One of my favorite stories is when a well-known pastor (he called himself a "bishop") explained to me that he possessed an even greater level of "genius" than T.D. Jakes, because he was born under the same astrological sign, but that his birthday was several days before that of Jakes.
Another TV evangelist explained to me that, if one could master the proper formula, he or she could possess absolutely anything they asked for in prayer. "It works like a charm," he noted.
Someone else described how, on a trip to heaven, she had seen warehouses with aborted baby parts that were reassembled by angels and distributed to childless couples.
Several times, I've been asked whether I thought there is a common denominator among those who cling to religious fairy tales—and successfully convince others to believe them through their teaching.
There is. The common denominator is that these people do not accept the "authorial intent" of Scripture. In other words, they don't believe that the text means today the same thing the author intended it to mean to his original audience. Since there is no anchor, when they "study" Scripture, virtually any meaning can be injected into the text.
Often, odd interpretations are attributed to the Holy Spirit revealing a "deeper" or "revelatory" meaning to the reader, since the plain meaning of the text is simply too mundane. Additionally, this model of hermeneutics creates a special class of interpreter who is able to mine insights from the Scriptures that are inaccessible to the average Christian.
Someone once explained to me the concept of "sympathetic magic" that they said they had observed in deliverance ministry. I questioned them as to where in Scripture they had seen this idea. This person admitted that there was no direct reference to sympathetic magic in Scripture but said, “Everything can’t be put to Scripture. It’s got to be rhema, not logos. Napoleon sailed across the water, but you can’t find that in the Word.”
I don't think the answer to this problem is more book exposés, more theological education or more heresy hunter "ministries". This battle is fought on a local level as pastors model good Bible study methods and these methods are reproduced in families and small groups in the church. I'm thankful for every pastor that fights this fight, laboring in the gospel by properly handling the text.
3 comments:
I'm not even sure what to say... How can you compare yourself (as a proclaimed Christian minister) to someone else based on Astrology and birthday? And use the word "magic" without batting an eye? How do you find truth when everything is relative?
Wow. It wouldn't be so bad if these people weren't proclaiming that their message is "of God." Kind of like how most of the racists and serial killers are "sent by God." I just don't understand. I don't see how you can read the scripture, and decide any of these things. They are making God look bad. They make themselves look bad. And they are drowning our communitive message.
It's a shame.
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Hi Matt,
This is such a good post. My mom subscribes to some of these very same methods of interpretation- or should I say non-methods. It was very confusing growing up in a house like that. I totally agree that the cure for this comes from solid instructions from churches and biblical leaders. The problem is that talking to people like this is very hard because it is nearly impossible to have a rational conversation with someone who believes their revelation comes from the holy spirit. I've just accepted this behavior from my mom because I don't see an opportunity to change her mind. I think it is something that has to be prevented early on.
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