Or, the truly liberating theology.
(A late Independence Day post)
Many thanks to Joe Carter for linking to an article at Touchstone magazine on channelling the Messiah as opposed to any other spirit or guru who might promise heaven, either in the here-and-now or the world to come. Otherwise, I might have missed it.
As usual, I am going to quote way too much of it in order to talk about it, but oh well. You'll still go read the whole thing, I know. But first, a question: How many "preachers fit Jesus into a preexisting storyline"? Preachers who do
not call upon their hearers to find themselves in the storyline of the crucified, buried, and resurrected Jesus[?] For them, Jesus is a mascot, just for different agendas, none of which will last a minute past the Judgment Seat.
Author Russell D. Moore goes on,
There is a liberation theology of the Left, and there is also a liberation theology of the Right, and both are at heart mammon worship. The liberation theology of the Left often wants a Barrabas, to fight off the oppressors as though our ultimate problem were the reign of Rome and not the reign of death. The liberation theology of the Right wants a golden calf, to represent religion and to remind us of all the economic security we had in Egypt. Both want a Caesar or a Pharaoh, not a Messiah. (emphasis added)
Continuing, with my interjections:
Preachers will always be tempted to bypass the problem behind the problems: captivity to sin, bondage to the accusations of the demonic powers, the sentence of death. That's why so many of our Christian superstars smile at crowds of thousands, reassuring them that they don't like to talk about sin. [Or, reassuring them that if they do x, y, and z, they can avoid sin. Or, reassuring them that there is lots and lots of sin "out there," implying, of course, that there's much less "in here."] That's why other Christian celebrities are seen to be courageous for fighting their culture wars, while they carefully leave out the sins most likely to be endemic to the people paying the bills in their congregations.
Like the deeds of the flesh, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which...have forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:19-21 (NASB)
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Gal. 5:22-23
Then there is that charged passage in 2 Timothy, which I thank Don Johnson from the comment thread to a previously-linked post at Denny Burk's blog for bringing to my attention:
But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power... 2 Tim. 3:1-5
More Moore (with my own interjections):
Where there is no gospel, something else will fill the void: therapy, consumerism, racial or class [or gender] resentment, utopian politics, [utopian programs, doctrines, and prescriptions], crazy conspiracy theories of the left, crazy conspiracy theories of the right, [crazy going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket diatribes, crazy do-and-don't lists, anti-this and anti-that warnings, even subtle prescriptions and warnings]; anything will do. The prophet Isaiah warned us of such conspiracies replacing the Word of God centuries ago (Is. 8:12-20). As long as the Serpent's voice is heard, "You shall not surely die," the powers are comfortable.
The problem with prescriptive so-called Christianity is that it adds to the gospel and makes a golden calf (idol) of whatever is supposed to bring health, wealth, and prosperity (or salvation), subtly pitched to us as "WJW" - What Jesus Wants. All these things are couched in terms of "right living" or, simply, the word "biblical," as if just because something is in the Bible, it is righteous. Don't forget, Satan is in the Bible too. (I realize that people use the term "biblical" to mean "godly," "righteous," "proper," or "right," but it's not specific enough. Besides, it's a buzzword, used as a smug weapon against those who subscribe to "non-biblical" morality or practices, as a way to put up a wall between those who are "biblical" and those who aren't. Better to use a more specific, generally-understood term.
The problem with prescriptive so-called Christianity is that, more than adding to the gospel, it actually pushes the simple gospel (and the New Commandment) out and puts a much more complicated set of rules, or way of life, in their place. This is also known as legalism.
Unless Paul and the other writers of the NT Epistles were adding to the New Commandment, any interpretation of their writings that does not also commend loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself, is simply wrong.
The trouble is that it can be difficult to understand just what these things mean. There is much legalism and error masquerading as the truth of what would please God, even within our own hearts and minds. Perhaps we absorbed or developed certain ideas while growing up, which, even as adults, persist in our minds as "righteous" when in reality, they are not. Myself, it has taken me far longer than it probably should have to recognize many of these things. The process has been long, slow, and often painful, yet also liberating beyond imagination. Learning how to be owned by no one but God can't be easy for anyone, but it literally is not something to be traded for anything in the world.
Where anything other than Christ is preached, there is no truth offered, and thus, there is no freedom proclaimed. There may be shouts of affirmation or silently nodding heads, there may be left-wing politics or right-wing politics, there may be culturally liberal psychotherapy or culturally conservative psychotherapy, there may be almost anything people think they want, but there's nothing but judgment in the air.
