The James MacDonald White Paper: Church Historian John Immel Weighs In on MacDonald’s “Vertical Church”; Post 9 of 20
I was recently asked to read James MacDonald’s book The Vertical Church to address his criticisms of Aristotle. I’ve known for a while that Christianity was in trouble, that the seven-headed beast of Mystic Despotism was waking from its long slumber, that the haunting moan of Medieval European Religion was desperately trying to crawl out of its bloody grave. MacDonald’s book only confirms my expectation and helps me adjust the time clock for its resurrection.
It took fifteen hundred years for men to slay the Platonist/Augustinian beast that ruled the Dark Ages, to crush the ideas that founded despotism, to unseat the handmaiden of Tyranny—the Church—from her oppressive throne. It took a thousand years for men to grasp the basics of liberty, and then another five hundred years to put those ideas into practice.
The champions of liberty were heroes that gave the world a gift. But the children that they handed unspeakable riches to have failed to understand the gift they have been given. The children were handed a wealth they did not earn, so they have treated it as a given, as a perpetual motion machine without cause as they squander the effect. But liberty is not a given, and liberty’s enemy—the seven-headed beast—was not dead, merely wounded . . . and waiting. Waiting for the day when those of weak mind and weak will would once again abandon themselves to Mystic Despots in sheep’s clothing.
The result?
The heirs of liberty are now committing treason against the ideas that set them free. They are selling their souls to modern day mystics preaching the oldest of all worldly doctrines: man’s mind, man’s ego, man’s self, man’s existence is the source of the world’s ills. For a couple of decades, American Christianity has been walking in this direction. But as their ideas started finding more converts, gaining social acceptance, the pace is turning into a sprint toward destruction with men like James MacDonald leading the charge off the cliff of existential annihilation.
Does that sound overly dramatic? Stick around and see if you think so in a minute.
I got through a few chapters of The Vertical Church and knew that MacDonald’s book needs a rebuttal, but he is probably safe from any corporate critique. Christians have shown themselves incompetent in their ability to condemn anything coming out of the Neo-Calvinist movement roaring through American Christianity, seeking whomever it may devour. It is doubtful that “national leaders” will offer an appreciable evaluation, so MacDonald will continue to speak ex cathedra as he sets himself up to rule the church like Cardinal Richelieu.
As for moi taking up the challenge . . . well . . . frankly, I’m already in the middle of two major writing projects: books due out in late 2013 (Dead Alone, J. Lorin) and early 2014 (Dead to Rights, J. Lorin). Plus, I’m working on super-secret project to acquire two or three titles for publication, so time is a bit limited. Maybe I’ll put a formal rebuttal on my Spiritual Tyranny to-do list, or maybe I won’t.
But what I will do is comment on what I was asked to address: The Vertical Church vs. Aristotle.
MacDonald’s book is not unique, nor is it timely, nor is it really about anything “vertical.” Lots of preachers have written books addressing the failures of the Christian Church, and all of them presume that the solution is “more God, less man.” The theological focus of MacDonald’s book has been written about many times from generations past: men named Tertullian, and Augustine, and Luther and many, many others. As for the vertical part, well, that is the part of the book that needs the rebuttal.
But what MacDonald’s book does offer is a splendid game of theological three card monte. Picture a street hustler with his cardboard box and three bent cards shouting “Follow the queen! Follow the queen! Follow the queen!” as he starts mixing the cards. But if you don’t understand the game, you will never notice that he takes the queen off the box in the first chapter. And by chapter two, he will brazenly defy you to show him any cards anywhere in existence.
This is all by design.
Mystic Despots have always understood that Aristotle was THE greatest threat to their power. The Catholic Church knew this and condemned Aristotle. They condemned Saint Thomas Aquinas because of his efforts to integrate Aristotelian thought with Christianity in 1250. Luther knew it and condemned Aristotle because he knew it destroyed his ability to demagogue the definition of Grace Alone. Calvin knew it because Aristotle makes it impossible to set up a despotic theocracy. The Lutheran theologians of the Weimar Republic knew because Aristotle undermined National Socialism and the rise of the Reich Church. Karl Marx knew it because Aristotle destroys Dialectic Materialism. Hegel knew it because it destroys his political ideal: the State as Prime Consciousness. John Dewey knew it because Aristotelian thought destroys the roots of Pragmatism.
And the list of tyrants who knew it and sought to destroy Aristotle and his achievement goes on and on and on. And since James MacDonald is desperately trying to resurrect the philosophy of the Dark Ages, he must go after Aristotle from the beginning of The Vertical Church.
The first reference that I found to Aristotle comes in the first chapter under the sub heading “Rationalism Versus Transcendence”:
A further description of transcendence is that which is higher or beyond the widely accepted range of human experience cataloged in Aristotle’s ten categories. Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle created a “map” that attempted to encompass the full range of human experience into one or more of ten rational categories. Somehow Aristotle suppressed the eternity in his own heart, because his system includes only what can be proven by rational means. Sadly, his thinking forms the foundation of rationalism that continues to control the mind-set of the Western World. While postmodernism may have replaced rationalism as the philosophy of choice on a given college campus, rationalism is still the prevailing presupposition that dictates expectation among churches and their leaders. Rationalism says if you can’t quantify it, if you can’t prove it, if you can’t show it to me, then it does not exist. Rationalism teaches us to deny the eternity that God has placed in our hearts. And church leaders raised on rationalism lead ministries where the supernatural, the vertical, is suppressed and where God himself is at best an observer and certainly seldom, if ever, an obvious participant in church.
One of Aristotle’s more recent offspring who wrestled with the limits of rationalism was Immanuel Kant (1724 -1804). Kant proposed a “Copernican Revolution” in philosophy, saying, “up to now it has been assumed that all our cognition must conform to the objects; but . . . let us once try whether we do not get farther … by assuming that objects must conform to our cognition.”
In other words, sometimes we know that we know something, even though we are helpless to prove it rationally. Maybe the greatest rationality of all is the recognition that rationality itself is incomplete as a way of knowing.
The only true-ish part of these paragraphs is that Aristotle is the foundation of Western thought (more on this in a minute), but pretty much everything else is just wrong.
Here is a brief rebuttal: Aristotle did not reject “transcendence,” which is a MacDonald synonym for “eternity,” which in MacDonald speak means rejecting God. Like all good Platonists, Aristotle believed in God though his theology would not have been of the Christian variety. But how could it? Christianity postdates Aristotle by almost four hundred years. Leibniz was the leading advocate for Rationalism (of the Rationalism vs. Empiricism debate in the 17th century), and Rationalism is not to be confused with Aristotelian metaphysics and epistemology. Postmodernism is not a philosophy. . . . it is a symptom of intellectual and philosophical bankruptcy in western philosophy. (In the college context most readily observed as the logical conclusion to John Dewey’s Pragmatism because Dewey’s ideas dominate modern American education . . . including Christian education) And the father of Western thought bankruptcy: the leading destroyer of western philosophy is Immanuel Kant. Kant and his categorical imperatives are the antipode of Aristotelian epistemology, not his “offspring.” Kant is really Plato’s bastard son who sought to reinvigorate Calvin’s metastasized theology and then added an evil twist.
Of course most Christians are ignorant of the evolution of Western thought because preachers make it a priority to run thinkers out of their congregations the moment they hear a word that is bigger than their vocabulary. Not that it is the preacher’s fault. Pew-sitting Joe Screwdriver (Thanks, James.) got what he wanted. Joe listens to the intellectual vacant preachers because he does not want the responsibility for the content of his own mind. He doesn’t want a complex anything, so he certainly doesn’t want a complex Christianity. Therefore, the outcome is inevitable. Pew-sitting Joe Screwdriver is unequipped to identify James MacDonald’s theological shell game. Joe Screwdriver is unable to detect the “rational” atrocity committed in the name of all that is Good and Holy. The result is James MacDonald’s critique of Aristotle, and that dastardly thing called “rationalism” is accepted as the truth. And Joe Screwdriver has no clue that the Aristotelian shtick is merely bait on the hook that will make it impossible to escape James MacDonald’s “reasoning.” Once pew-sitting Joe Screwdriver accepts the premise that being “rational” is somehow incomplete . . . somehow inferior . . . somehow spiritually seditious . . . then the hook is set in his mouth like a fish. From that point forward, MacDonald can pretend that he is merely a humble fisher of men and drag Joe and his screwdrivers into philosophical disaster.
Make no mistake: James MacDonald’s singular goal is to disarm his readers by separating them from their mind and their mind from reality. And any man who exists as such a creature is by definition . . . insane.
So what did Aristotle do?
That conversation is vast because to appreciate what Aristotle did, in context to the evolution of human thought, would require a short course on the history of Philosophy. And then it would require a further discussion of metaphysics and epistemology. (I did this in the 2013 TANC conference in a six-hour lecture, but I didn’t cover Aristotle’s contribution. You can Google it.) But let me give you, dear readers, a sense of proportion. Here is James MacDonald’s summation: “Sadly, [Aristotle’s] thinking forms the foundation of rationalism that continues to control the mind-set of the Western World.”
Okay, describing Aristotle’s achievement like this is like saying: “Sadly, Copernicus forms the foundation of looking at the stars. Sadly, Louis Pasteur forms the foundation of boiling milk. Sadly, Isaac Newton taught men to watch falling apples. Sadly, Albert Einstein controls how to tell time. Sadly, Jonas Salk controlled the mindset of people on crutches. Sadly, Alexander Fleming forms the foundation of penicillin that continues to control how the Western world defies God by combating infection.”
Yeah . . . uh . . . no.
In a world of total chaos, the world of Heraclitean flux, the world of Plato’s mystic other-worldly Forms, the world of Sophist and Cynic condemnation of the sum of human existence, Aristotle stood alone.
Aristotle was the first man to formulate the essentials of human thought. Not just some good ideas, not just a school of philosophy, but THE axioms of human existence in three laws: the law of identity, the law of non-contradiction, and the law of the excluded middle. The law of identity is the axiom, and the next two laws are the subsequent corollaries. It is from this foundation that EVERY cognitive human success originates, including the one or two cognitive successes James MacDonald captured in his book.
The law of identity says that Man can’t be man and NOT man, that a horse cannot be a horse and NOT horse; A cannot be A and NOT A.
In Aristotle’s words:
“If, however, [a definition .e.g. Man, Horse, A] were not limited but one were to say that the word has an infinite number of meanings, obviously reasoning would be impossible; for not to have one meaning is to have no meaning, and if words have no meaning our reasoning with one another, and indeed with ourselves, has been annihilated; for it is impossible to think of anything if we do not think of one thing; . . .”
The law of Non Contradiction says:
“It is impossible, then, that ‘being a man’ should mean precisely not being a man, [ . . .] And it will not be possible to be and not to be the same thing, [. . . ] but the point in question is not this, whether the same thing can at the same time be and not be a man in name, but whether it can be in fact.”
The law of the excluded middle says:
“But on the other hand there cannot be an intermediate between contradictories, but of one subject we must either affirm or deny any one predicate. This is clear, in the first place, if we define what the true and the false are.”
And this is exactly right. The identity of A must in fact be the identity of A. The particulars of A must never contradict. For A to maintain its identity, there can be no middle compromise on something Not A.
It is from this point that all effective human cognition flows: all laws of logic, all of man’s conceptual capacity, all of man’s reason, and—most importantly—man’s capacity to grasp the world in which he lives.
And why is this a threat to despots the world over? Why has every oppressive ideology sought to unseat Aristotle? Why do tyrants cling to Aristotle’s shoulders while trying to cut off his head?
Because Aristotelian thought means that existence is knowable, understandable, and practicable; that all men have the means to arrive at truth; that knowledge is available for all who will use the laws and the rules of logic to obtain it.
This foundational concept was revolutionary. It was the original Copernican shift from the “transcendent” world of Plato’s Forms. Indeed, without Aristotle’s foundation, Copernicus is not possible, and neither is any other advance of human knowledge possible.
And herein is Aristotle’s impact on Western thought:
When using the laws of thought, the mind of man is effective to understand man’s existence. An existence that is identifiable is an existence that is understandable. An existence that is understandable is an existence that is explorable. An existence that is explorable is an existence that is controllable. An existence that is controllable is an existence that man can master.
It took almost two thousand years for man to come to this conclusion, start to roll back the mysteries of the world, and raise his standard of living. And then came the Age of Enlightenment (inspired by Aquinas’ rediscovery of Aristotle) and man finally started to throw off the chains of tyranny. The logical conclusion of Aristotle’s implied rational equality translated into political liberty. Men like John Locke began to challenge the age-old institutions of oppression: the government bulwark of the Church. His ideas were then taken up by men named Jefferson and Franklin and Adam and Washington. For the first time in world history, individuals committed to their own reason in possession of their own liberty were empowered to live their own lives by the greatest political document ever crafted. The consequence is that the Western world has elevated the standard of human living across the globe—eliminating disease, poverty, and suffering—more than any other culture in any other time in the history of the world. . . . EVER.
The contrasting ideological picture is dismal at best. Every other culture dominated by Plato’s mysticism, Augustine’s transcendence, Calvin’s determinism, or Kant’s noumenal world have lived in darkness, barbarity, war, and tyranny.
There is no such thing as rational equality with those who chant transcendence like an incantation against reason. Augustine made a claim to Plato’s Forms and started chanting transcendence when he wanted to wipe out the Donatists. The Catholic Church chanted transcendence while persecuting Copernicus and Galileo. They chanted transcendence to condemn serfs to generations of servitude. They chanted transcendence while war waged across the face of Europe and the Inquisition wrecked Spain. Calvin chanted transcendence while ruling Geneva with bonfires. The kings of England and France, assuming the Divine Right of Kings, chanted transcendence and wrecked their countries with wars and famines and destruction. Puritan Oliver Cromwell chanted transcendence while beheading the king, abolishing Parliament, and ruling England with an iron hand. Puritans in Salem chanted transcendence as they burnt witches at the stake. The Presbyterian Church (read Calvinist Church) in the South chanted transcendence and insisted that the black man was condemned by God to slavery. Immanuel Kant chanted “noumenal world,” and it didn’t take long for people to realize that was a synonym for transcendence. The Lutheran National Socialists chanted noumenal world all the way to the gas chamber. Karl Marx heard noumenal world and came up with Dialectic Materialism. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel heard noumenal world and created the Primacy of the State. Mussolini used his ideas to justify Fascist Italy. Trotsky and Lenin heard them both and chanted transcendence in the name of the workers’ paradise until he turned Russia into a slaughterhouse. The Muslims chant transcendence and have been waging war almost nonstop since 650 AD and are determined to wage war until Allah reigns supreme.
And the list goes on and on and on.
Mystics, shamans, witch doctors, imams, preachers, and oracles have been chanting transcendence for millennia because this is how they rule men. If knowledge—True Knowledge—is reserved for some ineffable, other-worldly realm that “transcends” human reason, then no one can challenge their conclusions: They possess the revelation of the transcendent truth, so they own the definition of truth. And they NEVER have to justify ANY rational conclusion or the subsequent actions inspired by the conclusion.
And this is the real goal of James MacDonald’s book The Vertical Church. Behind all the lofty language, behind all the appeals to God’s glory, behind the invitations to meet God in a new and unique way, just like the mystic despots of old, he is really laying the foundations of religious tyranny.
If you abandon your mind to men like him . . . you will get what you deserve
Confident Study of the Scriptures
Taking Back the Bible from Christian Academia: Confident Study of the Scriptures
Part One
The Apostolic Church’s greatest nemesis was Gnosticism. An understanding of how Greek philosophy influenced the landscape of that day is critical to understanding what was behind many things written by the Apostles and Christ. Greek philosophy was the driving force behind Gnosticism, and it was predicated on an elitist academia who were supposedly the gatekeepers of truth and wisdom. Supposedly, these were the enlightened minority who should necessarily lead or rule over the unenlightened masses. They were, and still are responsible for repackaging the “deep” things of God so that the unenlightened masses can use it in some way to cope with life. In religious circles we call this, “orthodoxy.” In secular circles we call this, “Psychology.” Those who cope rather than overcome are always the shadows of orthodoxy.
Enlightenment was a pedigree that you were born into; predetermined by the universe, gods, or God Himself. Hence, formal schools were mostly populated by the affluent to prepare them to lead or rule over the unenlightened masses. It’s very little different today as most pastors are graduates from universities that the majority of people can’t afford. Ability to obtain a degree from a noted seminary is part and parcel with being qualified to be a pastor (even if you are a pedophile). Pastoral search committees immediately toss resumes that are anything less than a Master’s degree. Lay pastors are seen as a lower class of leaders and are paid accordingly. They are seen as necessary for churches who can’t afford the “real deal.” This whole tradition, at least in Western culture, began with Plato’s Academy. The Academy is really the foundation that all seminaries are built on. They follow the secular pattern of Western culture.
This was the elitist atmosphere in Judea when Christ showed up. God’s people were sheep without shepherds and living on a heavy/steady diet of orthodoxy. Jesus called it “the traditions of men.” Jesus came and circumvented the whole elitist construct which often invoked, “By what authority do you teach these things?” Christ never contacted or checked in with the formal academia of that time; they had to come to Him as Nicodemus did in the darkness of night. He was “the teacher of Israel” which probably means he was among the most prominent. It is also interesting to note that his name means “power over the people” which is the same idea as the Nicolaitan movement of that day which was primarily a Gnostic movement. That name means “power over the laity.”
Jesus took God’s truth directly to the people. He cut out the middleman so-to-speak. This was revolutionary. This is EXACTLY what the apostle John was addressing in 1John when he wrote “you have no need for anyone to teach you.” He wasn’t excluding the need for teachers, he was excluding orthodoxy. He was excluding a dumbed-down version of “God’s truth” by the elite for the consumption of the supposedly unenlightened masses. And that is exactly what John was contending against. 1John refutes several teachings that were Gnostic ideas permeating the church in that day. Christ mentions the Nicolaitans specifically in His seven letters to the churches. Historically, they were known to be of the Gnostic school of thought.
Furthermore, the Bible always addresses God’s people as a whole and not the leadership specifically. The New Testament epistles always address the whole congregation. This is very telling. The Bereans searched the Scriptures themselves to verify the teachings of the apostle Paul and were called “honorable” for doing so. This is very telling as well.
Christ’s methods of teaching and approach had built-in opposition to the whole elitist caste system. He himself was not formally educated; the foundation of His assembly was built with men who were uneducated—they were the blue collar working class of that society. In the same way the elitists taught mysteries that the common people could not understand, He taught mysteries and parables to the common people that the elitists could not understand. More than likely the apostle Paul delighted in saying, “Behold, I show you a mystery.” That was turnabout play, mysteries were not revealed to the common people in that day.
Christian media and education is a multi-billion dollar business. History has never seen a country like America endowed with the same gargantuan Christian education system. Yet, Christians in this country are woefully dumbed-down and propagandized with European traditions and superstition. Our seminaries merely parrot European orthodoxy and their penchant for dumbed-down congregants. Yet, Europe’s history and societal woes in no way recommends itself for an example to follow. Those who know European history are dumbfounded that the Reformers and Puritans could be posed as religious heroes. American Protestantism is basically the European model that has never embraced the priesthood of believers.
This tradition translates into Christians consuming a mass of “Christian” information via published books, novels, movies, Christian radio, the internet, and TV/cable programs. Christians do not read and study the Bible for themselves. If they did, Christian media would not be a multi-billion dollar business. Instead of the Information Age and its tools being used to show ourselves approved, we use it to saturate our minds with the opinions of others. This is orthodoxy on steroids. It makes Paul’s “ever learning and never coming to the knowledge of the truth” the understatement of the ages. This point can be solidified by the mere observation that the Information Age has not put seminaries out of business. Why? Because Christian academia is not a teacher—it’s an authority.
This is a Segway for getting to my first point. The Bible must be returned to its proper place as the only authority in the church. We must obey God rather than man. The idea that making a book the authority in some way demeans God’s splendor is a metaphysical sleight of hand. To use the idea that God should not be minimized to the exegesis of a book is to praise God for being so awesome that we cannot really know anything about Him. “He’s not a precept, He’s a person,” etc., add nausea. Worship becomes a celebration of subjectivity as a way to praise God. God was way ahead of this little game:
Psalm 138:2 – I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name (KVJ).
Apparently, the concept of praising God’s glory above anything earthy like mere words written on a page annoyed Christ to some degree:
Luke 11:27 – As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” 28 But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”
While God reminds us that indeed His thoughts are above our thoughts, He insists that we not lean on our own understanding; hence, we may assume we can understand the alternative. We are clearly responsible before God for objective truth, and no one will give an account for our own lives but us. Listen to whom you will, but you are personally responsible for what you believe. Does a book seem a little earthy and unspiritual to you? Well, they are present at the White Throne Judgment, and judgment will be rendered according to what is “written in the books.” In the book of Revelation we see that Christ instructed John to “write” what he saw. We also read Christ’s warning to not add or take away any words from the book.
That’s where confident Bible study begins. We must trust it as God’s sole authority. But why a book? The answer is so easy that we readily miss it. God created reality as we now know it, and that reality is interpreted through words. To comprehend any present reality, it must be described by words. God spoke the world into existence with words. We know light as light because He defined it by the word “light.” God instructed Adam to name the animals with words. Animals can only be defined by such names. If we see an animal that we are completely unfamiliar with, we ask, “What is it?” Words describe general reality and particular reality. One may also ask, “What kind of animal is that?” Words interpret reality. God’s Law is interpreted by words; so, it stands to reason that His enemies will want to interpret truth/reality in some other way. This is where philosophy can lead us to more understanding or death. We must remember that words mean things.
The points so far can be argued from Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount. The audience was the spiritual peasantry of the day. Yet, the hermeneutic for that sermon can be found in the following:
Matthew 5:1 – Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
He “taught” them. As my Grandmother might have said, They got a learnin’. That means they had everything they needed to understand what Jesus wanted them to know. The sermon is to be taken on face value. The words mean what they mean. This audience is NOT the spiritual elite of that day. Jesus ends the sermon by saying the application of those words to life will result in said life being built on a sturdy foundation. The sermon sought to change their lives. It taught them how to think, how to worship, how to pray, and how to act. At the end, they were astonished that he taught these things without the authority of men.
This is first and foremost: to know that God’s word is to us, that it is our sole authority, that we are solely responsible to know it and obey it, and next, that God has sustained its original intent and meaning.
Perhaps one reason Christians do not read their Bibles very much is because we have been taught that we can’t really understand it. Many Reformed churches teach their parishioners that Bible reading merely flavors or prepares their hearts for what they must learn from the elders:
You think, perhaps, that [you] can fill up the other half of the plate with personal study, devotions, or quiet times, or a radio program. Beloved, you cannot. Scripture is relatively quiet on such practices. But on preaching, the case is clear and strong. Neglect preaching and neglect your soul (Dr. Devon Berry: Clearcreek Chapel .org archives; How to Listen to a Sermon)….
The text here implies that there was an interactive nature between three entities: The preacher, the hearers, and the Word. Note this cycle: Paul, from the Word, delivers words. The Bereans, from Paul’s words, go to the Word. The Word cycles from God, through the preacher, to the people, back to the Word, and this, verse 12 tells us, produced belief in the God of the Word. An important thing to note is that this happened daily – suggesting a regular interaction between preaching, personal study, and the Word. The Bereans eagerly prepared by paralleling their own Bible reading and study with Paul’s preaching. So a good preparation for the public preaching of the Word is the private consumption of the Word. It will be the seasoning that brings out the flavor – salt on your French fries, if you will (Ibid.)
Such a statement is indicative of Reformed thought and should raise the ire of a child. Yet, American Christians are so dumbed-down that they listen to such without even blinking.
Therefore, few Christian fathers in America think they are qualified to teach their family the Bible. Oddly, this is not the sentiment in faiths like Islam and many cults. Is their growth, as opposed to the decline of Christianity, due to the offering of something objective? Tragically, many married couples that have been Christians for years seek counsel for what they should already know. Often, this counseling makes the situation worse because it comes from those who didn’t teach them the full counsel of God to begin with. Few parishioners are aware of their pastor’s epistemology. There is no concern for how their elders approach God’s word because the pastor himself is the authority. That’s the problem.
Moreover, we must be confident that God has sustained the Bible’s intent and meaning. Christ’s very mandate to the church was the following: go to all nations with the authority of His word and teach everyone to observe it and keep it. It may then be assumed that He has superintended the Bible and its canonicity. Yet, God involves us in the process. He has promised us that the truth will be available for those who seek it, but we must study to show ourselves approved. That study involves hard labor in all areas of epistemology. We must insist that God has made objective truth available to man for its primary purpose: “everything we need for life and godliness.” It may not tell you how to fix cars, but it will certainly teach you how to be an auto mechanic who pleases God.
This may entail a strong endeavor to gain knowledge of the skill apart from the Bible in order to fulfill the biblical mandate. I think you get the message; God gave us an extraordinary instrument known as a “brain.” We are to use it, not download the thoughts of others with a mindless flash drive. You will be held responsible for the actions that the downloaded information produces. You are responsible, not the source who fed you the information. Christians need to start reading the ingredient labels on the cans. You are to work out your OWN salvation with trembling and fear. Each person will be judged according to their OWN work. Being judged by our works is synonymous with being judged by what we choose to believe. We best not let others make that choice for us. To do so is to let others determine our eternal destiny. Perhaps there is not a greater measure of insanity; seeking for others to think for you. They will not stand in for you before God, why in the world would you let them think for you?
Taking Back the Bible from Christian Academia: Confident Study of the Scriptures; Part Two
Let us now look at some basic principles for learning. Although the Bible is full of mysteries, allegory, and parables (but mostly objective truth), these are all for the purpose of teaching you something. God is not a God of confusion. Those mysteries belong to us:
1Corinthians 3:19 – For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” 20 and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” 21 So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23 and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.
And….
Luke 10:21 – In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 22 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” 23 Then turning to the disciples he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! 24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”
Again, this was turnabout. Instead of the elitists controlling the wisdom, God was delivering it directly to the people and keeping it from the “wise” which is most often used by the Bible authors pejoratively.
The primary problem at Corinth was dependence on world philosophy. And frankly, that’s exactly what’s wrong with the church today. Commentary on the Bible is immeasurable. Again, the industry that interprets our Bibles for us is a multi-billion dollar business. This isn’t how the biblical teachers taught. The citations of outside sources to make specific points to be applied to life are completely non-existent in the Bible. The Bible doesn’t borrow any wisdom from the world at all. In a few places, it’s used for examples of bad behavior and false teachings, but the Bible is its own source for any positive truth or revelation. Christ and the apostles only cited other Biblical authors. All books of the Old Testament are cited except Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon. Christ quoted from twenty-four Old Testament books.
So, know that the Bible is written to you, know that you can understand it, know that you are responsible to properly understand it and teach it to others (MATT 5:19 ff.), and interpret the Bible with the Bible. The Bible has 42 authors; their writings should be your commentaries. That’s 42 commentaries which is plenty of commentary for any library. The biblical writers make their points via other Bible authors exclusively. To be honest with you, I got rid of all my Bible commentaries. The only one I have left is MacArthur’s Bible commentary and I only kept it because of its extensive cross-referencing. I put little stock in MacArthur’s opinions as he is no longer trustworthy and has become a follower of men. But again, I find his extensive cross-referencing useful.
As far as interpretation by the commentaries of other Bible authors, you can find online resources that list Old Testament quotes in the New Testament. When a New Testament writer cites an Old Testament text, you can then read those passages in order to gain understanding in regard to the point that the New Testament writer was making.
Remember these basic principles as well: application to life (obedience) leads to more understanding, and remember that God communicates in a straightforward manner and doesn’t want confusion, but rather edification (1COR 14). God’s goal is edification. His people die for lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6). Also pay close attention to what’s being stated. The Holy Spirit is not like us who often write things with a goal for volume rather than substance. Remember those literature assignments in school that had to be 3000 words? That’s not how the Holy Spirit writes. Every word of God is for life (Matt 4:4), and ALL Scripture is profitable for equipping (2TIM 3:16,17). Be patient as learning wisdom for life from the Scriptures is a lifelong endeavor. Do not be too concerned with what you don’t understand for now, it will come with time and diligent study. Seeds of future understanding are being planted in your mind and God’s word will not return void.
Therefore, when you read or study your Bible, look for the plain sense of the text. If you decide to study a particular book or epistle, read through it a couple of times thoughtfully and make note of what it is plainly stating. Then make note of other Scriptures cited by the author and read those as well; they are commentaries on what you are reading. Paul cites the Old Testament about 41 times in the book of Romans. Those passages should be read as commentaries and for further clarification.
Before we move on let me note that one of the most powerful tools for understanding is daily Bible reading. An overall flavor of biblical content is extremely important and probably efficacious for discernment. If you don’t do anything else, partake in daily Bible reading.
Parabiblical information is an aid. However, Susan and I have gleaned things from the book of Romans that we have never been taught before and are life transforming; this happened without any research in regard to historical background or customs of that time in Rome. Our study of Romans has included little information apart from the book itself. But if you do use parabiblical aids this is key: as far as historical background, customs, or philosophies that might be alluded to in the particular text that you are studying, use secular sources that don’t have theological axes to grind. This assures that the source isn’t seeing something in the history that they want to see.
For topical study, do not, I repeat, do not buy a Christian book on the subject. More than likely it will be eisegetical rather than exegetical. Get a Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance and look up the key words and read all of the verses for yourself in context. I would also recommend Naves Topical Bible which will list Scriptures that address the subject you want to study. Buying a Christian book on the subject gets back to others thinking for us. How telling that this ministry continues to hear complaints that Sunday schools and Bible studies are usually conducted from recently published books that are the present-day Reformed rage.
Now let’s look at the all-important issue of translations. The Old Testament is pretty straight forward as it was overseen by the Jews. The New Testament has been attended to with far less anti-eisegesis. Nevertheless the multitudes of different translations and TYPES of translations offer an awesome resource for us. If there is any commentary worth more than the Bible authors (and there is not), it is the translations. New Testament translations offer the opinions of hundreds of Greek scholars. Some translations are literal word by best English word translations (literal translations; ie., the KJV). Other translations, known as paraphrases, attempt to show the ideas or intent behind the Greek words. You can look at all of the varying opinions, and determine which ones fit the context and what other Bible texts teach about the same issue or subject.
Then there are the expanded translations by Greek scholars. These are very interesting. These expand Bible sentences to reflect the Greek moods and tenses in the best and most accurate English words. An example of this would be Kenneth S. Wuest’s expanded translation of the New Testament.
Now let’s discuss the manuscripts that these translations come from. The original writings are gone; eg., the actual letter that the Romans held in their hands or the early copies thereof. Translations are taken from manuscripts which are composed of ancient fragments. These fragments may be actual copies of the original and also based on ancient commentaries that rehearse Bible verses such as the writings of the early church fathers. Most English translations come from either the Received Text or the Critical Text. These are manuscripts based on differing sources of fragments and other ancient texts. And there is a difference. The Critical Text has 2,886 fewer words than the Received Text, and calls into question the validity of 41 verses found in it. In other words, some translations exclude words and in some cases entire verses that are in dispute. Sources that document these differences can be found, once again, ONLINE!
Another problem with the New Testament as far as English translations are concerned is that most of our English translations came from the Reformers. In fact, Chapters and verses were first used in the Geneva Bible which was a Calvinist study Bible. It’s the Bible that arrived in America on the Mayflower, and in the true spirit of the Reformation, it was the law in Scotland that every household of means was required to purchase one. Progressive Justification was the doctrine/gospel of the Reformation, and bias towards that doctrine permeates the English translations, particularly in regard to tenses. Clearly, in the aforementioned manuscript texts mentioned, there is a difference in many verses between salvation as past and present continuous.
In regard to these discrepancies, it is up to us to study in order to show ourselves approved. God doesn’t do it all for us. He superintended the transmission of the Bible while allowing freewill. And by the way, the Bible documents its own transmission (There are books that document the historical transmission of the Bible as well). Did you know that? In my own daily Bible reading I see references to this in many different ways, which brings me to another learning tip and the significance of daily Bible reading. That would be the BIBLE NOTEBOOK. This is some form of the Bible in a notebook with tabulated sections. Sections can be divided into subjects of interest, and as you see references in your daily Bible reading, you compile those references in the appropriate section. One can also use the same process to document Reformed aberrations that favor the false gospel of progressive justification which is perpetual resalvation and perseverance by faith alone in sanctification. These discrepancies are going to be found primarily in the ESV, but are also prevalent in many other translations.
This brings me to yet another tip regarding Bible Study software: you can jettison the catalogue process by using Bible study software that will do comprehensive word searches in all translations. Let’s say that transmission of the Bible is your interest. You can search key words like, “word,” “book,” “write,” etc., and then read those verses in context.
(As an aside, a basic observation in the category of transmission that can be made is that words can be written down by many different means on many different materials and are difficult to control unlike electronic data).
Lastly, because of the internet, you can also research lesser known translations such as the Aramaic/Hebrew New Testament. The argument here is that Greek was a vehicle, but not the vernacular of the people who wrote the New Testament. In other words, the Greek may not properly transmit the Hebrew mindset and what they meant by certain phrases etc. This brings us to the importance of systematic theology.
All of these considerations must work together with the fact that the Scriptures are written systematically. There is a method; doctrines, covenants, etc. make this clear. Obviously, it is more than fair to say that the tabernacle was a systematic theology. Creation was done systematically. Ever heard of the “Solar System”? We see a system in the book of Revelation: seals, trumpets, woes, methods, documents, timelines, and specific places. God is a God of order. This is the importance of systematic theology and its elements: justification; sanctification; imputation; Christology; Pneumatology; anthropology; hamartiology; soteriology; ecclesiology; angelology; eschatology; etc. The fact that systematic theology is not taught in the churches is scandalous and indicative of Protestant control mania.
There are many considerations and schools that make a complete picture of truth. A word in a translation that in some way contradicts sound soteriology must be suspect and investigated. I recommend Cambron’s Bible Doctrines: Beliefs That Matter and Barackman’s first edition of Practical Christian Theology. Avoid the other three additions as he gravitated toward radical aspects of Reformed theology after the first addition. Obviously, John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion is a systematic theology and has been greatly expanded upon for contemporary use by Michael Horton’s The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims On the Way. This systematic theology will determine the interpretive outcomes of a whole generation of pastors.
The next point is eschatology as part of this vast biblical system. The study of last things is critical to showing how the Bible all fits together, especially in regard to soteriology. Old Testament and New Testament eschatology fits together for the making of one picture showing how covenants fit together with God’s plan of salvation. A lack of emphasis on eschatology has had a catastrophic effect on the church. To minimize eschatology is to deprive God’s people of hope, and a wealth of spiritual information. For one, consider that J. Burton Payne’s Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy catalogues 737 prophecies that are either fulfilled or reiterated in the other texts by different authors writing hundreds of years apart. As we have observed here at the Potters House, eschatology also fits the plan of salvation in regard to judgments and resurrections as one would expect to be the case. Eschatology is vital for a proper understanding of the Scriptures. In regard to pastors who deemphasize eschatology, mark them and flee from them.
In regard to the question of the best Bible study software, you can consider software that has the elements we have discussed in this study. However, I would recommend Olive Tree online software, and it is very inexpensive. It has the most important feature, a word search engine. It will do a comprehensive English word search, but it will also do a Greek word search. This enables you to see how a Greek word is used in other passages—this is very telling in regard to the original intent behind the word. Also, if you do an English word search for a certain word in both the New Testament and Old Testament, you can see what the Hebrew counterpart is to the Greek and vice versa. You can get many different translations, and if you hover over any word with your mouse, the Greek or Hebrew word will appear with its definition. If a definition is not available, it’s an English filler for the purpose of flow and readability.
And don’t forget Google. Google is an extremely powerful search engine. It is also virtual world knowledge connected to virtual mind. What do I mean by that? If you want to recall something you read in the Bible several years ago but you don’t remember where it is in the Bible or even the exact wording, all you have to do is Google the fragment or the idea and a link to an article about it will appear. A wealth of information regarding any subject can be called up in seconds. And thoughts such as, “I wonder if the Bible talks about that?” can be answered in seconds. Merely Google the thought and a vast amount of information will appear. I am convinced that the final form of the final kingdom that will rule the Earth in the last days has feet of iron mixed with clay because of the Information Age. Tyranny is only effective to the degree that it can control information. This is why our founding fathers were pro education and information. This is why they proliferated information of all kinds with aggressive intentionality.
The dumbing down of America is no accident—it is the road to tyranny. The dumbing down of the Protestant church is no accident—it has always been predicated on tyranny and always will be unless Christians take back our Bible.
The James MacDonald White Paper: Cult 101; Post 8 of 20
Authentic Reformed theology is always destined to bear the fruit of cultism to some degree. Ideology doesn’t always play itself out to its full potential in every person or organization, but the possibility is always there.
Moses addressed the core issue with the Israelites more than 3000 years ago:
Deuteronomy 29:29 – “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
Ancient paganism was founded on the idea that the masses were unenlightened in regard to understanding reality. Only an elite few are supposedly capable of gaining true knowledge. And of course, therefore, the unenlightened should follow the elite accordingly for the betterment of mankind as a whole. This approach can be seen clearly in some of the oldest religions known to man like Hinduism which has a defined caste system. However, some variation of that caste system permeates the vast majority of religions and evangelical denominations.
Moses stated plainly that some knowledge is in fact secret, but God holds mankind responsible for a body of knowledge that is revealed. Every person born into the world is personally responsible for that knowledge. This really isn’t the norm in religion which posits the idea that EVERYTHING is secret and unknowable to the masses (Gnosis: secret knowledge). Hence, the masses need to follow the orthodoxy of the enlightened ones which is separate from the reality/truth they are unable to understand. The elite understand—we never will, so we need to trust orthodoxy. For years I could not understand my experience as a Southern Baptist until I understood this concept. A blind person can see the mentality in that denomination that the pastorate understands things that the majority of congregants will never understand.
But Moses stated….
Deuteronomy 30:11 – “For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 14 But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.
The definition of a cult usually pertains to a charismatic leader exercising control over a group of people. Obviously, this follows the logic of spiritual elitism, and control follows the logic of orthodoxy. Every behavior pattern coming out of the New Calvinism movement is directly driven by this construct. The examples are too numerous to even catalog, but the most glaring is the idea that no matter how crazy things get, the parishioners need to “trust the elders who are responsible before God for your souls.”
Cultism is behavior. It is the fruit, not the root. The root is spiritual caste, what Moses preached against. The tree is orthodoxy, the fruit is cultism. That’s why Harvest Bible Chapel follows the insanity of James MacDonald. That is why I get emails about MacDonald’s infamous “5 Things….” sermon like, “No words,” and “Wha, wha, wha?”
Much of the present-day American church is built on spiritual caste, and the resulting cultism is leading to a mass exodus, but those fleeing must remember that we are still responsible for what God has revealed. Nobody has to obtain that knowledge for us, it is near us, and in us. All bets are not off because the spiritual elitists have failed.
It is our duty to build something new out of the rubble. We are still accountable before God.
paul
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