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Friday, May 19, 2006
The Almost Christian
I once asked a leader of a megachurch in Singapore, Do you know
the fundamentals of the Christian faith?
He replied emphatically, Christianity is all about Christ. I know
Jesus, and thats enough for me. Its love that matters. Dont talk
to me about doctrine. Talk to me about Christ, and Christ
alone.
This megachurch leader reminded me of a worship service I attended
more than a decade ago. That worship began with a blaring cacophony
rivalled only by the most jarring rock band in Asia. As the
drumbeat builds up to a crescendo, the worshippers trembled
violently as if a thousand volts were passing through their bodies.
Some jumped and gyrated like cobras enchanted by the tune of the
pipe. Hands were waving wildly like willows in the wind; faces were
flushed as in an apoplectic rage.
Suddenly, the worship leader muttered an incantation, God loves
you! Show Him that you love Him too! The mesmerized audience
responded with twitching eyelids and flipping, dishevelled hair.
This was accompanied by the ear-piercing shrieks of unintelligible
sounds and babbles thought to be the manifestation of the Spirit.
The sequence of worship was repeated for 2 whole hours in different
rhythms: samba, rumba, slow rock and bossa nova. Even a short rap
session performed by a group of teenagers was squeezed between
songs.
Noticeably, the audience were entranced. But most of all, the
worshippers felt worshipful. Amidst the drumbeats, the waving hands
and the nodding heads, the worshippers could feel an ambience of
love, as though God loved them - acne, warts, and all.
The lights were dimmed. A man in suit started a sermonette on the
topic of love. His theology is uncomplicated, and could possibly
be summarized in three words: God is love. He preached that
Christians ought to love indiscriminately. Even the God he
described was an adorable, sensitive, and a very nice guy. Not
very much like Jehovah of the Old Testament, he says. God is
concerned with salvation, not revenge! God is love, my friends.
So how can a loving God send anyone to hell? Jesus loves you, no
matter what you do. I saw tears flowing down the cheeks of those
in the auditorium. But if God really loves man no matter what man
does, He is not the God of the Bible, isnt He?
The preacher went on to give his treatise on Christology. Once
again, his doctrine of Christ is relatively straightforward. It can
be summarized in a sentence: Jesus loves you. And you refers to
whosoever is listening to his sermon. His Jesus is a sentimental
Jesus, an effeminate God-Man who tries very hard to woo sinners to
Himself. This Jesus probably had bushy eyebrows, thick lips and
epicene features. Most crucially, this Jesus loves everybody, and
knows nothing of hell. If there were really hell fire, this loving
Jesus would make an ice cube so huge even He cannot lift it. And
the rich man in hell wouldnt be asking Lazarus for a drink. There
will be a cocktail bar not too far down the street.
Jesus, according to him, is the greatest entrepreneur and Chief
Executive Officer (CEO). He is the CEO of the largest organization
on Earth the church. The pope and bishops are His trusted
henchmen. And tithing is the best investment shareholders can make
in this company. The most naturally thing to do of course, for
the successful deputy CEO is to urge all shareholders to empty
their pockets into the companys investments.
Unfortunately, the lovey-dovey CEO called Jesus is not the Jesus of
the Bible.
This is the Christ of an almost Christian, and the God of an
almost Christianity. The almost Christian believes in an almost
Jesus. But that almost Jesus does not save. Likewise, the almost
Jesus of Mormonism, Armstrongism, Jehovah Witness, Romanism and
Liberalism do not save.
The journey of faith must never be devoid of Truth. True faith is
based upon sound knowledge and doctrine. Sound doctrine is based
upon the Word of God, and genuine faith enables the Christian to
delight in sound doctrine. Bishop J.C. Ryle once commented, You
can talk about Christian experience all you wish, but without
doctrinal roots it is like cut flowers stuck in the ground - it
will wither and die.
My sister once worshipped in a mega-church in Singapore. But when
the theatrics no longer conjure up those sentimental feelings, the
mind is left with a chasm too wide for any stage histrionics to
bridge. Paul said, For I bear them record that they have a zeal of
God, but not according to knowledge (Romans 10:2). This lack of
knowledge was eventually filled with a mawkish, New Age positivism.
And Theism was replaced with her newfound New Age Pantheism.
Aidan W. Tozer warned, The unattended garden will soon be overrun
with weeds; the heart that fails to cultivate truth and root out
error will shortly be a theological wilderness.
My sister remains till this day a victim of a zeal of God which
is not according to knowledge and sound doctrine. She was an almost
Christian. But an almost Christian is tragically not a bona fide
Christian.
Many benighted souls like my sister may eventually join the ranks
of the almost Christians in church history, together with Balaam
the prophet, Jehu the king, and Judas the apostle. Sadly, the world
hates them, because they were almost Christians. And God hates
them, because they are but hypocrites and deceivers. Ultimately,
they deceive themselves unto eternal perdition.
I shall conclude with a sobering thought from B. H. Carroll:
A church with a little creed is a church with a little life. The
more divine doctrines a church can agree on, the greater its power,
and the wider its usefulness. The fewer its articles of faith, the
fewer its bonds of union and compactness.
The modern cry: 'Less creed and more liberty,' is a degeneration
from the vertebrate to the jellyfish, and means less unity and less
morality, and it means more heresy. Definitive truth does not
create heresy--it only exposes and corrects. Shut off the creed and
the Christian world would fill up with heresy unsuspected and
uncorrected, but none the less deadly.
Just so it is not good discipline that created backsliding and
other sins of Christians. But discipline is oftentimes the only
means of saving a church. To hold to discipline for immoralities
and relax it on doctrine puts the cart before the horse and
attempts to heal a stream while leaving the fountain impure. To
Christ and the apostles false creeds were the most deadly things,
and called most for the use of the knife. . . .
Again, I solemnly warn the reader against all who depreciate
creeds, or who would reduce them to a minimum of entrance
qualifications into the church. (An Interpretation of the English
Bible: Colossians, Ephesians, and Hebrews, pp. 140-41,
150)
