Ending Spiritual Hokey Pokey

This article from The Atlantic (6/13) describes the testimonies of students who left the church and ended up members of Secular Student Alliances (SSA) or Freethought Societies (FS). The Fixed Point Foundation conducted interviews with students all over the nation, and their findings are fascinating, showing the rise of atheism resulting from the dumbing down of discipleship in the church. 

Bonhoeffer famously said “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” And many do. But if you bid someone come and find the answers to all his problems and have his best life now, or bid him come and have an awesome time playing twister and listening to the band, well, he comes but then he goes. If we make the message of the gospel, the person and work of Jesus, and the call to repentance vague or shallow, it should follow that people put a right foot in and a right foot out, and do the spiritual hokey pokey in and out of the church.

Listen to Stephanie, a student at Northwestern: “The connection between Jesus and a person’s life was not clear.” This is an incisive critique. She seems to have intuitively understood that the church does not exist simply to address social ills, but to proclaim the teachings of its founder, Jesus Christ, and their relevance to the world. Since Stephanie did not see that connection, she saw little incentive to stay. We would hear this again.

Atheists often proudly preach about their unbelief, but there is a far bigger group, the “mushy middle”,  who aren’t hostile to the gospel or the church, but simply wander out of the church. The person of Jesus–the doctrines of Christology–robustly taught, not to mention the rest of the Bible, and the mission he sends us on make for a lifetime of renewing and devoting your heart, mind, soul and strength that only gets more satisfying further up and further in. But info-tainment worship services and programs have a short shelf life. 

The reasons these students gave at first for becoming atheists were always about reason and science, but when asked about the circumstances which led to apostasy, emotional suffering became a dominant theme. Famous atheist Bart Ehrman lost his faith when God didn’t answer his prayer to heal his girlfriend.

With few exceptions, students would begin by telling us that they had become atheists for exclusively rational reasons. But as we listened it became clear that, for most, this was a deeply emotional transition as well. This phenomenon was most powerfully exhibited in Meredith. She explained in detail how her study of anthropology had led her to atheism. When the conversation turned to her family, however, she spoke of an emotionally abusive father:

“It was when he died that I became an atheist,” she said.

I could see no obvious connection between her father’s death and her unbelief. Was it because she loved her abusive father — abused children often do love their parents — and she was angry with God for his death? “No,” Meredith explained. “I was terrified by the thought that he could still be alive somewhere.”

When asked for important influences and sources that led these convinced atheists out the church, they didn’t cite Christopher Hitchens or Thomas Paine or seminars about Jesus. Instead, they vaguely referred to YouTube videos and websites. Leaving the church for these budding secularists was an examined and studied decision, but resulted from spiritual vacuum created by weak teaching and discipleship in the church. There will always be people coming into and leaving the church. But the job of the pastor is to give them a reason, or rather a Person, to compel them to stay or go. It’s not “just Jesus”, a simplified gospel presentation and easy-come-easy-go community. It’s the whole counsel of God. This was Paul’s concern and it should be ours:

Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.

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