|PIC1|In contrast, M V Tronson 57, points to the numerous Scriptures that speak of a simpler message, and there is none more poignant than the Apostle Paul's core teaching of the Gospel than in his letter to the Romans, in Chapter 10:
The 9th verse says - 'That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.'
M V Tronson poses two questions which relate directly to this matter of the heart.
"First, why might this central issue of Christianity, 'the heart', become so marginalised in recent Protestant theological discussion? and
"Second, what actions might be available to return the focus of Protestant theological discussion on 'the heart'?
To the first question M V Tronson, who is chairman of Well-Being Australia, wonders if some Protestant theologians feel the need to be 'seen' to be relevant to the world.
"When issues like climate change, the environment and political correctness set the agenda, some Protestant theologians publicly justify their position with respect to these issues," Mark Tronson pointed out. "I wonder if it takes such enormous emotional and intellectual energy that it exhausts their spiritual resources."
Personally, after having to cope with intense stress in his own life, he now finds that there are only so many hours in a day, so that prioritising becomes the critical coping strategy.
M V Tronson thinks that sometimes, the core Gospel proclamation has been so inundated with a swathe of such fashionable political issues, that the 'lost' become the marginalised, and are in danger of not hearing the message of being 'saved' by the very people who should be able to help them.
"In other words," postulated Mark Tronson, " I sense that what Jesus Himself described as 'the world' has set the agendas and some Protestant theologians have fallen for this, hook line and sinker. Instead, I advocate a return to the simple message of addressing people's beliefs within their own hearts."
This leads to the second question, addressing the problem of how to realign and refocus on the 'lost' and follow the clear command of the Great Commission Jesus gave His disciples in Matthew Chapter 27.
"The emphasis the entire New Testament provides its readers is that of the Heart. Therefore the answer to the second question must in some way be associated with preaching, teaching and reflecting on this central theme," M V Tronson says.
Recently, listening to Romans 10 being read on a video taken from the Banora Point Baptist Church video library where he and his wife worship (Tweed Heads), he was strangely alerted to this theme.
"As an avid reader of things theological, the reading impacted me like a thunder bolt. The constant missing ingredient is 'the Heart'. Without the Heart there is nothing, no substance, for it is the Heart that is spoken into by the Holy Spirit and moreover, Christ becomes alive and fresh for the believer through the Heart," M V Tronson noted.