There’s a lot to unpack there. One quick observation: in some Christian theologies, the question is completely intractable. (Note that I am not endorsing Calvinism!)
I find this really interesting for personal reasons. I grew up in a Calvinist church (and also, for a brief period of time, considered myself a calvinist).
Now, looking back, I find it fascinating that the church was successful in motivating itself to take evangelism still very seriously.
It did so not on consequentialist grounds. No one ever said “evangelize because your effort actually might affect where someone spends eternity.”
Instead, people said things like “evangelize because you can share Good News of the hope that is within you” (1 Peter 3:15) or “God wants to work through you to bring nonbelievers to knowledge of salvation—that’s how God works: through people like you and me” (Romans 10:14-15). And people seemed to find that quite inspiring and motivating.
They would have probably balked at language of “tractability” of evangelism.
There’s a lot to unpack there. One quick observation: in some Christian theologies, the question is completely intractable. (Note that I am not endorsing Calvinism!)
I find this really interesting for personal reasons. I grew up in a Calvinist church (and also, for a brief period of time, considered myself a calvinist).
Now, looking back, I find it fascinating that the church was successful in motivating itself to take evangelism still very seriously.
It did so not on consequentialist grounds. No one ever said “evangelize because your effort actually might affect where someone spends eternity.”
Instead, people said things like “evangelize because you can share Good News of the hope that is within you” (1 Peter 3:15) or “God wants to work through you to bring nonbelievers to knowledge of salvation—that’s how God works: through people like you and me” (Romans 10:14-15). And people seemed to find that quite inspiring and motivating.
They would have probably balked at language of “tractability” of evangelism.