d\u009d God is the granter of faith; we\u2019re responsible for witness; and it\u2019s here, in our evangelism, that the gospel often becomes unbelievable to many.
People find the gospel unbelievable because of what we say and how we say it. Often evangelistic efforts come off as preachy, impersonal, intolerant, and uninformed. The gospel is the opposite of each of these. Instead of self-righteous preachy, we preach Christ\u2019s righteousness; instead of coldly intolerant, we preach the warmth of union with Christ and dignify others. You get the idea.<\/p>\n
If we\u2019re honest, evangelicals are often more intent in getting Jesus off their chests than getting the gospel into people\u2019s hearts. We operate on checklist instead of investigating why people don\u2019t believe the gospel, respecting their alternate beliefs, and sympathizing with their human struggles, where the gospel actually intersects human need; that is, hope of new creation for the addiction, perfect acceptance for the rejected or overworking professional.<\/p>\n