We live in a culture confused about sin. In the prevailing spirit of tolerance and religious pluralism, all beliefs must receive equal weight - that is, unless such beliefs result in "obvious" evil like terrorist attacks on innocent people, inhumane treatment of prisoners, or defrauding stockholders of their rightful earnings.
In a culture that scorns absolutes, yet apparently reserves the right to have them, how do we effectively communicate the reality of sin and the good news of the gospel?
Harry Lee Poe suggests that we must understand sin as more than a violation of God's laws. It is also a breaking of the relationship between God and people that results in an ever widening gulf between the two. Salvation through Jesus restores a relationship with God, closes the distance, and enables people to understand God as goodness itself - and reflect His goodness in the world.
About Harry Lee Poe:
"Harry Poe is one of the preeminent worldview thinkers in America today. A first-rate scholar, he has tackled one of the most difficult subjects - how to deal with evil that we can see before our eyes in a relativistic age which denies such a thing exists." - Charles W Colson
Harry Lee Poe (Ph.D., The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is the Charles Colson Professor of Faith and Culture at Union University in Jackson, Tenn. Focusing on how the gospel speaks to the ultimate issues of culture, Poe has written or cowritten seven books, including Designer Universe, The Gospel and Its Meaning, and Science and Faith. He also serves as the program director of the C.S.Lewis Summer Institute and as president of the Academy for Evangelism in Theological Education.
