Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Gut reactions
Posted by 7:27 AM
at I got an email today with one of those slide video presentations about being thankful for today and yada yada yada. There was accompanying text and one of the lines read (roughly, from memory): Today I will remember that worry is just a waste of time because my faith in God and His Divine Plan ensures everything will be just fine. (emphasis mine)
1. What is your gut reaction to (initial thoughts about/interpretation of) this message?
2. What do you think other people - say, Americans who may only be culturally or nominally Christian, or even non-Christians - would think about it?
I think this message is reflective of our society's perception of Christianity, and I tend to have a problem with it.
1. What is your gut reaction to (initial thoughts about/interpretation of) this message?
2. What do you think other people - say, Americans who may only be culturally or nominally Christian, or even non-Christians - would think about it?
I think this message is reflective of our society's perception of Christianity, and I tend to have a problem with it.
Buuuuuuuuuut...
I don't think that's the sort of "fine" that the email was talking about. What really set off the warning lights for me was the subject of the verb "ensures" there: it's "my faith". It's saying that it's not God and His Divine Plan (tm) that make everything just fine, in His time, but it's my faith. It's saying that the only thing that's wrong here is when you're believing that something's wrong, that it's all in your head. That statement isn't about faith in God, it's about faith in faith--it perpetuates the mistaken practice of religious belief and the use of "God words" as just an emotional, contentless pragmatism aimed at feeling good. It's not talking about the "being just fine" that is yet to come and the God who gives us genuine grounds for hope; it doesn't take seriously the things that are wrong in the world, the fallenness, the wreck that Jesus Christ took so seriously that He came to earth and died to restore it. It's not based in the character of God Himself, as the loving Father who causes all things to work together for the good of His children; it's based fundamentally on a Today I will--it starts with me and my mentality, my will to believe that nothing is wrong. And frankly, that's a recipe for disaster.
I'm not really sure what other people would think about it. But I think I can say with certainty that to a person who's coming face to face with the stuff that's really wrong in the world, the things that aren't just "all in our head," they're going to find this about as comforting as Job found the accusations of his friends.
That is comforting to me in tough times. But if used as a club to beat a 'Job' over the head with, then it isn't good at all.
1) "time" and "fine" don't rhyme, but the rhythm (of the e-mail sentence and Jackson's RK reference seem to set it up for a rhyme).
2) I hear things that very closely resemble this often said by people who are Christians but are not christians. It's a klaxon calling me to closer attention.
I'm strongly inclined to agree with Jackson about "my faith" being the subject of this sentence -- but I think it is not so clear (including in the minds of the writer and readers) as it may seem.
The notion that it is my faith that "ensures" that "everything will be fine," may not be bad. If the writer means that it is by his faith that he knows that everything will be fine that's fine. If he means that it is by his faith that everything will be fine, then there's a serious problem. "Ensure" can mean either of those ("brings me assurance" or "causes, surely").
The basic error here is almost ubiquitous among us (look around for it, you will see it almost daily). There's a general blurring between what one knows about reality and reality itself. I strongly suspect that the writer of the e-mail has this blurry version in mind -- that it is by his faith that everything will be fine, and that his knowledge of reality is tied directly to reality itself.
I should point out that this is not a phenomenon that occurs exclusively with relation to matters of "religiousness" or "faith" or whatever. Very many people will claim things like this relating to every day life, ignoring the mediating role of sight or faith in their knowledge (this is one very important application of the idea that we live by faith, not by sight -- it has this very concept implicit within it).
Anyway, generally when people say things like this, it's a good idea to (GENTLY AND LOVINGLY!} make sure that they understand that they are not "basically good people," and that condemnation to Hell is what is due them (and me, and all of us) based on our merits, but that salvation from Hell has been provided by Jesus to those who will believe in Him and repent of their wickedness. In most such cases, I find that the person has never really heard (or else understood or ... ?) the terrific news about salvation from condemnation.
"With the fall all became abnormal. It is not just that the individual is separated from God by his true moral guilt, but each of us is not what God made us to be. Beyond each of us as individuals, human relationships are not what God meant them to be. And beyond that, nature is abnormal-- the whole cause-and-effect significant history is now abnormal. To say it another way: there is much in history now which should not be.
"Thus, returning to Romans 8:28, it is not that in some magical way everything is really fine, even when our observation and experience sees and feels the sorrows of the present world. No, it is because God is the infinite God He is that in spite of the abnormality of all things now, He can in the midst of the battle bring good for His people out of the abnormality.
"It is not that Christians are to 'give thanks' with a plastic smile, saying things are wonderful when they are hard. It is knowing that the hard things are really hard things, a result of the abnormality since the Fall, yet not revolting against God when the hard things come.
"In this sense we are to say, 'thank you.' I know that even out of this part of the battle and tears, my Heavenly Father will bring good--even though I may not know how all the pieces fit together." (from True Spirituality, Chapter 1)
Francis Schaeffer's point here seems to speak to the issue...I liked what he said and found it edifying, so I figured I'd pass it on.