I’m happy to see that John Rankin is blogging more actively these days. John is the President of the Theological Education Institute (a great resource) and is one of the smartest – and nicest – people you are likely to meet in Christian circles in Connecticut. He’s done a great work in explaining the Gospel and engaging in “pre-evangelism” with people often thought to be too hostile to approach, appealing to the image of God and the foundational elements for all societies laid out in Genesis.
John’s debates and dialogues with nonbelievers on college campuses and other forums always make for compelling (and instructive) reading, as seen in this account from the Theological Education Institute website:
…we are all created in the image of God; we are the crown of his creation. In grasping this reality, we come to understand a common ground that is truly universal.
At a debate in April 1989, at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, I spontaneously articulated some elements of the image of God. I was questioned about the issue of rape and incest. A young woman believed that the right to have an abortion should be available to those who became pregnant by such a violent act.
I began to frame my response by looking directly at her and saying: “In your life, are you like me, seeking the qualities of peace, order, stability and hope?” As I spoke these words, I had her eyeball-to-eyeball attention, and the hundreds of students and faculty in the Sayles auditorium came to a hush. The century old seats, bolted to the floor, always creaking at the slightest movement, also ceased their chatter, producing a moment of intense focus. She said, “Yes.”
I then said, “Is it also fair for me to assume, that like me, you also seek to live, to love, to laugh and to learn?” Again, the same focus of intensity defined the audience, the seats unmoving, and again she said, “Yes.”
So I continued, “Then there is far more that unites us than divides us – we are seeking the same qualities. The question is, in the face of the hell of rape and incest, does abortion unrape the woman and restore to her the lost qualities of peace, order, stability and hope? Or does the abortion only add further brokenness?”
The room continued its quiet, and I could have left the issue there. I knew that the resonation with the image of God, as represented by these qualities, was so complete in that moment that most students and faculty could answer the question themselves and deduce from there the reality I was addressing.
