Have you ever felt a real sense of anxiety in our congregations? I think there are a few reasons for it and it is completely unnecessary.
First, going back to my previous post, we have created a bar that must be jumped over but the bar is theoretical. It is the bar of the Established 33 AD first century church. We are supposed to be like them but they weren’t like them. None of them had perfect doctrine (all the letters are written to correct doctrinal problems), all of them had sin problems, and yet Paul still addressed them as the Lord’s church (see his the opening verses of his letters). That tells me that perfect understanding and perfect imitation of that standard isn’t what defines God’s people. Jesus defines his own people. So anxiety comes from trying to attain a standard that is theoretical, not practical. The early church wasn’t as flat as we describe it. It had more variety than we appreciate.
If you set a standard for yourself that is in theory concrete but in practice nebulous and poorly defined then you have a recipe for anxiety. When we did that new thing last week in worship, was that like the early church? Probably not. Are we going to hell for it? Maybe so. Well we better not do anything new then, we better keep things like they were in the 1950s…er 50s. Then we will be safe because we know churches back then were sound and so if we stick to our roots from 60 years ago we are on solid ground because they were trying to be the first century church. Now we have another layer of complexity! We are imitating a generation we venerate for their zealous attempts at attaining the early church pattern. Guess what? The church in the 1950s didn’t get it right either! They goofed in some big areas but as long as we hold to their traditions and doctrine we can be sure we are sound.
Second, we are poorly differentiated from other Christian groups. Differentiation has to do with telling yourself apart from someone else. On one hand we seem extremely differentiated. We have done a lot of talking and writing on exactly why we are different from everyone else. But I think at times neurotically so…uncomfortably so…done so in a way that displays a lot of anxiety and hypersensitivity. That tells me we are poorly differentiated. If one must perpetually teach and demonstrate their differences from other people they aren’t secure in themselves. We have tremendous insecurity! And so we have a high level of congregational anxiety.
Third is autonomy that isn’t autonomous. We fear what other congregations think about us. We fear what they say about us. We fear what they will write about us. We worry they will tarnish our reputation and we won’t be considered “sound” by the right groups or people. It’s the wrong competition. We aren’t here to please people. We are here to please the Lord. This leads to more anxiety in our fellowship.
Fourth is an “everything you get wrong will send you to hell” mentality. If you want to be anxious make everything a heaven/hell issue. There are no higher stakes in life than that. You are lost if you are wrong on Instrumental music. You are lost if you celebrate Christmas. You are lost if you believe the wrong thing on divorce. You are lost if you [fill in the blank]. The problem is I don’t see any of that taught in the Bible itself. Here is the key – we have a view that God’s grace can forgive someone of moral failings but not doctrinal failings (things done in the body but not in the mind). That is not the Gospel of the Bible! In fact, it is quite the opposite. If you go to the “won’t enter heaven if you do these things” lists in the New Testament they are always about behaviors and not doctrinal opinions. Here is the other key – Doctrinal error is to be corrected. Sin is to be forgiven. There is a difference. This makes us tremendously anxious because there are hundreds of issues one can have an opinion on and we have elevated them all to as big of an issue as the divinity of Christ and so you can go to hell for having the wrong opinion on a long list of things.
All of these things are wrapped up in one other item that I won’t go into right now and that is how we read the Bible (hermeneutics) and CENI – Command, Example and Necessary Inference.
There are more factors that could be listed but I think these are the four big ones. What other issues might be included? I will talk about some paradigm shifts that help address this in the next post.
9 Responses
Other sources include:
1) discussions because the leader might not recite the official opinion. This could get the preacher fired or mean that the deacon doesn’t make elder, depending on who led the discussion.
2) social media because few have learned how to use it wisely and fewer know how to answer questions and offer a respectable, well-thought answer, and not simply recite the official opinion.
3) young people because they get information from multiple sources and mesh it all together and are likely not conservative and more accepting of people who may be different.
4) annual congregational meetings perhaps because ordinary congregants might question the leadership. I have never saw a cofC have one so there obviously is a fear of something.
One thing that causes a lot of anxiety is equating what is wrong with being sinful, but that isn’t the case. There are many things we believe that are wrong, but are not sinful. Sinful is not just believing in something as one way or another, but going against God.
We try as you note to make what others do as wrong as sinful.
We believe in what will happen when we die one way, so those that believe another way must be wrong and sinning. But in reality none of us know 100% what will happen to us when we die. There are many things we believe that are just that our belief and may not be reality.
Autonomy is a belief that has no real basis in the scriptures. Man is not autonomous as we bow to and are ruled by God. We might have free will, but our will must be in line with God’s will.
Now any time any one forces us to do their will against God’s will or creates law for another, they are sinning, whether it be one person or one group over one person or another group. Think Pharisees.
But if that group or one person seeks to correct us towards God, then they are in the right and we should listen. Think apostles, but ironically it could also be the Pharisees.
Ultimately we should not seek autonomy, but humbleness and seek God.
Autonomy means self-rule, which implies not God-ruled.
You are correct in that CENI is at the heart of many of these anxieties. CENI seeks to impose law/laws, many that are decided by man, but Christians aren’t supposed to be ruled by law, but by love, by compassion, by grace, by mercy, by righteousness, by faith, walking in the Spirit and doing good and through these things we fulfill the law. If we are doing just the ;limitations of the law towards God, then we are doing to little towards God, because He wants all of us at all times in all ways.
The smallest tort will get one condemned to hell as it has been elevated by the cofC authorities to the level of mortal sin.
An example of how even thinking could be used against you follows: if you thought that someone would not go to hell for using IM then you would go to hell for how you thought. This meant that an opinion never conveyed to anyone, not an action, resulted in hell.
Yes, there was a time not so long ago when what you thought about divorce/remarriage was condemning, whether you taught that or not, all you had to do was say what you were thinking opinion wise.
That thought still prevails in many places.
One thing that causes a lot of anxiety is equating what is wrong with being sinful, but that isn’t the case. There are many things we believe that are wrong, but are not sinful. Sinful is not just believing in something as one way or another, but going against God.
We try as you note to make what others do as wrong as sinful.
We believe in what will happen when we die one way, so those that believe another way must be wrong and sinning. But in reality none of us know 100% what will happen to us when we die. There are many things we believe that are just that our belief and may not be reality, but are not sinful in nature.
Autonomy is a belief that has no real basis in the scriptures. Man is not autonomous as we bow to and are ruled by God. We might have free will, but our will must be in line with God’s will.
Now any time anyone forces us to do their will against God’s will or creates law for another, they are sinning, whether it be one person or one group over one person or another group. Think Pharisees.
But if that group or one person seeks to correct us towards God, then they are in the right and we should listen. Think apostles, but ironically it could also be the Pharisees.
Ultimately we should not seek autonomy, but humbleness and seek God.
Autonomy means self-rule, which implies not God-ruled.
You are correct in that CENI is at the heart of many of these anxieties. CENI seeks to impose law/laws, many that are decided by man, but Christians aren’t supposed to be ruled by law, but by love, by compassion, by grace, by mercy, by righteousness, by faith, walking in the Spirit and doing good and through these things we fulfill the law. If we are doing just the limitations of the law towards God, then we are doing too little towards God, because He wants all of us at all times in all ways.
One thing that causes a lot of anxiety is equating what is wrong with being sinful, but that isn’t the case. There are many things we believe that are wrong, but are not sinful. Sinful is not just believing in something as one way or another, but going against God.
We try as you note to make what others do as wrong as sinful.
We believe in what will happen when we die one way, so those that believe another way must be wrong and sinning. But in reality none of us know 100% what will happen to us when we die. There are many things we believe that are just that our belief and may not be reality.
Autonomy is a belief that has no real basis in the scriptures. Man is not autonomous as we bow to and are ruled by God. We might have free will, but our will must be in line with God’s will.
Now any time anyone forces us to do their will against God’s will or creates law for another, they are sinning, whether it be one person or one group over one person or another group. Think Pharisees.
But if that group or one person seeks to correct us towards God, then they are in the right and we should listen. Think apostles, but ironically it could also be the Pharisees.
Ultimately we should not seek autonomy, but humbleness and seek God.
Autonomy means self-rule, which implies not God-ruled.
You are correct in that CENI is at the heart of many of these anxieties. CENI seeks to impose law/laws, many that are decided by man, but Christians aren’t supposed to be ruled by law, but by love, by compassion, by grace, by mercy, by righteousness, by faith, walking in the Spirit and doing good and through these things we fulfill the law. If we are doing just the limitations of the law towards God, then we are doing too little towards God, because He wants all of us at all times in all ways.
Sorry, I seem to be having problems on my end when posting.
Other “Christian” groups. The doctrine set forth in the scriptures determines what a Christian is. All of those supposed “Christian” groups will give varying answers as to how one even becomes a Christian and all of them are at odds with the Scriptures.