The Desperate Search for Meaningful Manifestations of Faith

A few days ago I mentioned the American Girls boycott which generated a little discussion here on TTL and a blog entry elsewhere. I’ve been thinking about this topic ever since and thought I would share a few random observations.

I mentioned in my comment earlier that we live in a bewildering time for Christians. There are so many voices both within the church and in our culture that tell us what we should and should not do. (Some in the church even use the Scripture to back up their views. What a novel idea!)

Compare this to times past when chances are a person was born in, attended and was laid to rest in the same church. If not the same church, chances were VERY good it was the same denomination. There was a structure and a consistency in the religious life. If you were born Presbyterian, you probably died Presbyterian. If you were born Methodist, you probably died Methodist.

Instead, today we have people changing denominations like people change their tires – rotate every 3000 miles. While all denominations that are of the orthodox Christian faith have something to offer to the body of Christ, I wonder if the constant seeking and changing of denominations is really in our best interest. Or it is possible that all of this “theological restlessness” is just something the enemy is using to work against the body of Christ? Does all of this “interchangable theology” make us more susceptible to error slowly working its way into our lives and the church in general?

If people can easily move from Baptist to Pentecostal to Methodist to Presbyterian to Vineyard to the next big thing to come down the pike, I have to question how much they have actually thought about, studied, and prayed through the theological implications of those changes. Those are pretty big theological shifts to make. If they are able to move so easily from one to the other, are they perhaps more at risk in falling for the next big thing that actually is heretical? Will they even recognize the heresy when they have become accustomed to switching theological systems whenever the wind blows in a different direction?

Sometimes I wonder if all of the books, magazines, Bible study materials, online discussion boards, blogs, splintered denominations, etc. are really in our best interest. It seems as though all of these good tools available for our benefit often end up confusing people and fracturing their faith. Rather than enhancing their faith and causing them to grow in Christ, they distract from the simple truths of the Scriptures and the leading of the Holy Spirit. Instead of pointing people to the simple faith of Christ, do they instead point people to the wise sayings of Mr. Current Darling of the Publishing World?

I think this bewilderment is part of why people flock to things such as boycotts, purpose-driven-everything, Jabez, WWJD, etc. Christians are DESPERATE for something to hang their faith on. They are not theologically grounded in the great truths of the Scriptures, so they are looking for something – anything – tangible that they can point to and say – this represents my faith. It is EASY to slap on a bracelet, read a book and go to a discussion group, or recite a prayer every day. Doing so (and knowing there are millions doing the same thing) makes people feel like their faith is “real” and “alive”. It may not bear any meaningful fruit, but at night they can lay down and know that they wore their WWJD bracelet all day and they were a “witness for Christ!”

This is in contrast to a simple faith lived by reading the Scriptures, repenting daily of sin, and asking for a fresh filling of the Holy Spirit so they can walk simply and by faith. Being filled with the Spirit so they can be used by God in real, fruit-bearing ways throughout the day rather than manufactured and artificial “fruit”. Isn’t a simple faith lived by the Spirit really the crux of the Christian faith? But how many Christians are lured into thinking that faith has to include much more?

I remember a woman I knew when I was a young adult telling me that her faith was a very simple one. She read the Scriptures, trusted the words in them, prayed, and walked by faith. I remember thinking even at that age – well, what about this? What about that? I’ve always been the analytical one, the one with a zillion questions. But I don’t think it wasn’t that she didn’t care about those things. It was more the fact that she wasn’t going to allow herself to become distracted by those things. She knew what was most important in her faith and she was going to walk in the peace and joy of her Savior, not in the what-ifs that were of secondary importance.

When it comes right down to it, the Christian faith IS simple. I’ve said before that the outworking of it is what becomes complicated, but I’m starting to wonder if that is true. Does the outworking of it necessarily need to be complicated? Or do we MAKE it more complicated than it ever has to be simply because we ASSUME it has to be complicated?

I think another reason why these boycotts attract Christians is because the teachings of the church at large have become INCREDIBLY pragmatic. The rallying cry of the contemporary church today is “If it is to be, it is up to me!” Isn’t that what people believe? People believe that if they are going to change, they need to make it happen. If people are going to be saved, they have to be brought to church and saved through slick marketing and programs. If children are going to like church, they have to be entertained in media metroplexes attached to the church.

Add to the widespread pragmatism the new push for Open Theism (which is really just an old heresy repackaged), and it shouldn’t surprise anyone that boycotts become a key expression of people’s faith. Open Theism denies the sovereignty and omniscience of God. If God isn’t all-powerful and all-knowing, then WOW!!! We better get busy because everything depends on US!

And so, much of this thinking has made its way into the church over the past few decades. The practical outworking of it all is a man-centered, activity-oriented, pragmatic religion that produces very little real fruit. And there is something seriously wrong when people have the time and energy to organize and participate in boycotts, but they don’t have time to feed their own souls and nurture the faith of their spouse and/or children. The sad part is that in the frenzy to deny Starbucks of a few dollars profit, it has really profited the Christian nothing and may in fact have actually drawn them further from the Christ they think they are serving.