APATHY AND CONTEMPT

In love and mercy beyond our understanding, God spoke to us, miraculously preserved the text that recorded His words, and at last, many centuries later, found a way to place the Scriptures directly into our hands. But the response of so many (including myself years ago) is apathy or contempt towards the Bible that martyrs bled and died to bring us. We too often forget just how precious it is that we have any communication from God at all, because the Creator was under no obligation whatsoever to reveal anything to us.

Augustine was a brilliant but deeply flawed man both before and after his conversion (like all of us), but he powerfully reminds us of the spectacular irony of humanity: 

ATHIESM

The rise of athiesm today and in past decades goes far beyond apathy to direct hostility and violence of the worst kind, especially under global Communism and other authoritarian regimes. It is a superficially impressive but ultimately an impoverished worldview. (I say this as someone who naively once felt strongly drawn to athiesm and agnosticism. But the grace of God opened my eyes to see Jesus for who He really is, especially through the Gospel of John. A key turning point strengthening my confidence in the truth of Christianity came only after wrestling with the resurrection, which cemented my faith.)    Thankfully, there are many decent people who consider themselves athiests but it is still a worldview profoundly disconnected from reality if God is real. In athiesm there is no God, so the Bible is ruled out as having a divine origin right from the start. In athiesm, there is no life after death. No ultimate judgment for despicable acts. No objective good and evil—simply preferences and power struggles if there is no God.

While athiests often claim superiority for their supposedly rational beliefs, they have zero ultimate justification or accounting for the reliablility of human “logic” and “reason.” One who believes in God knows that they can generally trust in using “reason.” They know that their minds that were specifically designed to think by a rational God who embedded the objective rules of logic into the universe He created.

For athiests, however, their undesigned brains (thoughtlessly evolved from an undesigned universe) are ultimately nothing more than random, synaptic electrical impulses in which they have “faith.” Without a real and rational God behind everything, the rules of logic cannot be said to be objectively reliable for all people in all places in all times. Logic itself would have to have somehow evolved over billions of years. In other words, they place complete trust in the haphazard electrical currents within their skulls to produce trustworthy, metaphysical (non-material) thoughts that rationally, accurately and objectively correspond to external reality! Athiests ultimately can claim nothing more than having electrical impulses within cranial soft tissue. Theists of any and every faith, on the other hand, know that they have truly metaphysical thoughts that accounts for the immaterial rules of logic, objective morality and true science, and the intrinsic value of human beings because there is a truly metaphysical God that is the foundation of all things (1 Timothy 6:15-16).

Simply put, athiests revel in reason without having a basis for the objective and universal truth of logic. Nothing makes sense and everything is meaningless without God. Nothing is left but physical atoms and the eventual ending of all life in a dark universe that itself is destined to burn out into permanent nothingness through ultimate heat death. An athiest has no other way to express the beauty of a mother’s love than this: blind natural selection for prosocial bonding mediated through neurochemicals like oxytocin and dopamine. It is the religion of (often high IQ) fools (Psalm 14:1). Ignoring a tornado warning has no effect on the reality that a tornado is coming (see Acts 17:30-31).  But athiests still find a way to live with indifference to all of the above and especially to the Word the Lord has sent to the human race.    

THE BIBLE IS NOT AN EASY BOOK

This widespread indifference to Scripture is not helped by the many “seeker-sensitive” churches that, for the sake of pragmatically “reaching the lost,” systematically suppress many or all controversial, uncomfortable Scriptural truths in order to not offend the comfort and sensibilities of unbelievers. But as anyone who has ever engaged with the Bible honestly will tell you, the Word of God is almost guaranteed to be uncomfortable sometimes. Whether we’re believers or not, it’s inevitable that our sensibilities will eventually be offended. Maybe in all the “seeker-sensitivity,” what’s even more important is not how we feel about God, but how He feels about us. Perhaps being a little more “Savior-sensitive” would be a better focus for both our churches and our lives. Because the Seeker that really matters in the end is the One who came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). 

At its best, the church proclaims and we respond to both Law (everything we are commanded to do in Scripture) and Gospel (everything God has done for us in Christ) in a never-ending circle. The Gospel empowers us to a greater love for the Law (which is simply God’s good and perfect will for how every human should think, speak, and live). But our failure in this life to live that out flawlessly (Matthew 5:48) relentlessly drives us back to the Cross again and again to remember the grace and glory and hope we have in the unchanging Gospel. (When it’s done meaningfully, this is what makes weekly communion so potent, glorious and beautiful).

The Gospel ever reminds us (1 John 5:13) that God declares the one who believes in His Son to be both forgiven and righteous (1 John 1:7-10), now worthy of eternal life (John 3:36, 5:24, 6:40, 6:47). We are worthy not because of what we have done—but only because of Jesus who lives and intercedes for all who call on His name. (See The Gospel According to the Bible for more). We stand neither on the evil we have forsaken nor the good we have accomplished, but ever and only on His grace (Romans 5).

For His sake.

This great, unchanging truth was so beautifully expressed centuries ago: 

When we hold steadfast to every last divine word Jesus gave us in the Bible, the church does what it was intended to do: comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable, exactly as we see our Savior doing in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

THREE SYSTEMS OF INDIFFERENCE

Three competing authorities to the Scriptures especially stand out in our day. The first, found in some historic churches, emphasizes (1) the comprehensive ”authority” of tradition. In this view, holy tradition includes Scripture but ultimately supercedes it as the true and final source of revelation. The next three systems focus on (2) the “authority” of experience found in (a) certain parts of the charismatic movement as well as (b) biblically unconstrained mysticism among non-charismatic Christians. We also discuss the growing fascination with (c) the occult as another form of experience-driven, unbiblical spirituality. And the final system we touch on is liberal Christian theology, which focuses on (3) the “authority” of reason which essentially demands that the Scriptures bow down and submit to the “higher authority” of human-centered logic and rationality.

THE “AUTHORITY” OF TRADITION

The posture of certain historic Christian institutions to the Word is a unique and special kind of indifference to Scripture. The Word itself is highly revered and honored as infallible, but it is dogmatically rejected both as (1) the final and highest authority that stands in judgment above all holy tradition as well as (2) understood to not be the sole source of revelation by which all Christian beliefs must be justified by a clear and obvious revelation found in Scripture. Because the desired objective is to maintain historical continuity and minimize wild departures from traditional belief and practice, these churches are somewhat more immune to fanciful new beliefs than some nominally “biblical” Protestants and are therefore much less prone to certain errors like rejecting the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus or His literal resurrection.

The problems for tradition-centered Christians are not generally found in new and bizarre, unhinged innovations. It is rather the slow, centuries-long accretion of doctrinal evolution with ever-increasing complexity that eventually leads institutions far adrift from the clear teaching of Scripture.

The issue instead is much closer to the problem of “compass deviation” for ships on the ocean where the magnetic needle of the compass (designed to point to magentic north) can have its accuracy compromised by nearby electrical equipment or local magnetic fields. Being just one degree off can place a vessel more than 90 feet off-course with every passing mile. 90 feet off per mile is not overly problematic for a trip that’s just a few miles in total. But over hundreds or thousands of miles, missing the destintation becomes not only possible, but almost inevitable. The “ship” of the Christian faith has metaphorically travelled hundreds of thousands of miles over the past 2000 years. The solution for compass deviation for ships is a compensator that corrects for needle inaccuracy. In the same way, the solution for a church that has journeyed off-course is the Word of God, which both points true north and corrects us when we’ve gone astray. 

Biblically-centered Christians find the emergence of doctrines not clearly taught in Scripture to be deeply problematic as a tragic and alarming departure from Word to which the Lord has called us to remain steadfast and anchored. Tradition-centered Christians instead see the “grace” of ongoing illumination given to the church by the continuing revelation of the Holy Spirit. This is what allows for “doctrinal development” in their belief systems to proceed relentlessly through the centuries, unconstrained by clear, textual Biblical teaching.

If the clear teaching of Scripture is not the “compass” that a Christian institution must be guided by, then the temptation becomes for the institution to declare that they are the compass rather than the Word of God. And if the institution is the compass (where their pronouncements, rather than the holy Scriptures, decide which direction points true north), it becomes almost impossible for them to ever see themselves as being lost or off-course, since they have become the measuring instrument rather than the sovereign Word.

MARIOLOGY: A CASE STUDY IN TRADITION

A perfect example of this is the title “Theotokos” (or “Mother of God”), given to Mary by theologians during the Christological controversies in the 3rd to 5th centuries (debating exactly how Jesus could be both human and divine). “Theotokos,” which literally means “God-bearer,” is a perfectly understandable phrase born out of a desire to defend the truth of the Incarnation (although some at the time preferred “Christotokos,” which is too long of a discussion to get into here). Used by Athanasius, Chrysostom and Augustine, the phrase “Mother of God” was an efficient way of proclaiming that the Child Mary bore was not just anyone, but God in the flesh (just like the word “Trinity” was intended to be a lexically efficient summary of all Scriptural teaching that the Godhead is both One and Three).

But as the centuries rolled on, this great truth of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ continued to be built upon brick by brick to eventually become an unrecognizable, towering doctrinal edifice called Mariology. Today, prayers are directed by millions to Mary pleading with her to “Be our help in our wants, our relief under afflictions, our comfort in temptations, our refuge in persecutions, and our support in all dangers…” and “We fly to your protection, most holy Mother of God; please listen to our petitions and needs, and deliver us from all dangers, ever glorious and blessed Virgin Mary.”

With all due respect to countless believing Catholics who love Jesus and revere His Word, it is simply unreasonable to dispute that such prayers and sentiments are nowhere to be found in the pages of Scripture. (The rebuttal from Catholic apologists would likely be: all Marian doctrinal teaching is fully present in sacred Scripture albiet in embryonic form, as are all other dogmas that to outsiders may appear unsupported by the Bible—and it doesn’t matter anyway because the authoritative teachings of holy tradition are not bound by the text of Scripture).

We need to stop, reflect for a moment and remember the apostle Paul’s admonition in the earliest years of the church:

PROTESTANT “TRADITION ABOVE SCRIPTURE”

The temptation for believers to start veering beyond the Scriptures is unrelenting. Another more recent form of “tradition suppressing the authority of Scripture” is more likely to be found among Protestants and other Bible-centered believers.

The worst Protestant (also found among Catholics and Orthodox) form of bowing to “tradition” is blind group deference to a megalomaniacal religious leader(s), trusting “God’s annointed” over the holy and infallible Word God has placed in each of our hands and which stands in judgment over any pastor or priest. We should love, appreciate and support those truly called to teach and lead God’s flock, but every one of us are called by God to be Bereans digging into the Word for ourselves in order to learn and discern, not to be passive empty vessels to be filled. Words do not become more true simply because they are being said behind a pulpit. Words and doctrines and ideas are true only insofar as they are true to the holy Scriptures.

Another form of “tradition above Scripture” is when, intentionally or unintentionally, Protestants read their particular systematic theology or denominational distinctives (or any other favorite idea, practice, or doctrine) into the text of Scripture when, in reality…sometimes it simply isn’t there.

There’s nothing wrong with attempting to understand the Bible systematically. It’s just that far too often and for too many people, theological systems begin to take precedence over the primary authority of the text itself. The way this is done is through re-defining terms or adding qualifiers to the way the Bible speaks. Hyper-Calvinism essentially equates the biblical term “grace” with “deterministic fate” (softened with the qualifier, “sovereign grace”), rather than the gift of God’s provision for all in Christ as understood for centuries by almost every church father before Augustine. Hyper-Charismatic theology re-defines the “baptism of the Holy Spirit” to mean the biblical sign gift of “speaking in tongues,” ignoring or explaining away the clear teaching of 1 Corinthians 12:13.

On a  more personal note, I will never forget a story a friend shared with me about his church council board getting into a heated disagreement on some decision that needed to be made. Hoping to remind everyone of their ultimate purpose and source of guidance, an elder stood up and simply asked, “Gentlemen, gentlemen, when all is said and done, what do we go by, the Word of God or our church constitution?” After a few moments of stunned silence in the room, the response from another  member was, “The church constitution of course!”

Sadly, these are just a few of many examples where Protestants sometimes inadvertantly or intentionally attempt to bend and force the holy Scriptures to submit to their tradition, an ultimate exercise in futility. As Paul heard from Jesus on the road to Damascus: “It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” (Acts 9:5, NKJV). Resisiting Jesus, the Word made flesh, or the clear teaching of His written Word is pointless and will inevitably be proven to be so in this life or the next. 

It has become my strong conviction from studying the Bible over the decades that the infinite wisdom God has placed into His holy Word will always defy every systematic human attempt to perfectly dissect the Scriptures and force each word into neat, little categories.

The majesty and glory of this Word from another world that is living and active (Hebrews 4:12) will not be restrained and cannot be contained.  I’ve come to believe it was intentionally designed that way by the Lord to prevent us from ever feeling that we’ve arrived and finally figured it all out (unless we’ve allowed ourselves to become lost in delusions of our own making) (1 Corinthians 13:12).

The Scriptures rightly understood eventually bring us to our knees and into His presence so that, in fear and love and awe, we might hear Him speak directly to us: 

Understanding this requires in us the grace only God can give of a steady, permanent state of humility, patience and openness under the Word. We need to know that we cannot know everything. We need to admit when we’ve sometimes taken theological wrong turns, and simply turn around, follow true north and find our way back home to the holy Scriptures that will never change. Over and over, that has certainly been my story.

A HOLY FIRE

If the goal is authentic faith (rather than ego gratification or indulging in confirmation bias), we return to the Bible determined not to blindly re-insert our previous ideas or favorite systematic theology (eisegesis), but to humbly lay every thought into the holy fire of God’s Word, so we can cast off what is consumed and cling to every truth that remains (exegesis).

There will always be honest disagreements among Christians. We need to remember to love one another when we disagree, knowing that we live our lives before Him who sees our heart laid bare, and hold fast to the Word He has placed in our hands.

If we are to avoid the tragedy of becoming spiritually calcified and unteachable, we need to forever remain willing on this side of eternity to reconsider any of our convictions, no matter how long we’ve held them, whenever the Lord allows truths directly from the Scriptures to become more clear to us. It is the challenge of a lifetime, but we can pray with the Psalmist each time we hold the Bible in our hands and ask this of the Lord:

THE “AUTHORITY” OF EXPERIENCE

We move next to another authority that seeks from us a higher allegiance beyond the holy Scriptures: the irresistable siren call of compelling spiritual experiences. There are many exemplary, honorable and godly Pentecostals and Charismatics in almost every denomination, but the extreme end of these groups often places a much higher emphasis on direct experience.

The same primary focus on experience is also true among many non-charismatic practitioners of Christian mysticism who are identically pursuing “transcendence.” Often employing modified forms of pantheistic Eastern religous practices to achieve altered or “higher” states of consciousness, they seek to go beyond Scripture for what they believe is a much more “real” and “transformative” avenue to spiritual renewal. Mystical experiences are all too real, but spiritually can be profoundly dangerous. (I say this as a descendant of Christians who hail from India, the birthplace of at least four Eastern world religions filled with real, supernatural practices and experiences).

On paper, both these groups (the extreme ends of the charismatic and mystical Christian worlds) may nominally submit to the authority of the Scriptures written by the prophets and apostles and cherished by the early church. But the most cursory glance will reveal that they generally see remaining tightly bound to the text of the Word of God as narrow, legalistic, dogmatic and stifling, preferring instead the “freedom, openness and liberation” of experience.

DECEPTION AND EXPERIENCE  

But unconstrained by the Word, danger is constantly lurking when we seek spiritual experiences, in and of themselves, as the ultimate goal. When we attempt to connect with God through practices He has not explicitly taught us in His Word, we are at great risk of either self-delusion or direct engagement with the occult and forces of evil.

In the worst possible way, we are completely on our own whenever we leave the protective guardrails and spiritual armor of the Word of God (Ephesians 6:10-18). The reason is simply because every experience is not to be automatically trusted. This is especially true if what we believe we have seen, heard or felt contradicts anything the Lord has already revealed to us in Scripture.

We are reminded in no uncertain terms about the potential for awe-inspiring but deceptive experiences by the first-century apostles who walked with Jesus:

One could argue that this passage precisely predicted the birth of Islam and Mormonism hundreds of years later, which together account for roughly two billion people on Earth today. Both religions began almost identically with the miraculous appearance of an angel proclaiming new “truths” beyond the holy Scriptures. I personally have no doubt that the spiritual experiences of those “prophets” were likely real, but what we need to consider is this: From where did these new “revelations” come and what was the source?

There is a similar danger in the resurgence of ancient paganism which has risen to fill the spiritual void left behind when a culture walks away from authentic Christianity. Now all around is a growing, contemporary fascination with (1) the occult, (2) supernatural experiences with “aliens” and demonic spirit guides and (3) profoundly deceptive psychedelic experiences involving the “melting of the self” into the “all,” through various drugs and substances, psychoactive hallucinogens and/or Eastern spiritual beliefs and practices. (As a brief aside, the modern sexual chaos we see all around us—which itself is an open door from and to the demonic—can also be understood as the cry of empty souls grasping for momentary trascendence through futile and ultimately deeply unsatisfying pleasures. Sadly, some will only finally understand this on their death beds).

These transcendent experiences are then used to  “prove” the “truth” of a powerful but Christ-denying (often pantheistic) worldview. It is inevitable that a post-Christian society would eventually reject and move on from the meaninglessness non-transcendence of athiesm (discussed earlier in this article) and drift into pagan spirituality. Even as Christianity declines in a society, the soul’s hunger for spirituality and connection to the transcendent remains.  For so many, this has led to an openness to occultic beliefs and practices that connect a person to direct experience with dark spiritual realities. 

NON-HUMAN ENTITIES

The conviction that these spiritual seekers have that they are on the right path is anchored in the “authority” of what they have spiritually seen, heard and felt. These “truths" are not based on reason, tradition or Scripture because the nature of these unholy but transformative experiences seem convincing far beyond mere words. It is a “gospel” without a Savior and a road to eternal separation from God. The occultic practitioner may feel powerful, superior and enlightened unaware that:

Believing that they see, they are blind to the reality that these “eye-opening” experiences are being curated by malignant spirits leading them on a journey of dark departure far from “the Way” proclaimed in the Word of God (Acts 9:2; 19:9,23; 24:14,22).

For thousands of years, Christianity (and ancient Israel before it) has always understood the reality of the angelic realm: non-human, extra-terrestrial (not of this planet), meta-physical (non-material), interdimensional intelligent beings, both faithful and fallen—sounds awfully similar to modern claims of encountering so-called “aliens” who for some reason particularly recoil from the Name that is above every name, Jesus Christ, or "Yeshua,” His Hebrew and Aramaic name. Yes, holy angels sent by the Almighty always defend and protect us, especially believers,  but we should never forget the words of Jesus (Yeshua):

By the grace of God, many have awakened from these powerful, often demonic, states of delusion and grandeur, but many have not. The Father waits patiently, calling all His lost prodigal sons and daughters—that when they have spent everything and finally sense their great need, to come home at last from the far country (Luke 15:11-32).

WHEN WORDS ARE NOT ENOUGH

We do need holy experiences with God. In fact, the whole point of “Songs from Scripture” is engaging with the Word in a way that is simultaneously both tethered to the Word and transcends the limitations of language. The love we have for our spouse, children or parents is never fully captured by human language—and neither is our love for God, and above everything else, His great love for us.

But here is the great irony: we need words to express that words cannot fully express everything. The Word itself reminds us (with words!) that not everything can be adequately conveyed with words. It speaks of:

• “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” (Philippians 4:7),

• that “the heart of man [has not] imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” (Isaiah 64:4 / 1 Corinthians 2:9)

• that “the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:26)

• and finally, that one of the great purposes for our very existence is “to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19).

Any experience the Lord may choose to give us of His love beyond measure and the glory of His presence is a precious gift, a tiny foretaste of the life to come. Such experiences often become an unforgettable, indelible memory we will treasure for the rest of our lives. “But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.” (Luke 2:19). But you don’t need direct experiences to live a rich, meaningful and productive Christian life of love and service. What Jesus told Thomas (who was depending on experience) He is also telling us: 

That means you and me.

EXPERIENCING THE TRUTH

A faith that is nothing more than a theological, moral or political set of propositions to which we give mental assent or a formal denominational affiliation is nothing more than spiritual death if it is without a living, responsive, and vibrant relationship with Jesus. We must always remember that the Truth is ultimately a Person (John 14:6) so we can never truly claim to know the truth if we do not personally know Him. While personal, spiritual experiences with and from the Lord are completely unpredictable and always unexpected, we can always find Him in His Word, which we can memorize or read or pray or study or sing with all our hearts! (See What is the Bible? and Songs from Scripture? for a reminder of the infinite power of the Word). And we can always experience Him in His Supper where we can bow and humbly remember what He did for us on the Cross and especially in that moment to know that we are in His presence. Any unique and unforgettable experience the Lord may have for us is at the time and place of His choosing and never under our direct control. It is our role to simply take Him at His Word and remember that He is always near (Psalm 145:18 / Matthew 28:20).

There is so much we want to know because there is so much we do not or cannot know. “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29). The Scriptures clearly remind us that while we may want, out of curiousity or desperation, to pursue spiritual experiences beyond words, we need to remember again the apostle Paul’s clear admonition to “learn by us not to go beyond what is written” (1 Corinthians 4:6)?

THE “AUTHORITY” OF HUMAN REASON

Leaving these experience-driven movements, the theologically liberal wing within the Protestant, Orthodox and Catholic traditions places a much higher empasis on reason over and against a plain reading of scripture and tradition. (One could also argue that certain Protestant traditions also forcefully impose raw human logic onto Scripture leading to a highly rational, internally consistent, airtight system—hyper-Calvinism, for instance—that may ironically find itself making pronouncements directly at odds with the clear teaching of multiple texts of Scripture on which they claim to stand). Liberal Christian theology is the intellectual basis of entire Protestant denominations in the West. Theologically liberal Christians, often quite educated, have “outgrown” seeing Scripture as the divine and infallible Word of God. They are dismissive of simple trust in the Bible as the product of a naive, overly supernatural and superstitous worldview, bordering on the irrational. The prime directive is usually social change and good works over inward salvation and faithfulness to a traditional reading of Scripture underlying historic Christian doctrine and practice. Many may not even believe in the literal, physical resurrection of Jesus, a wild departure from the beliefs of every faithful Christian throughout history.

The differences are so stark that the extreme ends of modern liberal Christianity could almost be considered another religion, an outgrowth and departure derived out of and separate from historic Christianity. While liberal theology maintains many historic practices (Scripture readings, the church calender, baptisms, etc.), it radically redefines terms.

Here’s an example of a highly-esteemed liberal Christian theologian discussing “God,” an unrecognizable pantheistic or even athiestic “God” by the standard of either the Old or New Testament: “this affirmation of meaning within meaninglessness, of certitude within doubt, is not the God of traditional theism but the ‘God above God,’ the power of being, which works through those who have no name for it, not even the name God” (Paul Tillich, Systematic Theology, Vol.2) This hyper-rationality is simply another form of spiritual evil, though externally more “sophisticated” than the extremes of experience-driven spirituality.

THE AUTHORITY OF THE WORD OF GOD

There is nothing wrong with either tradition, experience or reason, within biblical parameters. Regarding tradition, we were created with the holy instinct to remember the past and treasure all that is good, true and beautiful of what has come before. Regarding experience, our hearts were made to feel the sheer wonder of all that it means to be alive. Regarding reason, we were designed with intelligence far surpassing any other creature on Earth so that we might think deeply and ponder the greatness of the One who has no beginning or end.

We only lose the plot when we allow any of the three things above (tradition, experience or reason) to gain primary dominance and illegitimately usurp the highest authority that belongs only to the Scriptures, the one and only thing the Creator described as θεοπνευστος (Theopneustos), which in English literally means: “God-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16).