Christian Living
I am thoroughly persuaded that the most vividly incandescent measure of how spiritually immature a Christian really is, is their relentless obsession with involving themselves in spirited contentions with other Christians over theology. The internet is a fantastic venue for this sort of thing in the Body of Christ, and it is arguably the reason why we have umpteen Christian denominations. Usually, our focus of alarm is on the gospel of prosperity or the latest movie-of-the-week private revelation of God in the form of a mega-selling book, written by some unknown author. Certainly, these are causes for our attention. But frankly, neither of these crops of thorns dishearten me nearly to the degree that these scripture wars and theological death matches do.
The classic example is Calvinism versus Arminianism. This worthless debate has consumed more time, efforts, and energy than most other activities within the Body. Christians, most of them born again and saved by the Holy Spirit, affiliated with theological factions and particular doctrines, more or less devour one another vainly trying to convince the other parties of their positions. Positions they think are a matter of life or death, no matter how flagrantly insignificant they might be, and I’m perplexed beyond my ability to convey it, just what some Christians are perfectly willing to war over. That someone would write page after page, or produce video after video, of belligerent, maniacal diatribes against another believer just because they are not partial to Irresistible Grace or Conditional Election, mirrors very accurately their extensive lack of Christian love for the brethren.
These Christians are drunk on their theology. While this may sound as insulting as it is presumptuous, theology has overtaken the place of Christ in their hearts. Their particular theology has become for them, an idol--something they worship; no different than any other idol. Furthermore, our precious scriptures, those which were intended for our spiritual knowledge about Jesus Christ and the Father for the benefit of those who would believe, have served as no more than artillery that overzealous self-ordained theologians use against their own brethren who take an opposite position. It anguishes my soul to admit that the Bible is probably more abused by Christians than it is cults or unbelievers. Rather than apply the scriptures for the purpose of edification, we instead use it for condemnation.
I haven’t a problem with discussing theology or upholding sound doctrine. But what is going in the Body today is nothing of the sort. Nobody’s “discussing” anything, nor are any of these disputes circumvented around what we know to be the essentials of the Christian faith. Case in point: as I write, a group of Christians who are partial to a theology known as Sandemanianism ( the notion that salvation is entirely by way of an intellectual admission, that simply “knowing” and believing the facts of the gospel is enough to merit salvation) are frothing at the mouth over a doctrine known as Lordship Salvation ( the idea that saving faith ought to be evidenced by some visible regeneration or change of character in the life of a believer), proclaiming Lordship Salvation proponents are seasoned heretics, and that they shall all be cast into hell. That’s their abominable deed so-called: that they believe one should have some fruit follow their profession of faith. There isn’t a whole lot preventing me from concluding that these Sandemanians, as they are called, are phrenetic lunatics, and every church you frequent has a couple of them. There’s something fantastically disturbing about someone claiming to walk with Jesus who becomes rabid towards other Christians when talking about doctrine.
This is indicative of one of two things: either people such as these are very spiritually immature, or they are not Christians at all. These sort of antagonistic quarrels are the stuff children engage in because children lack the very kind of attribute noticeable in their participants: humility. Children fight and argue because they have not yet cultivated the humility that comes with adulthood. Humility in the believer however is a sign of maturity, that they are somewhat advanced in their sanctification. Soberness and patience come also with humility. Babes in Jesus often lack humility because it takes a very long time to grow out of self-will and insidious pride. We expect babes to be rough around the edges; to be a little contentious, to be a little arrogant still as they experience life after their new birth. And mature believers cut them slack, remembering they were once too still very young in Christ.
Some of the Christians involved in these useless, animated disputes are still babes, regardless of how long they claim they’ve been believers. They have not matured or progressed. They remain stuck in spiritual neutral, their minds saturated with isms and ologies that suffocate the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. The spirit of God cannot and will not work with a heart that refuses to lay aside factional allegiances, animosity towards other Christians, and zealous bibliolatry done in the name of theological oneupsmanship. It is remarkable that these sort of discords even take place at all considering these early passages in the 1st chapter of Corinthians:
“And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal? “ -- I Corinthians 1:1-4
Does this not resemble precisely what is common place in these sectarian feuds? Paul couldn’t have chosen more adequate words to describe it, and for a man who penned the most profound doctrinal composition in the entire New Testament--the Book of Romans--he had zero patience for these cliquish brouhahas in the church. It is interesting that he describes them as not yet ready for solid food in the spiritual sense because Christians intoxicated with theology often perceive the opposite: that they are the ones most prepared to eat sirloins while everyone else is hardly ready to suckle from the bottle. What often happens to a baby who tries to prematurely eat solid food? They choke on it or spit it out because they cannot chew it properly. And this is what happens to spiritually immature believers. Having not yet grown significantly in the rudimentary concepts of the spirit, they are unable to handle properly the deeper perspectives of Christian doctrine. It is a no-brainer throughout the New Testament that Christians are supposed to love one another and bear each other’s burdens, and not be slicing one another apart at every turn. That is exceedingly more important to a Christian walk then sophisticated theology. If you can’t understand that and apply it, you are not ready to discuss God’s word with fellow believers in any penetrating fashion. You’ll promptly choke on your own venerated doctrines.
The other reason is more alarming, that some of these people may very well not know Jesus. They simply know about Him. Jesus is not their savior, their intellect is, their knowledge about the Bible is where they have placed their hope for grace through faith. For these people, if they can win debates then they’re saved. It is almost a sophistic endeavour: the one with the best arguments enters glory. They are enamoured with the Bible, with popular doctrines, with philosophy, with apologetics, with the Reformation, with Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic. But they are not really enamoured with Jesus; He is not their first love. He is for them only a pawn in theological polemics. Their mouth professes to know Him, yet their hearts are with their exegetical dexterity. There is little if any visible affection for our Lord, or their brethren, and their demeanours reflect nothing like what is described in Galatians 5:22-23. They come across as stoic and mechanical, glum and lifeless, and often aggressive and hostile, without spirit or much joy. They are merely religious, not born again. The Pharisees, well astute concerning their knowledge of the Old Testament scriptures, were walking corpses--lifeless religious proselytizers devoid of any compassion, love, or selflessness. They knew all about Yahweh, but never knew Him intimately in the way Moses did.
These people claim often to be defending the Christian faith, but I hardly believe that. They are in my estimation more genuinely concerned about their stature, or reputation, then about Christianity. If someone professes to be defending the faith, while simultaneously treating other believers injuriously and malevolently, then I conclude they are lying because anyone truly passionate about upholding the truth about Christ is as equally passionate about emitting the virtues that He commanded, such as love, patience, gentleness, joy, etc. I submit that pride is really behind it; unrestrained detestable pride.
Unbeknownst to many of us, Christianity itself can actually become an idol, peculiar as that may sound. It can take the place of Jesus in your heart. We need look no further for verification of that than the 2nd chapter of the Book of Revelation concerning the church at Ephesus. In their evaluation they are commended for their diligence, patience, righteousness, reasoned biblical doctrine, and their ability to identify and expunge heretics. Yet, Christ had for them one fatal admonition: they had lost their first love. They had lost Him. In the midst of their zeal for proper church conduct, sound theology, and dedication, Christ was all but forgotten. They had in essence forgotten whom this was all for and whom this was all about. These passages are sobering. They convey to us the devastating truth that we can indeed commit our energies and efforts to perfecting the externals, yet miss altogether that which should have permanent residence in our hearts, the Lord Jesus Christ. We can be religious about Jesus without Jesus.
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Impressive article. It should stimulate some self-evaluation. It did in me. Thank you. God bless you. Keep up the good work. Robert Driskell
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