Gravitating toward those parts of our calling that receive cultural approval

Duane Litfin does not like the phrase, "Preach the gospel; if necessary use words." For one, it accommodates to a culture that doesn't like the message of the gospel:

The idea that we can preach the gospel with our actions enables us to gravitate toward those parts of our calling that receive cultural approval while shying away from the part that generates cultural censure—all without abandoning "evangelism." We still care about "preaching the gospel," we assure ourselves, but we're just doing it with our deeds rather than our words. In this way, our confusion of terms enables us to deceive ourselves into a benign neglect of our verbal witness.

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