They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work. (Titus 1:6, ESV)
Chapter Five - The Problem - Part 2 - Human Record
If someone were to ask me what the biggest issue Christianity faces today, I would, without hesitation say “Biblical Ignorance.” I even believe much of today’s problems in general, not just church related, stem from the lack of sound Biblical teaching. The primary role of the Body of Christ is to equip believers so they can be disciples of Jesus and witness to the world. Equipped with what? God’s Word, the Bible.
Let me ask you a question, do you feel you know the Bible well enough to talk about it or debate in favor of it? If you are like most people, you probably said no. Why is that? Chances are that there is a Bible within ten feet of you right now. The decision to read and study the Bible is yours. If you are a Christian, how do you know what pleases God if you feel you don’t know the Bible well enough to talk about it? It is important to know the whole counsel of God, that includes understanding both the Old Testament and the New Testament.
There are two avenues that lead to Biblical ignorance. The first is simply the lack of knowledge, that being the standard definition of ignorance. However, is that ignorance due to: 1) apathy (lack of interest to know God); 2) laziness (not willing to allocate time and energy); 3) intentional (convinced the Bible is either unknowable or too hard to learn); or 4) not a priority and never set aside time to study it. The other avenue that leads to Biblical ignorance is false teaching. When someone is taught incorrect information from a source that is considered reliable and credible, it is difficult to get them to reconsider and accept something different. Dr. Chuck Missler often stated, “The only barrier to truth is the presumption that you already have it.” Sadly, many churches, denominations, theologians, teachers, pastors and many others have accepted and teach incorrect theology, which also leads to and is a form of ignorance.
False teaching is perhaps the greatest threat against Biblical literacy. I often use the analogy of a pilot of a plane using a compass that is one degree off. One degree does not sound like much, but it is enough that will prevent the arrival to their destination. The same is true with God’s Word, a misunderstanding or misinterpretation of one critical point can prevent one from arriving to heaven. That is why studying of the Bible is vital for every Christian. False teaching typically begins with someone interpreting Scripture using the wrong rules of interpretation or interject their own ideas which are then written and become the basis or element of a proposed theology. The writings of many dead theologians have become the basis of many denominations and churches. Sadly, in some cases the corruption is so intertwined with the Biblical text that it is just as passionately defended as Scripture itself.
I am going to introduce you to what I call “Christian Vectors.” The word vector has several meanings. As a noun, ‘vector’ means having some direction and magnitude, or it can relate to an organism that transmits a disease to another organism. As a verb it can refer to a change in direction and magnitude to get to a desired point. So how does any of these apply to theology or Christianity? If we incorrectly interpret the Word of God we can ultimately ‘vector’ away from God and, like the disease carried by an organism, we can suffer serious consequences. Sadly, Christianity is not without vectors, plus, there are a number of vectors in Biblical interpretation. Some are the result of difficult passages that have been interpreted by theologians in the past with limited resources, while other interpretations are based on either a presupposition or invalid reasoning (like limiting God). History has shown that most of these vectors are rarely reexamined. Sadly, instead of doctrinal review, most theologies along with their vectors become emotionally defended and often, further distortions are made to justify those beliefs. These concepts and theologies contain their own set of vectors that, instead of teaching the whole counsel of God, those that promote these alternate theologies, teach only the ‘vectors’ and essentially ignore the rest of the Bible. Which explains one question I often hear, “Why haven’t I heard this before?”
There are a number of ‘rules’ to consider when interpreting Scripture. The methodology most often used by scholars, theologians, teachers, pastors, etc is a process of Biblical interpretation known as Hermeneutics. Within Christian hermeneutics there are several types of interpretations including literal, historical, grammatical, contextual, etc. Then within those types are various principles which include expositional constancy, Biblical synthesis, allegory, etc. The advancement of hermeneutics has provided a reasonable framework and methodology to consistently evaluate and study the Bible. However, not all agree with the methodology, so we end up with conflicting rules, promoting further disagreements. But there is one principal that, in my opinion, is the most critical. It has an unusual name, ‘exegesis’, a word that has nothing to do with the name of Jesus. It is based on the Greek word ‘ek’[1] for ‘out’ or ‘out of’, the word exegesis literally means, “to lead out of,” meaning that the interpreter was led by the text. This is the goal of most scholars, to obtain the true meaning from the text. However, sadly there are some that employ ‘eisegesis’, which means “to lead into” (based on the Greek word ‘eis’[2]) allowing the interpreter to inject their own ideas into the text (like reading between the lines). Some people read the Bible guided by their imagination, presupposition, or some form of fanciful visualization to explore where a verse takes them. This approach is often used to validate or explain a Biblical vector.
Now instead of one clear path of understanding when reading the Bible, the true path has been outshone by multiple paths and ‘rabbit trails.’ Through these disagreements between theologians and Christians, the devil has successfully separated churches and denominations. His theological graffiti makes Christianity look foolish to both believers and non-believers. Since humans do not like being wrong, when faced with a disagreement, the willingness to investigate or change is unlikely.
The analogy of a human body having multiple parts is often used in the Bible to illustrate that believers need to work together. Which underscores the need for Christians to be active in using their God-given gifts with others that are also using their God-given gifts, in other words, be active in a church. Whenever I hear that analogy my mind goes to a junk yard where all the parts of a car are scattered around a yard. Most of the parts are there but nothing that resembles a complete car can be seen. Somebody needs to assemble them, for that, the parts need to work in unison.
But due to disagreements and lack of Spiritual guidance the opposite of unity occurs, division. This is nothing new, Paul wrote to the church in Corinth about their divisions (see 1 Corinthians 1:10-17; 3:1-23). The apostle John recorded Jesus praying for those that would become believers from the work of the apostles (that would include us), “that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” (John 17:21-23) Jesus knew that the devil would infiltrate the church and cause division. Today we see multiple denominations that claim to be Christian, but have no interest in working with other churches for any effort, not alone to evangelize. Note the reason Jesus gave His Father for this unity, “so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” Division has severely hindered the progress of the gospel.
Most of the influential theology today came from the writings of dead theologians and are highly regarded and cherished. Before I mention some of these cherished works, I just want to point out that I am neither against, nor in favor of, any of these documents, they are referenced here only as examples.
Nearly each organized denomination and church have some document beside the Bible that they base their understanding and interpretation of theology on. Sometimes in lieu of the Bible and others in addition to the Bible (which version of the Bible is another source of debate). When you think of the word ‘reform’ you probably think of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that was well underway for years but was brought out into public view when Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the door of the All Saints Church in Wittenberg in 1517. The reality is that reform has been occurring since the beginning of Christianity. Many of the epistles and those two chapters of Revelation demonstrate that reform was necessary even after a few months or years after formation. But there is probably no other period in time when more documents regarding theology came into being than the Reformation. Here are a few notable works: The Augsburg Confession (1530); The Ten Articles (1536, added to on several occasions and later became the “39 Articles”); The Smalcald Articles (1537); The Book of Common Prayer (1549); The 39 Articles (1571, incorporated in the Book of Common Prayer); The Book of Concord (1580, Jakob Andreae and Martin Chemnitz selected and compiled various works of Martin Luther after his death); and The Westminster Confession of Faith (1646). Like most books written in theology, dogmas and doctrine, each document has been revised numerous times, yet the bulk of these documents remain as originally written several hundred years ago. While there is nothing wrong with the idea of amplifying and offering explanation of Scripture, the issue is that many of the things clarified in these documents contradict each other. Since there can only be one truth, one or more of these documents must be incorrect. This issue is not unique to the Reformation era, but has been a problem since the beginning of Christianity. This is why knowing the Bible, the only source of truth, is critical.
Since the authors of these documents are long dead, when a theological problem or concern is discovered (in the last ten plus years technology has vastly improved Scriptural research, plus advancements in archaeology brings new insights), there are only a few, if any, that are willing to challenge or change what was written. When these theologians were alive lively debates between fellow theologians were common. But now, in most cases, after several hundred years, what has been written remains unchanged.
When a theology is applied, that is putting into motion activities and procedures by those that profess a set of beliefs, then protocols and rituals are developed and put into practice. Soon they become traditions and even though created with the best of intentions, the protocols and rituals take on a life of their own. People become more concerned over proper compliance or procedure than the theological reason they came into being. Soon the church that practices these protocols and rituals becomes like a highly tuned and precise machine, doing the same thing over and over. Every participant focused only on keeping the machine going. But where is God? Well, He’s got to be in the machine somewhere, right? Can the Holy Spirit use a church like that? If a church is not equipping its people for evangelism then the machine is likely not serving God. A church needs to follow God, which means they need to be willing and able to set aside any ‘machine’ and follow wherever God guides. But turning off the machine is often too much to ask of a church, therefore it continues on being ineffective. At some point God will leave that church, and sadly most won’t even notice.
It is interesting to note that many of the same churches that are unable or unwilling to change for theological reasons are willing to revise their beliefs for political reasons. One of the devil’s favorite weapons against God and the church is political correctiveness. Many churches and denominations have succumbed to the pressure and have ‘updated’ many theological points. Although most, if not all, are based on secular thinking not Biblical. Comprises ranging from the acceptance of “theistic evolution,” to a gender-neutral Bible.
Children learn from their parents just as Jesus noted how children will accept something to be true when told (see Matthew 18:3; 19:14; Mark 10:15; Luke 18:17). However, when they get older they become aware of hypocrisy and are able to note when behavior does not match what they were told earlier in life. Especially in the life of their own parents. This gap between something stated as being true and perceived action (or in this case lack of action) can widen to the point the child finds Christians to be disingenuous and eventually leave the church.
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[1] Strong’s Greek 1537.
[2] Strong’s Greek 1519.