To Know God in the 21st Century

Canada

Dedication

To Janice, my wife, friend, faith and life partner; my sons and pride Daniel, David and Joel; my daughter-in-law Karen and grand-daughters Skylar, Paris, and McKenzie.

Dedicated to my esteemed peers, mentors, fathers and mothers in faith and inspiring people of strong Christian character, some who have gone ahead to be with the Lord. Reverend Graham and Shirley Spears; Pastor Ken Reynolds (deceased); teachers Ike and Tina Dyck; J.T. and Lynne Watchman; Reverend Doctor Ray Cornish and Bishop Walter Doruschuk; women of Faith- Aime Clemons (deceased) and Lorraine Still

Washington Avenue Fellowship 1985-2000

The People of Gull Lake Mission 2005-2008

School of Bible Theology Seminary and University

Dedication

Foreword

Introduction

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Epilogue

Appendix One

Appendix Two

Endnotes

Works Cited

foreword

The imagery and symbolism of marriage is applied to Christ and the body of believers, known as the church. In the New Testament, Christ, the Bridegroom, has sacrificially and lovingly chosen the church to be His bride (Ephesians 5:25–27). Similar to the betrothal period in biblical times, during which the bride and groom were separated until the wedding, so is the bride of Christ separate from her bridegroom during the present church age. Her responsibility during the betrothal period is to remain faithful (2 Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:24; Hebrews 11:6). At the second coming of Christ, the church will be united with the bridegroom, the official wedding ceremony will take place, and the consummation (eternal union—complete and perfected) of Christ and His bride will be actualized (Revelation 19:7–9; 21:1–2).1

To consummate speaks to a mutual, voluntary surrender of self, exhibited by trust, commitment and obedience to personal vows. This usually is expressed in the context of a loving, personal relationship marked by close association, detailed knowledge, and deep understanding. Through this, the bride and the bridegroom become one. There is an anticipated fulfillment or completion in each other that commences at this time. To remain celibate in the intended context involves much more than a lack of intimacy. By extension, it means to figuratively live unmarried. It is more intentional than abstinence, and its goal is marked by individualism, personal knowledge, and self-empowerment. The other party in such a union may be a means to an end. Consummation speaks to knowing the betrothed, while celibacy speaks only to knowing of the betrothed. In our relationship with God, do we know God, or only know of God?

Reformation arises from a heart surrendered to God, as evidenced by action and a change from awareness to existence, from knowing of God to knowing God! It is always a struggle marked by suffering, for reformation is not temporary or superficial, but life changing. Reformation encourages a critical spirit, an open mind, and a passionate expression to better oneself, one’s church, and one’s community. It is a correction of error, abuse, and excess and an effort to restore the belief and ethic that was kindled with the first love. Perhaps reformation will also prepare a people to teach and mentor new disciples, should God choose to move sovereignly by grace over unbelievers through a spirit of revival. It is important to remember that every Christian has a definite God-given vision, and that committed Christians wish to make the whole world like that vision; therefore, progress should mean that we are always changing the world to suit the vision. Reformation starts with a simple question, If Christ came today, would I be found faithful? As a bride prepares for the bridegroom, will I be ready to consummate what has been promised? Do I know God?

introduction

Historical eras in Western societies can be divided into three key periods I call the pre-Christian, Christian, and Post-Christian eras. During each era, individual writers captured, recorded, observed, and interpreted humanity’s passions and interests, providing us with clear and reliable first-hand accounts of the historical events of Western society in these years.

Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Those who do not remember their past are condemned to repeat their mistakes. Those who do not read history are doomed to repeat it. Those who fail to learn from the mistakes of their predecessors are destined to repeat them. Those who do not know history’s mistakes are doomed to repeat them. 2

Early Western historical writing (pre-Christian), circa 500 BC, often spoke of God (or the gods) and their power to influence life and tragedies. The second era, about the time of the birth and life of Jesus Christ (Christian), saw (non-Christian) Roman historians focus less on gods and more on man and human actions and causes—or intentions and consequences. This second era witnessed the decline and fall of the Roman Empire and the entrance of the Dark Ages. It continued until the Reformation and Enlightenment, which contributed to the rise of humanism in the Post-Christian, or third, era, around 1800. The historical verification of the evolving Christian and philosophical landscape is important for giving substance and evidence to understanding.

During the Christian era there was a 300 to 400 year time frame that I call the Ante-Nicene Period, which followed the Apostolic Age of the first century and continued to the First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD. In the intended context of this book, Ante-Nicene will loosely refer to the first four hundred years after the resurrection of Christ. This portion of Christian history is important, as it had a significant impact on the unity of doctrine (historical and biblical) across all Christendom, and the evangelization, or spreading of the Christian gospel, to a greater area of the world. This could only be the work of the Holy Spirit among imperfect men and women, called to faith and seeking God’s highest, in spite of their frailties. Those seen as prominent figures of this era, referred to as the Ante-Nicene Fathers, generally found agreement on most doctrine contributing to the approved books, or canons, of Holy Scripture. Conversely, many of the teachings of other early Christian writers that the general majority of believers considered to be heretical were rejected. The Ante-Nicene Spirit that led such imperfect yet discerning seekers now calls to men and women of the twenty-first century.

It is my personal belief that the Christian church, whether Protestant or Catholic, liberal or conservative, growing or static, is comprised of imperfect and frail people whose beliefs are influenced primarily by one of two spiritual dimensions, not unlike the days of the Ante-Nicene. One dimension is anthropocentric, meaning man-centred. The second dimension is Christocentric, or Christ-centred. The focus of the first dimension is the human, or natural, situation. For the purposes of this book, anthropocentric is what I describe as lower thought.

In philosophy, lower thought generally refers to the arts and sciences. In the intended context, it also describes the worldly, base, and carnal considerations of mankind, such as one might find in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Maslow’s theory is evidenced by five levels of human needs: self-actualization involves morality, creativity, spontaneity, problem solving, the lack of prejudice, and the acceptance of facts; esteem includes self-esteem, confidence, achievement, and respect of and by others; love- belonging involves friendship, family, and intimacy; safety involves security of body, employment, resources, health and property; and physiological involves breathing, food, water, sex, sleep, and excretion.3

The second dimension, which I term higher thought, is Christocentric in nature and includes, similar to philosophy, the study of reality, existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, beauty, and language. Unlike modern Western philosophy’s focus on the human situation, it also speaks of transcendence, hope, sin and salvation, healing and reconciliation, and other concepts that bring freedom to captives of the human condition.

The reader will note that lower thought deals with the human situation, while higher thought deals with the human condition. In modernity, we seldom talk about higher thought or the human condition, something that was prevalent for millennia until the rise of humanism, as described earlier.

A significant turn in historic thought occurred with the work of Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), a theologian and philosopher who postulated that though the will of man was fallen, the mind of man was not. This opened a door for man to function in part autonomously and in essence on par with God. Up to this time, grace was held as a higher form of thought, while nature was relegated to the lower realm. According to Aquinas, nature and grace did not involve a discontinuity between them; instead, he sought a unity, or a type of equality, between the creator and the created. Aquinas’ viewpoints became instrumental in the evolving humanism and naturalism movements, which were further influenced by the Renaissance and Reformation movements of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and which really came into vogue in the early nineteenth century.

In his book, Escape from Reason, Francis A. Schaeffer shares insights into the diminishment and loss of historical higher thought and the results of this on human thinking.

…one outcome was that man’s thinking was given equivalency to that of God as found in Holy Scripture. Later, it was determined that man was best suited to interpret scripture and apply meaning and interpretation that met his own design.4

Even in churches, the pulpits often strayed from the orthodox (right belief) and most salient doctrines, such as the trinity and salvation in Christ, to secondary matters like social activism. This led to dispute and division.

According to Schaeffer, many people in the modern church continue to use the Scriptures without content or context, because Christ is cut away from the Scriptures. If you were to ask who the Christ is and what propositional truths we have of His existence and life, few could answer according to historical, orthodox, or even creedal form. They could only give their best opinion based on their own flawed theology and creed. The Reformers leading the Protestant Reformation, however, followed the teaching of Christ himself by linking the revelation Christ gave of God to the revelation of the written Scriptures. This was consistent with the work of the Ante-Nicene Church. The Protestant Reformation challenged the church of the day, which the Reformers believed had lost its orthodoxy (right belief) and the most salient elements of faith, therefore losing its authority, including its moral authority. This continues to be a concern to many in today’s modern church. One of the results of mind autonomy, according to Schaeffer, is that if you do not have the view of the Scriptures that the Reformers had, you really have no content in the word Christ, and this lends to the modern drift in theology (our study and reasoning of God).

In twenty-first century Western society, more and more church-goers are adapting the postmodernist views that there are no absolute truths, but only truths relevant to each individual, often appealing more to perceptions, experience, or feelings than fact or evidence.

Over the last few centuries, the diminishment of the second dimension (human condition) through humanism and faulty theology, coupled with the evolving equality of man and nature with God, contributed to the modern spiritual vacuum, and serves as the primary source of perplexity in everyday Christian life. Where did mankind come from? What is our ultimate significance? Where are we going? As a Christian, do I know the answers to these questions? More importantly, do I believe them? Have I ever thought that whatever is true for you may not be true for me, or it may have been true once, but not now? Do I, as a believer in Christ, have a tendency to listen to science or secular philosophy that promotes truth as relative and therefore place biblical truth as second? Could this be contributing to my being perplexed?

Perplexity comes when … Christians lose perspective, such as with the loss of absolutes, or when truth has no object and source, or when truth is not true for time and space or for everyone, or when truth is not knowable or has no basis in first cause, or has no foundational logic, knowledge, or existence.

Perplexity comes when … Christians lose a sense of priority and neglect essential elements of the faith—authority, salvation, redemption—and instead elevate secondary elements, such as social action or prosperity, leaving the faithful without solid foundation and direction.

Perplexity comes when … man seeks to recreate God in man’s own image.

Perplexity comes when … the modern spirit elevates the thoughts of man and leaves room for only small thoughts of God.

Perplexity comes when … Christianity is viewed as a way of life focused on subjective feeling and moral action, rather than a religion of revelation, propositional, objective truth, and moral absolutes.

Perplexity comes when … thoughts of death, eternity, judgment, sin, and the second coming of Christ become so filtered that modern man, with a modern spirit, faces no accountability other than to love mankind.

Perplexity comes when … the human situation trumps the human condition—when man’s environment is more relevant than salvation and the condition of his heart before God and other men.

In current scholarly trends, Jesus emerges as ever more Jewish, and ever more human—a teacher, a rabbi, a claimant to Israel’s ancient throne—who was transformed by Paul, a preacher of genius, in cultures far from his Jewish roots, into the divine Saviour of mankind. But crucial as these claims are for Orthodox Christians and for scholars and writers involved, they are increasingly irrelevant for progressive Christians. They long ago lost their stake in the divine Christ, and their interest in which of the evolving paradigms best captures the historical Christ is fading.5

Perplexity in the church comes when truth, doctrine, and morality become arbitrary and specious.

The following chapters will explore the origins, evidence, and outcomes of the perplexities impacting the Christian’s search for love, social relevance, salvation, and God. They will point to the need for a higher authority and source of truth in order to gain perspective on one’s current spiritual status and life choices. They will challenge Christians to acknowledge if their faith is based on their knowledge of God, or if they truly know God!

This book will also explore the most salient elements of the Christian faith—the highest common denominators that are essential for salvation and have served to identify the uniqueness of the faith and to unify believers since the first disciples. These primary elements established the church’s priorities and identity. The worship of God is both by faith and reasoning. The faithful must correctly believe in God, and the faithful must be able to defend their beliefs to unbelievers. For too long, the position of faith and reasoning has been polarized. My position is that faith follows revelation, and reasoning follows faith.

Finally, the book will look at the evolving twenty-first century reformation movement itself that is changing the Christian landscape even today, and what may well be experienced in the days ahead, to provide a greater understanding of why as Christians we pursue God.

By examining our Christian faith and discerning the issues, we can make better informed decisions. Christianity lives with a precipitous fracture dissecting along Christocentric and anthropocentric fault lines. An honest introspection could well reveal that many of our own Christian thoughts and behaviours demonstrate a foot on both sides of this precipice. As they gain perspective, Christians must decide if change is indicated, for Christians must answer to God individually for the choices of life. Examining our choices and thought processes can reveal how close our steps and hearts are to God. Christianity is experiencing fracture and transformation. Will the ancient-future narrative be re-written or completed by this generation? Will the bride of Christ (the church) be ready to consummate the marriage, or choose celibacy?

This may sound rather simplistic, but I am not writing for academia. I write for the everyday men and women who struggle while seeking to understand not only their plights in life, but why the church is so divided and less definitive on what it believes about sin and salvation, resulting in the loss of its ability to instill belief.

So why write a book challenging the status quo of modern Christian thought? Christocentric Christianity holds fast to the belief that Jesus Christ is the centre of God’s plan for mankind. Anthropocentric Christianity, on the other hand, can be described as a pseudo-Christian, man-centred belief system so influenced by principles of secular and humanistic philosophies and science (knowingly or unknowingly) that they are at times adhered to as if they were equal to those of historical, orthodox Christianity. Both Christocentric and anthropocentric Christianity can be reflections of Christian thought, but they differ in the substance (source and existence). Only by challenging the foundations of authority, truth, and knowledge, can one identify God or man as their source and existence.

Once Christians determine which Christian worldview and source of inspiration is dominant in their life, they will of necessity be challenged to engage in the twenty-first century reformation. My thesis further postulates that any Christocentric reformation decision will be challenged towards a return to the spirit of passion, purity, presence, and purpose, such as exemplified by the Ante-Nicene Christians, as current Christian organizational models fall short in the new evolving world society. Those who choose to stay the course of anthropocentric Christianity will learn how it is failing and that there is a need to create a new vision and message. Anthropocentrists will have to rewrite the ancient-future narrative to meet the demands of spirituality seekers and to find concord with ever changing global societal expectations; in other words, the church will be led by the culture in which it is planted, and the petitioner will be led by self-serving creeds.

This book will undoubtedly present challenges to those pursuing a modern expression of the ancient-future wisdom. It will shatter the façade of contemporary pietism and compel the attention of both the mind and spirit. Each seeker will ultimately have to decide if Christianity is a philosophy, or an existence, as defined by the life changing resurrection of the incarnate Christ.

It will further provide evidence that the Christian church is reaching not just a spiritual, but also an intellectual reformation in what has been a largely anthropocentric (man-centred) movement that has ensued since the Protestant Reformation.

The dis-ease of Western Christianity in part lies in the influence of factors external to the church, including humanism (essentially the secular ideology that espouses reason, ethics, and justice, while specifically rejecting supernatural and religious ideas as a basis of morality and decision-making); naturalism (essentially a reality that is found in and by nature, containing nothing supernatural, and espousing that the scientific method should be used to investigate all areas of reality, including the human spirit); and scientism (essentially scientific methodology and the reduction of all knowledge to only that which is measurable). Many Christians subsequently see their faith through the eyes of the has-been, the archaic, or as a victim of a dominating force, compromised and constrained. On the other hand is the emergent and philosophical Christian community that embraces all of the above and accommodates their religion to be relevant.

While the factors are external, the problem is that where the culture goes, so goes the church. The reality is that the church eventually absorbs the external influence of the culture more than influencing culture by its teachings. This obviously is a reversal of its historical role. Individualism is a key example.

Autonomy and humanist philosophical movements were soon followed by individualism and the trend to emotional self-interest. Individualism, often believed to be meritorious, was highly promoted after World War Two. Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology and social outlooks that stress the moral worth of the individual. The American image of the rugged individualist building a new dream where everything is possible still has a romantic sway for politicians—and liquor and cigarette marketers—yet it is arguably self-serving and self-preserving in motivation, and less contributory to twenty-first century society that espouses interdependence within a more global society. It also departs from the historical Christian message of treating others as you would be treated.

Individualists promote the exercise of one’s goals and desires, and therefore value independence and self-reliance. It is epitomized by the me-generation and lends to selfies and other modern expressions of me: Individualists in general oppose external interference upon one’s own interests by society or institutions such as the government or Church. 6 Individualism makes the individual its focus and so starts ...with the fundamental premise that the human individual is of primary importance in the struggle for liberation. 7

From the seventeenth century on, the term individual connoted separateness, as in individualism. An individualist enters into society to further his or her own interests, or at least demands the right to serve his or her own interests, without obligation of taking the interests of society into consideration. The individualist does not lend credence to any philosophy that requires the sacrifice of the self interest of the individual for any higher social causes. Of course, this speaks to even the authority of God! Herein lies the enigma, as many Christians, knowingly or unknowingly, in practicality are also individualists. Today’s new global society demands pluralism (a diversity of views that stand in opposition to one single approach or method of interpretation). The demand for this diversity, unity, and concord is antithetical to humanist individualism, for how do principles of individualism, pluralism, and unity find convergence?

Existentialism, when serving as an extension of individualism, generally holds that the focus of philosophical thought should be "… to deal with the conditions of existence of the individual person and his or her emotions, actions, responsibilities, and thoughts … [the] individual solely has the responsibilities of giving one’s own life meaning and living that life passionately and sincerely." 8

The human situation, emotions, and thoughts are the source of individualist meaning, "…in spite of many existential obstacles and distractions including despair, angst, absurdity, alienation, and boredom." 9 This results in an emotional self-interest that increasingly is displayed by those who consider themselves victims of the present day machine in which they believed they would find solace, freedom, purpose, and reward, but are often left with a sense of deception, compromise, or even a sense of being obsolete.

Emotional self-interest has been defined by Nayef Al-Rodhan as being driven by neurochemically-mediated emotions. As he suggests in his general theory of human nature:

"Human behavior is primarily governed by self-interest. Humans first seek to ensure survival, and then they seek to dominate." 10 These facets of human nature, according to Nayef Al-Rodhan, are a product of genetically coded survival instincts modified by the totality of our environment. Accordingly, once humans’ basic needs have been filled, they may employ measured self-interest. In some instances, this may result in positive consequences, like greater cooperation between individuals and societies; however, Al-Rodhan cautions that excessive general self-interest may lead to deception, criminality, and conflict. Based on his understanding of human nature, Al-Rodhan suggests introducing mechanisms that will check unregulated, general self-interest.

Individualists are chiefly concerned with protecting individual autonomy against obligations imposed by social institutions, such as the state or religious morality. This may be a contributor to the exit from institutionalized churches. This could also be one reason why so many industry leaders, politicians, sports leaders, and people of influence seemingly ignore any sense of professionalism or respective code of ethics, as if somehow above accountability. This also lends credence to how even health professionals, who know their duty and responsibilities, can still leave their patients experiencing indignities.

Ethical egoism is the normative ethical position that moral agents ought to do what is in their own self-interest … Ethical egoism contrasts with ethical altruism, which holds that moral agents have an obligation to help and serve others…Ethical egoism does not, however, require moral agents to harm the interests and well-being of others when making moral deliberation; e.g. what is in an agent’s self-interest may be incidentally detrimental, beneficial, or neutral in its effect on others. Individualism allows for others’ interest and well-being to be disregarded or not, as long as what is chosen is efficacious in satisfying the self-interest of the agent. Nor does ethical egoism necessarily entail that, in pursuing self-interest, one ought always to do what one wants to do; e.g. in the long term, the fulfillment of short-term desires may prove detrimental to the self. Fleeting pleasance, then, takes a back seat to protracted eudemonia.11

In the words of James Rachels, Ethical egoism ... endorses selfishness, but it doesn’t endorse foolishness. 12

So how does individualism influence religion? Barry Kosmin and Seymour Lackman found that the vast majority of Americans identify with a religion.

The feeling is almost universal, yet it exists within a secular framework, an outer shell of secular values. For what we have witnessed in the latter part of the twentieth century is the growing secularization of a self-described religious people.13

Wade Clark Roof writes about the changes that have occurred over the past fifty years.

…the old spiritual style prior to the 1960s depended on homogeneity, upon assent to the details of a grand theological or philosophical system. But this all changed in the intervening years. Greater attention to spiritual quest, an expanded number of religious options, and a consumer culture have all contributed to multi-layered styles of belief and practice.14

Robert Bellah also weighs in on the subject:

…religious individualism is in many ways appropriate for our kind of society. It is no more going to go away than is secular individualism. Ours is a society that requires people to be strong and independent. 15

As a Canadian, I have often viewed Christianity as an inter-play of European and American influences. As a Christian by confession, I have contemplated how these cultural and societal influences on Christianity affect the church and my own belief. I would be remiss not to mention internal factors, such as competing voices over what constitutes doctrine, authority, truth, and Christian morality. Historically, this battle within the Christian church either strengthens or devastates the substance and character of the church.

What is really happening in Christianity, in particular Western Christianity, at this juncture in modernity? Reginald W. Bibby suggests it is transforming, not dying, and the new is not necessarily like the old.

It’s a new day for religion in Canada. What most of us thought was happening isn’t happening. Religion is not going away. Many observers have focused their attention on the decline of a few of the previously prominent groups, and assumed their plight is the plight of religion as a whole. They’ve been wrong. The ongoing market for things religious has meant that other players have been given the opportunity to increase their market shares. Some have been stepping forward…. What’s more, with accelerated immigration, the global vitality of religion is having and will continue to have a dramatic impact on the state of religion in Canada ... The immediate big winners? Roman Catholics, Evangelicals, and Muslims. At the same time, the country as a whole is hardly embracing religion. There has been a significant increase in the number of people who are rejecting religion, as well as a rise in the proportion who constitute something of an ambivalent middle. 16

The viewpoint of Bibby, a respected Canadian sociologist, suggests a type of commercialization of Christianity in the last fifty years or so in Western society. Religion has seemingly become a marketplace for personal consolation and socially sensitive expressions of salvation. Churches and religious organizations, like non-profit relief organizations, compete for a finite amount of dollars, and showcase their wares to appeal to and seek commitment from a dwindling number of contributors. In return, adherents can select what type of Christianity best fits. A second point Bibby makes is