Chasms

 There is a great, big, unbridgeable chasm between faith and self-delusion. One is anchored in the Word, in the promises of God, and what He has for his children; the other is a set of beliefs contrary to the Bible, which men cling to with the Charlton Heston death grip and refuse to discuss honestly no matter what. Their opinion is everything and, in their minds, supersedes the Gospel because they are the most important people they know, and their interpretation is paramount. It’s not even the interpretation of a text half the time; it’s the outright creation of a doctrine out of whole cloth with no Biblical backing whatsoever.

Those chasms create new ones between brothers and sisters in Christ, and thankfully, they’re on opposite sides of the divide; otherwise, they’d be at each other’s throats. The best they can manage is to yell at each other over vast distances. In doing so, they get everyone’s attention, and once people start listening and understanding how petty the argument really is, any respect those doing the yelling may have engendered goes out the window.

That’s not to say there aren’t arguments worth having within the Church or disagreements worth hashing out, but the Bible has detailed instructions on how to approach those things, and it’s not on a stage with a megaphone and a contentious audience.

Before we start pointing out that there are others who agree with our theory or who have anecdotal evidence, let’s remember that Scientology is still a religion, and there are still fully grown men who believe they’ll get seventy-two virgins if they manage to die in some kind of way.

Unless the Word confirms your belief, it’s nothing more than self-delusion. There, I said it, a quick tug of the band-aid, and now we can take a look at the ouchie.

People say various things for various reasons. They claim everything from being spirited away by little green men to astrally projecting their aura into the cosmos and meeting all their seven hundred and thirty-three replicas from seven hundred thirty-three different universes, which, although not quite identical, are similar enough that their iteration is the same in everyone.

This is why when it comes to spiritual matters, anecdotal evidence, personal opinion, or feelings don’t cut it. It may sound callous, but I don’t care how you feel about something the Bible already has a position on. Your feelings don’t supersede the Word of God, nor do they hold any weight. Your feelings are irrelevant and will not move the needle one iota if the Scriptures have declared something contrary.

That’s the problem we’re having in the church today. Shepherds succumbed to the feelings of so many of their sheep because the wool was being sold at a premium that you have a hard time finding anything Biblical in the machinations that try to pass off as worshipful and godly. Just because you slap Christian in front of whatever it is you’re trying to sell doesn’t make it so.

We kept compromising the truth for the sake of views and clout, that by the time we took a minute to see where we stood, we realized there was no truth left we could barter or compromise away. Then it just became a race to the bottom of who could be more permissive, more inclusive, more embracing of the ever-darkening culture, all the while telling ourselves that God understood the need for compromise. Bills is bills, and what sort of testimony would it be to have the sanctuary foreclosed on?

The moment our concern was more for the size of our ministry, the size of our church, paying mortgages and having retirement accounts for the bishops and the elders rather than for the truth, our ruination was a foregone conclusion. The only unknown factor was the length of time it would take for it all to come to naught.

Why will Rahab be remembered, while many of the shepherds who turned out to be wolves will be forgotten as soon as they’re in the dirt? Because when it counted, Rahab wasn’t concerned about anything else but protecting the servants of God at any cost. She did not philosophize about her faith or try to explain that it was better to turn the men in and ingratiate herself to the king; she did the best she could and hid the spies on her roof.

Sometimes, we try to explain our cowardice and inaction with flowery words that mean nothing when we drill down and try to figure out what they imply. You dismissed what the word of God says about a thing today because you wanted to establish a foothold in the culture so that you may preach the word of God to a bigger audience tomorrow - got it. It sounds magnanimous, but it’s not. It’s cowardice personified because we both know you’ll never get around to preaching the word of God because the audience is never big enough for that particular hard turn, and you have powerful friends now that you wouldn’t dare upset or disappoint by doing something as controversial as preaching the truth.

James 2:26, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”

You’ve never seen a one-winged bird fly because it can’t. Clip the wing off of a bird, any bird, no matter how big or small, no matter how colorful or bland, and it will be landbound for the rest of its existence. In order for a bird to soar into the sky, it needs two functioning wings. Faith and works are likened to the wings of a bird. Both are necessary for proper flight. One without the other will leave a believer stunted and unable to ascend to the level of maturity they should.

Put two men of the same age, height, weight, and physical aptitude in two identical row boats; give one two oars and the other one. Who will win the race? Who will cross the pond? The man with one oar will likely spin in a circle. The one with two will get to his destination. 

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.