There are so many deconversion stories away from Christianity these days. David Platt has seen some of the greatest suffering on earth and has again, recently, asked some of the toughest questions: In a universe governed by a good God, is hell really a place? Will so many people born into an earthly hell really end up in eternal hell?
David shares how seeing profound suffering and asking those questions hasn’t led him away from faith but deeper into his faith. And, he shares what needs to change in Christianity is really going to impact the world.
Welcome to Episode 291 of the podcast. Listen and access the show notes below or search for the Carey Nieuwhof Leadership Podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts and listen for free.
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CNLP 143: David Platt on Overcoming the Struggles of His First Decade of Leadership
Something Needs to Change by David Platt
The Genesee Diary by Henry Nouwen
3 Insights from David
1. When sharing the gospel, some people will always think we are weird—we can’t let that stop us
In today’s isolated culture, it is so easy to let the fear of being perceived as “weird” stop us from sharing our faith with the people in our lives. One way David overcomes this is by finding ways to work different parts of the Christian experience into his daily verbiage without sounding “super spiritual.”
He tries to do this as often as he can in his life. At the gym, he will talk to the guys that he works out with between sets about what God has done in his life. He doesn’t let the fear of being seen as “weird” stop him because that’s going to happen to anybody trying to share their faith including the early apostles, and even Jesus himself.
2. Have we lost our ability to weep?
While on a trip in the mountain villages of the Himalayas, David saw people with urgent needs up close and personal—young girls in brothels, men with infections eating away their bodies, and villages of people where 50% of kids die before the age of eight. When he encountered these people, it caused him to weep in his hotel room that evening in a way that he had not wept in a long time.
Looking back on that experience, David realized that it is so easy for us to talk about the world’s urgent spiritual or physical needs and speculate about what we can do to fix it without feeling any major emotions about it. We have gone numb to just how tragic the pain and suffering in the world is. We have to be aware of this and do our best to share the gospel with as many people as humanly possible.
3. No other world religion compares to the gospel of Jesus
There are some very real questions that people have about the world if the gospel is true. “If God truly is good, why is the world so full of pain and suffering?” David was seriously wrestling with these questions while writing the journal that eventually turned into his most recent book, Something Needs To Change.
One of the realizations David made is that for the people that are in the midst of suffering, there isn’t a better belief system in the world than the gospel of Jesus Christ. What would you rather tell a young girl caught in the midst of sex trafficking? That the whole world is happening by chance and that we are living out what our DNA pre-programmed us to do? Or that there is a God that loves her and will judge all men’s actions at the end of time? That is an obvious choice.
Quotes from Episode 291
The last thing I want to do, as a pastor, is program my way through challenges without desperate dependence on God and prayer. @plattdavid Click To Tweet We live in a changing climate, and we can't control that. What we can control is our trust in the gospel. @plattdavid Click To Tweet You can't help but ask, “Why are some people born into earthly suffering, only to move on to eternal suffering without ever hearing the name of Jesus?” @plattdavid Click To Tweet Are we willing to open our eyes and our hearts like we're willing to weep? And are we willing to get close enough to people in order to experience that kind of reaction?” @plattdavid Click To TweetRead or Download the Transcript for Episode 291
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Next Episode: Clay Scroggins
Clay Scroggins is back on the podcast with some fresh insights from his brand new book, How to Lead in a World of Distraction. In an open and vulnerable interview, Clay talks about how the pressures of leadership led to him missing some of the signs of emotional ill-health, breaking down in his boss’s office, and finding quiet and healing in a noisy world. And if you think this is just theory, Clay is learning all this while leading a church of over 9,000, nurturing his marriage, and parenting five kids under the age of ten.
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