Truth and Freedom

I had written on this same topic briefly here. It's fairly truncated and I thought it would be helpful to write some further reflections. My hope is explain a little better how it is we find real freedom. I hope you find this helpful, and maybe even liberating.



Slavery...


If you've ever witnessed someone in your life spiral deep into an addiction you may have noticed there are certain stages along the way. The closer they get to the so-called "bottomless pit" the more they take on a different character. They become increasingly irritable, violent, irrational, seclusive, the list goes on. You may even say they become an entirely different person, which is what makes addictions so insidious and ugly.  But these are not just the result of physiological effects from popular hallucinogenic drugs, it's an instinctive reaction of human behaviour to protect something that has become very important to them.

Throughout the course of an addiction, the typical patterns goes somewhat like this: First you may find the original attraction to the addiction and you quickly become attached to it. At first if it is taken away, you may be annoyed, but you could at least move on from it easily enough. But the more important it becomes, the more you will do anything to keep it, even when it becomes less satisfying. When things get in your way (lack of money, friends trying to intervene) you begin to feel victimized, and you quickly start to blame others for your dependancy. At this point your character begins to take on a different form. You become irritable if you don't have "it", whatever it may be. Eventually, however, there is nothing else in life than your all-consuming desire to have whatever it is you think you need. You have become, in effect, a slave.

This is exactly the effect of sin that C.S. Lewis uses to describe Hell in his book The Great Divorce. I quoted the following a couple months back during the Rob Bell controversy...

"Hell begins with a grumbling mood, always complaining, always blaming others... but you are still distinct from it. You may even criticize it in yourself and wish you could stop it. But there may come a day when you can no longer. Then there will be no you left to criticize the mood or even to enjoy it, but just the grumble itself, going on forever like a machine... "(The Great Divorce)

But there is a difference between sin and addictions. Addicts can reach a bottomless pit at which point they have either succumb to it and die, or have a moment of clarity in their despair and through grace are able to recover from it. Sin, on the other hand, in a truly eternal sense, has no bottomless pit. It will never end but continue on forever unless, as C.S. Lewis would say, it "is nipped in the bud."

Perhaps there's no greater modern illustration of this than the depictions of Gollum in The Lord of the Rings. He was once Smeagol, a regular, happy, hobbit-like character who was overcome by the lure of the ring and even murdered his friend to acquire it. The ring consumed him, changed him, and became the master over him. Unlike the addicts of real life, however, Smeagol would physically transformed into the creature known as Gollum. The figurative Gollum clearly paints the ugliness of the all-consuming slavery of sin, but it also points to the inevitable dangers of misbelief and heresy.

But these addictions come in far greater form than what we're normally used to hearing such as drugs, alcohol, money, etc. They can be perfectly good things that are turned into ultimate things that, as Tim Keller would put it, become our functional Saviour. That is to say, raising good children, being successful at work, or having the perfect marriage, can all become our idols. We can all aspire to make sure to raise Christ-like and well disciplined children, and perform our work well, and be have good marriages through being good husbands and wives. There's nothing wrong with that. But when we turn these good things into the ultimate things, we displace the work of Christ as Saviour. In our drive to fulfill these goals we become overbearing to our children, we are far too driven in our work to the detriment of relationships, and when the inevitable rough patch occurs in our marriages our lives become completely disillusioned. We become slaves to these ideals, these idols of perfection, which will eventually fail in one way or another, and lead to destruction.

Truth, on the other hand, is freedom.

Freedom...


What the Bible describes as Truth, and what the general historical Christian consensus now labels as orthodoxy, is often viewed as being far too constraining and narrow-minded. But why should we expect it to be any different? Even if the Truth is constraining and narrow-minded that doesn't make it any less liberating. And it has certainly not been held captive by the hands of mere mortals who wish to box it up by their own whims. On the contrary, we can rejoice in the fact that God has been gracious enough to condescend to us that we may know the truth in the first place.

Our problem with Truth isn't so much that it's too constraining and narrow. It's just that, like Gollum, we've been far too consumed with the ring. Because of our stubborn belief in only half-truth we don't want the truth as revealed in Scripture, and because of our highly-esteemed but misguided intellect when the Truth does confront us it doesn't fit what we imagine it ought to be. We want something that affirms what we already believe, we don't want to be told different, even if what we believe invariably leads to destruction.

But the most difficult thing about Truth is to honestly accept it, because this goes against every ounce of our sinful beings. We would not, except by the grace of God, want anything to do with something that completely turns our life around. But when it happens, only then do we truly see the error of our ways and the glorious riches of God's abounding love and mercy.

I suspect for most of us who affirm and believe in Christ that the feeling of continual liberation through the knowledge and study of Scripture is a slow and often messy process. Such is the process of Sanctification. It's not very often that there is a complete turn around someone makes in repentance. But when it does happen it's always from God revealing himself in extraordinary ways. The example of Isaiah 6 comes to mind. Isaiah, having seen visions of God, cries out, "Woe to me!... I am ruined! For I am a man on unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty." (Isaiah 6:5)

There are two important things that happen when we're confronted by the Truth. First, as Isaiah demonstrates, we finally see ourselves for who we really are. We realize, in the words of Isaiah, that "we are ruined." We are lost on our own, sold as slaves the the cravings of our sinful nature. And Second, that God is a just but merciful Father. As the story in Isaiah unfolds, his lips are touched by the hot coals, cauterizing them to cleanse them, and his sins are atoned for. Only then is he set free.

Or as Paul says in Romans 6:19ff
Just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
For when you were slaves to sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 


Of all the greatest theologians and pastors through the ages, one common thread remains in them all, and that can be summed up in the words of John Newton, who said, "I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am." Those who've had the most clear view of themselves had the most clear view of God himself, and therefore had the most urgency in imparting a strict and narrow but wonderful and liberating Truth.

When God created men and women he created us with a nature that worships. At any given moment we are always worshipping something. The object of our worship ultimately dictates our attitudes, behaviours, desires, etc. Before Adam and Eve sinned, they were free. They enjoyed everything in creation, each other, and enjoyed communion with God. When the fall happened, all of that was broken, and suddenly their desires turned away. The object of our worship necessarily dictates our actions, attitudes, and our beliefs. We are, by nature, slaves to the object of our worship. If the object of our worship isn't the eternal God, we are doomed to destruction. Therefore, in order to be redeemed, we need an act of God to rescue us from this slavery.

And this is exactly what only Christ can, and has, accomplished for us. Praise be to God.

The End of the World?

For those of you who've seen the signs all over the place declaring the end of the world at the end of this week, here is a little background on how the whole fiasco started. This has been written up by a professor named W. Robert Godfrey at Westminster Seminary California. Here are the set of links to each writeup...

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

While doomsdayers like this aren't new, what astonishes me is the amount of influence he has with an entire radio network at his disposal. It's actually quite troubling and saddening. What's more is that many of his followers have bet everything on this, potentially devastating their entire life's savings and relationships on the world ending in just a couple days. And of course, when the world inevitably doesn't end and all their visions shatter before their eyes many, rather than seeing the error of their ways, will continue to blindly follow Harold Camping and say that the Bible must've been wrong.

Heresy vs. Freedom

Heresy happens, and it's deadly serious. But heresy doesn't crop up out of an intentional vendetta against the church or orthodox theology. Rather, it's often the well meaning attempts of misguided individuals to make Christianity more palatable to the culture at large. That's why heresy usually isn't so much a denial of established doctrine (it can be) but a twisting and bending thereof. It's often cloaked in the same Biblical language of orthodoxy, so it's not always so obvious either. But the consequences of heresy cripple the unity of the church and ultimately subvert the good news of the Gospel, and that's why it's so important, whether we like it or not.

Heresy is one of those words that doesn't get tossed about lightly. It never has. The term itself is so loaded with baggage that people seldom use it, particularly now. With the heightened sensitivities of our culture against anything with connotations to "Truth" its use has become equated with being judgemental, intolerant, and authoritarian. For many the act of criticism, let alone the charge of heresy, is tantamount to intolerant bigotry, and an intrusion on one's freedom.

The problem, first of all, is that truth and doctrinal matters have become far less important than good values. It doesn't matter so much what you believe so long as you're a nice person and tolerant of others. A tolerant society, the argument goes, is a free society. Defending liberty is about defending one's right to create their own truth and identity, unhindered by anyone else who might impose their worldviews on them. The essence of freedom, then, is to be free of any restrictions. 


But those values aren't neutral. They have their own pre-supposed worldview which end up imposing themselves on others who disagree with them. In other words, this form of tolerance is only tolerant of those who conform to its own set of "truths" and dogmas and is just as intolerant, if not more, toward those who choose not to.

Judging something as heretical doesn't just break the rules of these values, they use an entirely different set of presuppositions. For one it implies you have epistemologically achieved some level of absolute truth. For the postmodern, truth is highly subjective, so the idea of heresy is non-sequitur. In the end, no one is the wiser. But to claim absolute truth puts you in a position of authority, and to charge heresy is nothing more than the wielding of power, subverting one's freedom to live as they choose.

The Christian's concern for truth, however, isn't just the will to power, or about being right and pointing out why everyone else is wrong, (which is wrongheaded by itself) but about reasons of much deeper importance and urgency. Among those is a very different concept of freedom than the postmodernists claim to enjoy. For the Christian freedom does not exist from the absence of dogmatic restrictions, rather it is conforming to the right restrictions.

Scientia Potentia Est is a famous latin phrase that roughly translates "Knowledge is Power." The phrase is typically attributed to Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626),  but back then it viewed knowledge as being able empower individuals to greater levels of progress. Indeed, even Proverbs 24:5 similarly lauds knowledge when it says, "A wise man is full of strength, and a man of knowledge enhances his might." Gaining knowledge should never be an end in itself. Such ambitions typically result in the sort of authoritarian power plays the postmodernists are concerned with. But gaining knowledge is part of Christian discipleship. Submitting to the apostle's teaching, holding fast to the faith once and for all delivered, keeping a sober mind and not being blown about by every wind of doctrine, the emphasis on discipleship through learning and understanding is a steady stream throughout the entire Bible. One simply cannot avoid the conclusion that the Bible is incredibly serious about knowledge and wisdom.

And it's only through understanding of the knowledge of God that we can come to a better and more clear knowledge of ourselves. Both Proverbs 1:7 and Psalm 111:10 say, "The Fear of the Lord is the beginning wisdom" (or knowledge). We've all come to know narcissistic people in our lives. They praise themselves and demand the appreciation and respect of others. It's clear from observers they are very delusional people. But the same is true of us if we first don't understand God rightly. We are lost in our own self-deceit, out of our mind, and entirely delusional. We are like slaves.

Freedom, then, is not achieved through the absence of restricting dogmas. Nor is it found in a declaration of independence against the establishment of orthodox Christianity. Led to our own devices we are lost. Rather, true freedom comes through a clear knowledge and submission to the truth which God has given us in his word. As Os Guinness would say, "Knowledge is Power, but Truth is Freedom."

...So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:31)

On Heresy and Alister McGrath

I'm a big fan of the work of Alister McGrath. He's an author, speaker, debater, former-atheist-turned-Christian-theologian and now serves as the Chair of Theology, Ministry and Education in the Department of Education and Professional Studies at Kings College,  London. He's one of those prolific writers whom I have no idea how they manage write so much. I'm happy he does because I've come to learn quite a bit from him. My most recent interest is a book he wrote, released in 2009 called "Heresy: A History of Defending the Faith." Unfortunately I haven't been able to read yet but I have come across a quote that echoes my own feelings in a way far better than I could possibly articulate myself, and I would very much like to share it...


Yet perhaps the ultimate appeal of heresy in our times lies in its challenge to authority. Religious orthodoxy is equated with claims to absolute authority, which are to be resisted and subverted in the name of freedom. Heresy is thus to be seen as the subversion of authoritarianism, offering liberation to its followers. It is virtually impossible to take this account seriously from a historical perspective, especially as some heresies were at least as authoritarian as their orthodox rivals. The belief that heresy is intellectually and morally liberating tells us far more about today's cultural climate in the West than about the realities of the first centuries of Christian existence. Yet, as any account of the cultural reception of ideas concedes, the present-day relevance of any ancient idea has at least as much to do with what contemporary human beings are looking for as with what ancient ideas have to offer. The significance of heresy is thus not inherent within the heresy itself, but is rather constructed within the relationship between the original heresy and its contemporary interpreter. Alister McGrath, "Heresy: A History of Defending the Faith"


I'll be posting on the same topic soon...