In reality, most of the posts end
up majoring on getting drunk, high, or naked.
I speak from experience. Eastern
Mennonite University, the college I attend, had one of these last spring.
Wading through the juvenile, irrelevant, and the I’m-only-saying-this-because-I-won’t-get-caught
posts, I did find one nugget of profound truth, a question posed by what I
assume to be a disgruntled, yet observant student.
I can’t reproduce exactly what she
(my subconscious has designated “her” female for some reason) wrote, as her
post has since been silently removed. But it went something like this:
“For all EMU talks about being
open-minded and eclectic, why does the administration always invite
controversial, liberal speakers and never controversial, conservative
speakers?”
I’ll let her statement speak for
itself.
However, as if to provide a case in
point, EMU recently welcomed with open arms postmodern speaker/writer Peter
Rollins, a theologian with significant connections to and influences on the
emerging church movement. Rollins, described by some as “blurring the lines
between theism and atheism,” is known for his provocative book titles such as The
Idolatry of God: Breaking Our Addiction to Certainty and Satisfaction and To
Believe is Human; to Doubt, Divine.
I have to admit: I didn’t attend
any of his four sessions. But in reading EMU’s article (1) about his speeches,
and from what I know about him elsewhere, I see some things in what he says
that concern me; some dangerous philosophies that I’d like to respond to – if
for no other purpose than to satisfy myself by ranting.
Here goes.
The article starts off with a quote
from the movie Cool Runnings, where an Olympic coach gives his team some
advice: “A gold medal is a wonderful thing,” he says. “But if you’re not enough
without one, you’ll never be enough with one.”
Good, solid advice. But then the
article presents Rollins as taking this quote and substituting God in for the
gold medal.
Or, in other words, God is
wonderful, but if you’re not enough without Him…
…you’ll never be enough with
Him.
What? If I have correctly
understood the author’s intent with this analogy, this seems to be a restatement
of an old, old message––wrapped in new wrapping paper.
Humanism.
Humanism, in its truest sense,
takes man and places him at the center of the universe, shoving God off to the
side. Thus, history, rather than being a story about God (not to be cliché, but
… “His Story”) and how He interacts and relates with man, becomes the story of
man…
…and how he interacts with God on
the side, of course.
So God still gets to have a part in
the play––we wouldn’t kick Him out completely––but He can’t be, you know, the
main character.
Know what? This philosophy is as
old as the earth itself. It was introduced to Eve in the Garden of Eden by the
serpent. Note how he tempts her: “You will not die,” he says to her. “In
fact, God knows that when you eat it [the fruit] your eyes will
be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis
3:4-5). In other words, “God is the star of the show right now, but if you
eat this fruit, it will give you power to be the star of the show, and He
doesn’t want that.” Rather than keeping her focus on God and His goodness, Eve
chose to listen to the serpent and take her eyes off of God and focus them
inwardly, on herself. On what she could gain. On how her actions might
affect her.
But Rollins isn’t done. Unsatisfied
with simply taking God off center stage, now God––the Righteous, True,
Omniscient, Holy, Eternal, Self-existing, Omnipotent God; the Great I AM––that
God; must be turned into an idol.
An idol? Yes, an idol.
“God … is too often (and falsely) imagined
as an idol capable of providing true wholeness and fulfillment,” says Rollins.
He also “criticized the church for getting people ‘drunk on sermons’ and on
God to distract them from the reality that everyone ‘will die and never be
again’ and everyone we love ‘will die a cold death’.” Indeed, the title of his
most recent book succinctly sums up his view on the matter: The Idolatry of
God: Breaking Our Addiction to Certainty and Satisfaction.
So Rollins would have us humans as
the primary focal point of the entire universe, criticizing us (specifically
evangelical ones of us) for obsessing over, being distracted by, addicted to,
and deriving our certainty and satisfaction from being “drunk on god”, a god
who is not worthy of us. A god who can’t fulfill our desires. A god who can’t
give us what we need. A god…
…who is not enough.
And he’s right. To a point. We
shouldn’t be addicted to and obsess over idols in our lives.
But God is not an idol.
We should be addicted to God. We
should obsess over Him, and most certainly be distracted by Him.
He is our Way. He is our Truth. He
is our Life (John 14:6; John 6:63). He is our Creator (Genesis 1:27).
He is our Light (John 1:4,9). He is the Giver of grace and every
spiritual blessing (John 1:16; Ephesians 1:3,7-8). He is our only Hope (Psalm
62:5; Psalm 39:7; Romans 15:13; Romans 8:24-25; Psalm 71:5; Psalm 33:18).
He is our Strength (Isaiah 41:10). He is our Satisfaction (Isaiah
58:11; Isaiah 55:1; Psalm 103:5; Psalm 107:9; John 1:14; Matthew 5:6). He
holds us together (Colossians 1:17). He is the Source of our delight and
joy: “You reveal the path of life to me; in Your presence is abundant joy; in
Your right hand are eternal pleasures” (Psalm 16:11).
And yet He is not enough?
He is worthy. “Worthy are You, our
Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things,
and by Your will they existed and were created” (Revelation 4:11). And
again in Psalm 145:3, “Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; His
greatness no one can fathom.”
He is enough. “And my God
will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians
4:19). “But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected
in weakness’” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
That is the difference between God
and an idol. An idol is not enough. It cannot satisfy you. It is not worthy of
your praise.
But God is.
Rollins is also a big advocate of
doubt, perhaps best known for his catchphrase “to believe is human; to doubt,
divine.” He understands doubt to be central to the Christian faith, stating
that “religion falsely promises to offer the certainty and satisfaction that we
seek,” and “religion helps us avoid facing up to our brokenness and troubles …
[and] that is devastating.” Thus, since we all have doubt, he concludes that we
need to “learn to live with being human, being broken, being, in a sense,
unfulfilled. And in the shared humanity of that, you find true fulfillment.”
Again, my response would be to
first pull the nugget of truth out of his words. Yes, doubt is part of the
Christian walk, and we all experience it to some level or another. And yes, it
can even strengthen us in our Christian walk to go through times of doubt.
But doubt is not the final
destination for the Christian. It is not divine to doubt; indeed our divine God
knows all things (Psalm 147:5; Psalm 139:4; Isaiah 40:28; Jeremiah 23:24, 1
John 3:20), being “perfect in knowledge” (Job 37:16).
Rollins seems to make several
assumptions that are unfounded. He seems to assume that since doubt is common
to all humans, doubt is common to God. He assumes that since all humans and
therefore all Christians have doubt, it is somehow a good and healthy part, even
a product of our sanctified, regenerated being, and not a product of our
sinful nature. And finally he seems to assume that our destination is to
find fulfillment in our doubt.
But we must look to Scripture for
our answers. Many times Jesus waited to heal until people overcame their doubt;
it sometimes even seems He was hindered by it (Mark 13:57-58). Note His
conversation with the man who had a demon-possessed son: “If You can do
anything, have compassion on us and help us,” the man said. “’IF You can’?”
Jesus challenged the man. “Everything is possible to the one who believes.”
Immediately the father of the boy cried out, “I do believe! Help my unbelief” (Mark
9:22b-24).
Jesus wanted this man and others to
overcome their doubt. He didn’t want them to be stuck in uncertainty.
Rollins says that doubt is critical
to Christian life; the Bible says that doubt destroys our life. (Proverbs
3:5; Matthew 14:32; Matthew 21:21; Mark 11:23; John 20:27).
“Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he
should ask God, who gives to all generously and without criticizing, and it
will be given to him. But let him ask in faith without doubting. For the
doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind. That person
should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. An indecisive man is
unstable in all his ways” (James 1:5-8).
Rather than doubt, we must have
faith. “Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not
seen. For our ancestors won God’s approval by it. By faith we understand that the
universe was created by God’s command, so that what is seen has been made from
things that are not visible” (Hebrews 11:1-3).
Where does faith come from? “Faith
comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about
Christ” (Romans 10:17).
So is the Christian consigned to
live with doubt forever? Is doubt the final destination of the believer? Is
doubt where we find our fulfillment?
No.
If I could encourage Peter Rollins
with one passage from Scripture, I would pick 1 John 3:18-20:
Little children, let us not love in
word or talk but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know that we are of
the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns
us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.
The opposite of doubt is to know.
And we shall know. Whenever our heart condemns us, whenever our doubts rush in,
whenever our fears press hard, God is greater than our heart, greater than our
doubt, greater than our fears…
And He knows.
Everything.
The question is not: “are you
enough without God?” We already know the answer to that (Isaiah 53:6; Romans
3:23; Romans 5:6; John 15:5; Jeremiah 10:14; Proverbs 28:26).
The question is: Will you let God
be enough for you?
0 comments:
Post a Comment