The Itching Ears For an Entertaining Speech
We live in a time when talking about apologetics, reasons to believe in Christianity exclusively may take Christians and non-Christians by surprise. For a long time, faith and reason have been divorced and their off-spring never knew a household where both could live together with integrity, peacefully and without some sort of cognitive dissonance. The invitation of “come and taste the beauty of the Lord” or the warning to “get up…[ and to] get out of this place” (i.e., to come out from among them and be separate” make us sound as if we are “joking” even in the eyes of those who are closest to us (Genesis 19: 14; 2 Cor 6:17).
Different Christian ministries and brethren have been combating this trend. Some Christian apologists and evangelists have gained favor and respect in the eyes of Christians and non-Christians. I could think of many names to list. Yet, I see them as the Ezekiel of our day. Despite having a crowd and a big audience (or followers to use today’s lingo), God told Ezekiel, “ My people come to you in crowds, sit in front of you, and hear your words, but they don’t obey them…Yes, to them you are like a singer of love songs who has a beautiful voice and plays skillfully on an instrument. They hear your words, but they don’t obey them” (Ezekiel 33: 31-32).
In effect, we are living in a time when many completely disbelieve that there is any practical credibility left in the Christian faith. It is a time when people come in crowds to be emotionally soothed from the surrounding opposition, doubt and skepticism or intellectually entertained by a skillful debate or speech ( or the “itching ears” in 2 Timothy 4:3). However, in reality, it is as if they came out to watch a skillful parrot.
Would you follow the instructions of a parrot? Would you consult it in matters of life and death even if you could not distinguish its skillful speech from its human counterpart?
No.
Why?
It is because the crowd sees no credibility or authority represented in such a parrot. I mean no disrespect to anyone or any theological discipline. I am a trained apologist myself. But, I fear that there is a lot of work poured in and scant fruit. Obviously, you may challenge that. From the depth of my heart, I wish to be wrong.
Why Have Christians Lost Credibility and Cultural Influence?
From this point on, analysis of this problem could take different forms and shapes. For example, many competent Christian authors and apologists have analyzed this issue from historical and social perspectives. Their differential diagnostics is as precise as a surgeon’s blade separating a tumor from the rest of the organ. Please consult the works of Francis Schaeffer, especially
The God Who is There, and Nancy Pearcy, who follows Schaeffer's analysis in Saving Leonardo. Also, see the writings by Ronald Scott Smith, Os Guinness, and John Lennox. They discuss how rationalism, empiricism, naturalism, and modernity have steadily infiltrated the church captivating it under the limitations of physical laws, depriving it of a boundless supply of spiritual power and blessings.
A Puzzling Defeat
It is also clear from this Ezekiel text that disobedience, not deception of a false worldview or ideology, lies at the core. Yet, how do I reconcile this state of disobedience and general decadence and division which we (Christians who wish for a revival) seem to have no control over and verses such as 2 Cor. 10: 4?
Making Sense of the Defeat
Can we demolish the “others’” Strongholds if we live captive in our own?
The short answer is “No.”
Here is the long answer.
God said to Ezekiel, “Son of man, those who live in the ruins in the land of Israel are saying, Abraham was one, yet he received possession of the land. But we are many; the land has been given to us as a possession. therefore, say to them: This is what the Lord God says: You eat meat with blood in it, raise your eyes to your idols, and shed blood. Should you then receive possession of the land? You have relied on your swords, you have committed detestable acts, and each of you has defiled his neighbor’s wife. Should you then receive possession of the land? “Tell them this: This is what the Lord God says: As surely as I live, those who are in the ruins will fall by the sword, those in the open field I have given to wild animals to be devoured, and those in the strongholds and caves will die by plague” (Ezekiel 33: 24-27).
According to the commentary by Matthew Henry, God was standing against his own people. Not because God has changed his mind about giving them the land, but because of their pride, sins, and impurity. Henry states, “the great conceit they had of the own merits as if they were greater than those of Abraham their father, who yet was not justified by works. (2.) They think they can make good the possession of this land against the Chaldeans and all others invaders, as well as Abraham could against those that were competitors with him for it: "If he, who was but one, could hold it, much more shall we, who are many, and have many more at command than his 300 trained servants.’’ This shows the confidence they had in their own might; they had got possession and were resolved to keep it.2. A check to this pride. Since God’s providences did neither humble them nor terrify them, he sends them a message sufficient to do both. (1.) To humble them, he tells them of the wickedness they still persisted in, which rendered them utterly unworthy to possess this land, so that they could not expect God should give it to them.”
Let’s apply this to my original question. Could it be that rationalism has plagued the hearts of today’s Christians? Have we compared ourselves to the apostolic church and believed in the power of our sophisticated arguments, technology, e-marketing techniques on social media and blog writing and thought we are doing better? Have we trusted our arguments, our degrees, the labels that follow our names to give us authority and credibility? The apostle Paul looked at all what gave him value according to the social standards of his day and described them as garbage, waste. The first-century church was like Abraham; it possessed the hearts of many and it eradicated paganism steadily wherever its feet trotted. Perhaps, today’s church is being invaded by the naturalistic and the post-modern idols for the same reasons the sons of Abraham, Israel, have lost their inheritance.
Personal Reflection
My heart is convicted. I have thought that the war of ideas was simply a fight of an idea versus the other and logic and evidence were the judge. Thus, I was appalled by the blindness of many, even among the intellectuals and the elites of the west to see and acknowledge the credibility of the fine quality apologetics we have today. I have erroneously believed that to gain victory over radical Islam, Marxism, radical socialism, or naturalism, scientism, identity politics, or post-modernism or whatever "---ism" you encounter is just a matter of perfecting a technique or a matter of getting the word out there. Nietzsche was much wiser than me and he saw a spiritual reality that many of us, I fear, have neglected. It is not a war of ideas in abstraction. It is a war of spirits.
Now it all made sense. How could I have missed it? It is all over the Bible. Remember the prince of Tyre? Remember those spirits behind Babylon? Remember how each nation had its own unique pitfall and corresponding judgment in the Major Prophets? Each had its evil spirit animating and moving it. Thus, it is no wonder that the apostle Paul states that our struggle is not against blood and flesh. It is against spiritual rulers and authority. Thus, the unseen reality of our world is not that we aim an argument against another or an idea against the other but a war of a spirit against the other.
Thus, I am not surprised that if we are fighting against the spirits of the age using our own wisdom, human credentials, and arguments that we lose many to the sword of the spiritual enemies and to captivity by the world’s ideas; others will die by plaques as they get weaker being deprived of the reviving spiritual food. For we, the King’s children, have let worldly lusts eat and weaken us from inside out. We have clogged the channels allowing the outpouring of the Spirit of the only One who spoke with authority (Matthew 7:29) and who can revive, heal, and nourish (John 11:17; Exodus 15:26; John 6: 58). I see many Christians suffer from the plaques of doubt, cynicism, and practical atheism. This does not mean that those who undertake the role of apologists are committing these sins or are inflicted by pride. I am pointing out to general attitudes inside the church which I believe play the biggest part in rendering apologetics and evangelism incapable of inhibiting the rapid decay I see in the Western culture.
Conclusion
In short, if as Christians (laymen or those in ministry) fight this war alone without fully and regularly examining our hearts for disbelief, disobedience, pride, and self-righteousness, we will lose miserably even if on a human level we are providing better apologetics and evangelistic material than the first-century church.
The liberating power of truth is thus not in the correctness of the information, the logic of the argument, its presentation, technology, marketing, or finances independent of God. Rather, it is in the power of the Holy Spirit using the argument and me for the Glory of God and his Kingdom alone. And that, my brothers and sisters, requires absolute surrender.
May the Lord have mercy on us.
References
Picture courtesy of Nathan Rupert, https://www.flickr.com/photos/nathaninsandiego/5303848179
The full commentary by Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 33 can be found here, https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/matthew-henry-complete/ezekiel/33.html