50 Reasons NOT to Love Your Neighbor as Yourself
July 18, 2020; revised 2/19/21; 2/8/23
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Preface
The author learned these “reasons” by listening to what was said (or not said) and by observing what was done (or not done) at a number of protestant churches of various denominations and of varied scale over a period of many years. The following categories overlap. The segmentation is meant to put a focus on a specific aspect of attitudes which contain multiple elements, so that the attitudes can be thoroughly examined. This is not a systematic study, but rather a collection of empirical observations which have utility in understanding practical problems.
Following the 50 “reasons,” presented alphabetically, there are Concluding Observations, a Proposed Remedy and notes on the ten authors quoted.
NOTE: Quotation marks are used fort two distinct purposes. They are used to indicate quotes from sources: Christian leaders and authors. Also, they are used to represent the thoughts of a fictionalized character, Norman, a first-person “voice” that expresses the points of view under discussion. Norman is a nominal Christian who is a man of “fake faith” (in Rick Warren’s terminology); he is an adherent of the Goat Religion (my terminology). Those passages which are not set off by quotation marks represent my own views.
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48 REASONS
- BELIEVING ABOUT
- “BUSY”
- CALCIFICATION
- CHRISTIANS HARD-HEARTED AS NON-CHRISTIANS BECAUSE OF "BROKENNESS"
- CHURCH TEACHING (ABSENCE OF)
- COMMUNITY THINNESS
- CURIOSITY ABSENCE & NOT ACTIVELY LISTENING
- DECORUM (As idolatry & avoidance)
- DIFFUSE GENERALITY
- DISCERNMENT AVOIDANCE
- DUTY COMPLETED (Legalism)
- ERRAND-BOY GOD / “DIVINE BUTLER” (Superstition)
- ETERNITY GAZING / APATHY ABOUT “ON EARTH”
- EXPERTISM (Bureaucratic Charity; Institutionalism opposed to Individual Ministry)
- FAITH ALONE (Doctrine)
- FEAR OF COST
- HEAVEN-GAZING (Tunnel-vision)
- HEAVEN-HOARDING (Individual Salvation Project)
- HIERARCHY IDOLATRY
- HYPOCRISY INCOMPLETELY DEFINED
- IGNORING “AS YOURSELF”
- “IMPERFECT” (The Popular “Easy Out”)
- INSUFFICIENTLY NEEDY
- INTELLECTUALIZING - FAKE FAITH (Goat Religion)
- JINX EFFECT
- KNOWING, NOT DOING (Gnosticism)
- LIMITING DEGREE OF LOVE, THUS DEGREE OF WORKS
- MAN AS JUDGE (The merit system)
- MASCOT SYNDROME
- MORALISTIC THERAPEUTIC DEISM (MTD)
- NEGLECT AS STATUS QUO
- NETWORK INEFFICACY
- PASS THE BUCK
- PASSIVITY
- PERSONAL DISLIKE
- THE PHILANTHROPY INDUSTRY
- PRIDE
- RECRUITING AGENDA (and Apologetics)
- RELIGIOSITY
- RISK AVERSION
- SELF-FOCUSED RATIONALIZATION
- SENTIMENTALISM (False Definition of Love)
- SEMI-SHALOM (Perceived degree of need)
- SMALL GROUP TUNNEL VISION (the-Word-ism)
- STATUS IDOLATRY
- TELESCOPIC BENEVOLENCE
- TELLING, RATHER THAN DOING
- "TRYING" IS SUFFICIENT
- UNREPENTANT
- WAITING TO “GRADUATE”
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“IMPERFECT” stands alone as the “reason” that defends the existence of all others.
“HEAVING-HOARDING” identifies the fundamental motive that stands behind the broad range of common sophistries and self-deceptions cited.
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I.
48 Reasons Not to Love Your Neighbor as Yourself
BELIEVING ABOUT
It is not only possible, but is exceedingly common, for a person to believe the facts of Christ (“the Word”) without believing in Christ. Believing in Christ involves opening one’s Heart completely and adopting the Great Commandment. (It is a command, after all.) Christ makes this clear in saying “"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” and with equal explicitness in his explanation of the last judgement by explicitly defining the two categories, the hypocrites (“goats”) and the actual believers in Him (“sheep”). Believing the facts is the same as confessing the creed, while in reality only believing about Christ, rather than believing in, which involves a full Heart-based adoption of the Great Commandment.
“If I say this is the religion about Jesus; if I say this is
the religion of Jesus – in other words the two go together. In fact, it’s a heresy to divide the person
and the work of Jesus, isn’t it? It’s a reduction and a dangerous one and it’s
damaged us deeply.” [Alan Hirsch, “Verge 2013 Sermon 4,” Rocky Vest, 32:10
(@24:34)]
“BUSY”
Norman says: “The church is too busy this year to devote any time to the non-religious needs of a neighbor requesting assistance. The Bride of Christ is too busy to devote itself to the second part of the Great Commandment.”
“We can see [the law expert in the Samaritan parable] as the typical Westerner, saying: ‘I have a busy schedule and I am extremely active in the evangelical church. Isn’t this sort of thing the government’s job, anyway?’” [Timothy Keller, Ministries of Mercy (3rd ed.), P&R Publishing, 2015, p. 14]
“The Idol of Busyness: Our cultural context asserts that our value is determined by our productivity and therefore we are worth more if we're busy! And our churches are full of the busiest of people! In fact, when I talk with church attenders about the call to love our neighbors, the most frequent response is, we're too busy at the church—and they are! But is all this busyness a reflection of the kingdom? If so, then taking time for relationships, celebration, hanging out in our neighborhoods and enjoying life together is, well, a waste of time. What would happen if more and more church people were to override such cultural illusions with kingdom values like Sabbath, gratitude and eating together?” [Karen Wilk, “9 Reasons Christians Fail to Love Their Neighbors,” MissioAlliance,” Sep. 19, 2016]
“What is it that he allowed to slow him down. What is it that Jesus let interrupt him. I want you to write this down in your study guide: “If I want to be used by God, I must get used to being interrupted.” If I want to be used by God, I must get used to being interrupted. Because God comes to you, many, many, many times in your interruptions and the opportunity to show love comes not in the scheduled things in life, but in the interruptions. That’s where love shows up. So, Jesus stops. You gotta stop what you’re doing at that moment. Why is that important? Because the number one destroyer of mercy is busyness. “I’m too busy. I don’t have time for this.” How many times have I said that phrase – or you said that phrase? I don’t have time for this.” Are you too busy to care? Mercy begins with awareness. You realize somebody’s in pain: in your family, in your neighborhood, at work, at school, wherever. “I don’t have time for this.” – If you care, you’ll be aware. (16:15) And this is the second step – first, you listen; second, you stop. And Jesus stops in his tracks because he knows, “I can’t be doing two things at once.” Busyness kills compassion. It is the death of kindness. It is the death of mercy.” [14:53; “Loving the People You Might Overlook with Rick Warren, Saddleback Church,” Saddleback Church, Jan 16, 2018; Scripture: Matthew. 20:30-34.; quotes from 15:26-16:28]
“Love begins with looking. Sensitivity begins with seeing. You can’t care until you are first aware. You gotta start noticing people in pain around you that you haven’t been noticing. Kindness always starts with the eyes, with the way you look at people. It starts with observation. You can’t meet a need until, first, you see a need. And if you can’t see the need. And if you don’t see it, you can’t meet it. So, first, I must see the needs of people around me. Friends, wounded people are all around you, all the time. They’re around you right now. . . . Hurry is the death of kindness. . . . The slower I go, the more I’ll see.” [31:27 Rick Warren, "Counter-Culture Kindness with Pastor Rick Warren,” Oct 15, 2019, Pastor Rick (Youtube channel), 1:09:49]
“Our paradigm is the Samaritan, who risked his safety, destroyed his schedule [overturned his busyness], and became dirty and bloody through personal [unmediated, non-“expert”] with a needy person of another race and social class. Are we as Christians obeying this command personally? Are we as a church obeying this command corporately? [Timothy Keller, Ministries of Mercy (3rd ed.), P&R Publishing, 2015, p. 13]
“Busy” (unwillingness to give time and concern) and “imperfect” (the rationalization behind “busy” or other failures to take a non-routine interest in a neighbor in need) are the front-line “reasons” (excuses) for not loving one’s neighbor as oneself. But “imperfect” stands alone as the “reason” that defends the existence of all others. [see “IMPERFECT”]
“Busy” – The “I’m too busy” mindset is often evidence of a conscious decision to ignore – to filter out – all which does not in an obvious manner benefit oneself. For many church people there are only two things worth giving attention to: a) one’s self and close connections (family, profession), and, b) religious activities (including Bible reading and prayer). Religious activities are self-serving. They prove submission to the rules and requirements of the religious group, which guarantee a ticket to immortality. When we use the “busy” excuse, we are choosing to act as if we are in a hurry when we are not. We are merely filtering out that which is not beneficial to us and trying to avoid future demands on time and attention. – Excerpt from a famous psychology study dealing with “hurry” involving seminary students: “A person not in a hurry may stop and offer help to a person in distress. A person in a hurry is likely to keep going. Ironically, he is likely to keep going even if he is hurrying to speak on the parable of the Good Samaritan, thus inadvertently confirming the point of the parable. (Indeed, on several occasions, a seminary student going to give his talk on the Good Samaritan literally stepped over the victim as he hurried on his way!)” [Darley, J. M., and Batson, C.D., "From Jerusalem to Jericho": A study of Situational and Dispositional Variables in Helping Behavior". JPSP, 1973, 27, 100-108. P. 107]
CALCIFICATION
Norman: “We have an organization, very structured – large staff, lots of congregants using services we provider. Things are already set up. You can’t rock the boat. Don’t ruffle feathers. It is what it is.”
Calcification – “Protestants, says historian Alec Ryrie, ‘have always known that their religious life is flawed and inadequate, and no sooner create an institution than they suspect it of calcifying into formalism and hypocrisy. ‘There’s no better example of that theme than the late seventeenth-century movement of Pietism, which Ryrie says brought about ‘a rekindling of the love affair with God that had been Protestantism’s beating heart since Luther and that had run through its veins ever since.’ What Ryrie means is that Protestantism has always had less to do with intellectual belief than with the lived experience of God’s love—which then flows into love of our neighbors.” [Chris Gehrz , “A Slice of Pietism: How the Covenant’s theological roots reveal the heart of the Reformation and hope for the church today,” Covenant Companion, October 26, 2017]
https://covenantcompanion.com/2017/10/27/a-slice-of-pietism/
Calcification – "’If God can bring to life the
Crucified Christ, surely God can bring to life a calcified church,’ Bishop
Peter Weaver said. ‘Resurrection defines who we are, our identity.’"
[Linda Bloom, “Call for ‘resurrection revolution’,” United Methodist News,
April 25, 2012]
CHURCH TEACHING (ABSENCE OF)
Norman says: “’Love your neighbor as yourself’ is not explicated thoroughly in my church. Loving God is the highest command. Loving your neighbor (whatever that really means) is a much lower priority. You can tell it is a lower priority because the pastors don’t dwell on it that much in sermons.”
God will not do our homework; God won’t do our push-ups. We have to understand that the second part of the Great Commandment is a serious assignment and that there is a way to do it in a godly way and a way to not do it properly. To learn to do it properly – with activated inspiration of the Holy Spirit – requires learning and therefore requires effective, informed teaching.
“Maybe the reason that people seem to find so much hypocrisy amongst Christians isn’t that just the Christians themselves are hypocrites but that there is a flaw in mainstream Christian teaching. … The majority of Christians are quick to teach the promises in the Bible – eternal life, peace and happiness, forgiveness for sins past, present, and future. But the conditions for these promises are not widely known. Denying yourself, taking up your cross (Matthew 16:24), living out all of Jesus’ commandments (John 14:15) – how often are these things preached in most churches? Sure, a lot of people acknowledge that the Bible says “go and sin no more” (John 8:11) but this is usually followed up by a quick reassurance that, “Of course, God understands our weakness. It’s not possible for us to really do this.” And there’s the hypocrisy right there.” [Anonymous, “Why are Christians so hypocritical? Could the accusation of hypocrisy in the church be more than just wild exaggeration?” Brunstad Christian Church, undated]
“Of course, many true Christians do not evidence the social concern the Bible says is a mark of real faith. How do we explain that? [Timothy Keller, Ministries of Mercy (3rd ed.), P&R Publishing, 2015, p. 69] Critique: How can these be “true Christians?” The term “social concern” needs to be underscored by the idea of concern for each unique individual.
The focus on metaphysical cosmology and text-on-the-page at the expense of creative incarnate Kingdom-realization results in a sterile (false) Body of Christ which girds itself against the surprising outflowing of incarnate love in other to maintain a safe and secure status quo.
John Wesley – “The linkage between faith and works is as unbreakable as that between heart and life. “It is incumbent on all that are justified to be zealous of good works,” says Wesley, “And these are so necessary that if a man willingly neglects them, he cannot reasonably expect that he shall ever be sanctified” (“The Scripture Way of Salvation” in Sermons II [vol. 3; ed. A.C. Outler; Abingdon, 1985], 164).; passage quoted here from: Henry H. Knight III, “Wesley on Faith and Good Works,” Catalyst, Jul. 9, 1913]
COMMUNITY THINNESS
30:24 A “thick contrast community.” What do we mean by that? You can’t just show up in church, get some inspiration and leave. If you are going to be really formed as a Christian, if you’re going to be different from the people around you, you’ve got to be in what the sociologists call not thin community, not thin church communities, but thick church communities. “Thick church communities” means you don’t just come one a week and see one another and get inspired – you need to be deeply involved in one another’s lives and you need to be a community in which people are being formed into Christians. Tim Keller, “How Does the Church Love the City?” Mar. 14, 2015, Together LA. 45:57]
How do we incorporate people into a “community” in name only. We cannot do it. First, we must have authentic community. To create authentic community, we must learn what genuine community is and see the creation of it as so valuable that we will actually do the work that will make it happen. A real community is a network where people know what other’s gifts are and know how to access them so that things can get done: sharing need information, making use of gifts to benefit others. [see NETWORK INEFFICACY]
It is both imagination and communication combined that build the network required. Intention alone cannot accomplish anything. Imagination is likewise required in being able to picture neighbors and church newcomers’ appropriate place in the community that will meet the needs of community and lead to individual shalom (Flourishing). [see SEMI-SHALOM]
“Me,” God,” they,” without a we/us” – Imagine a churchgoer
faced with a fellow churchgoer who needs “contacts” and advice in order to
escape chronic poverty. He has talents but he has been isolated for a long
period of time. The typical response is to try to send the neighbor to God
(through prayer) and/or to an outside institution. What does not happen is
bringing the neighbor deeper into the church community. Why? Because there is
no real community, properly speaking. There is no “we.” What is occurring is
that the churchgoer is seeing the “me;” he does not see the “we” (a community).
The “me,” therefore, wants to send the neighbor away: to God or
to a set of remote strangers, a “they” (a non-profit organization, the
internet, a book, etc.), but does not not bring him into a
“we/us.” The church that has no real community is merely a collection of
individuals who think as individuals, not as a discerning, action-oriented,
inter-communicative team, which is the description of a real Bible-informed
church community.
CURIOSITY ABSENCE & NOT ACTIVELY LISTENING (Absence of Concern)
“If you want to learn to love the people around you that you don’t realize you haven’t been loving effectively, listen. Listen for clues that people are in pain. Love always starts with listening.” [1:50; “Loving the People You Might Overlook with Rick Warren, Saddleback Church,” Saddleback Church, Jan 16, 2018; 55:15; Scripture: Matthew. 20:30-34.]
“This impatient, inattentive listening really despises the other Christian and finally is only waiting to get a chance to speak and thus to get rid of the other.” [Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 1939, English 1954, Life Together, p. 99] (added. Feb. 19, 2021)
“If proper listening does not precede it, how can it really be the right word for the other? If it is contradicted by one’s own lack of active helpfulness, how can it be a credible and truthful word? If it does not flow from the act of bearing with others, but from impatience and the spirit of violence against others, how can it be the liberating and healing word?” [Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, 1939, English 1954, p. 103] (added. Feb. 19, 2021)
“The first service one owes to others in the community involves listening to them. Just as our love for God begins with listening to God’s Word, the beginning of love for other Christians is learning to listen to them. God’s love for us is shown by the fact that God not only gives us God’s Word, but also lends us God’s ear. We do God’s work for our brothers and sisters when we learn to listen to them. So often Christians, especially preachers, think that their only service is always to have to “offer” something when they are together with other people. They forget that listening can be a greater service than speaking. Many people seek a sympathetic ear and do not find it among Christians, because these Christians are talking even when they should be listening. But Christians who can no longer listen to one another will soon no longer be listening to God either’ they will always be talking even in the presence of God. The death of the spiritual life starts here, and in the end there is nothing left but empty spiritual chatter and clerical condescension which chokes on pious words. Those who cannot listen long and patiently will always be talking past others, and finally no longer will even notice it. Those who think their time is too precious to spend listening will never really have time for God and others, but only for themselves and for their own words and plans.” [Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, 1939, English 1954, p. 98]
The capacity to be curious about other people is, in many cases, undeveloped. By focusing on text, law, liturgy, ritual and those prayers that are of an ineffectual nature (ERRAND-BOY GOD prayers; vague and generalized “good-will for all” prayers) directs one away from realizing that each person is an image of God, but containing particularized aspects of that image, and that there are depths that must be plumbed if one is to understand and reach the individual person. Standardized piety jargon and standardized “tellings” (telling to read this, telling to pray that, telling the Gospel promises) often are seen as proper outreach, while the capacity to ask and listen is shallow and is deployed in a manner that is not really sincere – not really curious, nor really focused and specific, not really interested.
People being “recruited” feel this absence of personal interest. On the other hand, some people will take away the idea that a claim of special powers (magical incantations and rituals) are being made and this will lead a person inclined to superstition to expect prayer and ritual will magically produce results. Failure to get results will then “disprove” the apparent claims.
“God requires not only a significant expenditure of our substance on the needy. We are obliged to spend our hearts and minds as well. Psalm 41:1 says, “Blessed is he who considers the poor.” One commentator notes, “The word considers is striking, in that it usually describes the practical wisdom of the man of affairs, and so implies giving careful thought to this person’s situation, rather than perfunctory help. We are to ponder the condition of the poor and seek ways to bring them to self-sufficiency. This takes a personal investment of time and of mental and emotional energy. God looks for a willing, generous heart, which freely helps those in need, and what we give with our hands is not acceptable without it. (2 Cor. 9:7). [Timothy Keller, Ministries of Mercy 3rd ed., P&G, 2015, p. 72]
Proverbs 18:13 “It’s stupid to decide without knowing the facts.” -- It is likewise stupid to proffer advice before learning the facts. Such behavior is categorically unloving – lacking concern, interest, curiosity – each which are defining components of love. Gospel neighboring – the behavior commanded – however, involves patient asking, listening and reflection. Neither is rushing a characteristic of a loving attitude. Nothing of practical utility, no actual problem-solving is likely to result from insincere or counterfeit acts of “love your neighbor.” After all, the command requires “as yourself.”
Consider this: Avoidance of the newcomer or seeker is characterized by the 5 knee-jerk cookie-cutter church purported “solutions” that are proffered often without real concern. Of course, when concern is truly active each can be an appropriate response to those in need, rather than brush-offs. Considering others requires paying attention, asking questions and thinking things through.
1) Offering to pray for X.
2) Telling X to pray for an improbable miracle solution.
3) Telling X his situation is God’s will.
4) Telling X to read the Bible.
5) Telling X that his resolution will come after death.
DECORUM (As idolatry & avoidance)
Norman says: “I’m nice to neighbors in need and tolerant of those who are afraid they won’t escape poverty. That’s love. Practical stuff doesn’t matter. Evangelizing is all that matters. Isn’t being polite and nice and tolerant what God means by ‘love?’”
The Polite Brush-off: For churchgoers who idolize decorum, the polite brush-off is incorrectly regarded as an expression of “love.” It is not. This practice is merely a modern middle-class version of the values of the law expert of the Samaritan parable. It is an expression of middle-class values, which are distant from, and often opposite to, gospel values.
Jesus did not try to charm. He was brusque when appropriate – and kind, patient, impatient, angry, or joyful, sorrowful when appropriate to his mission. Above all he was always fully engaged, intensely observant, creative, inspired and authentic. He never employed pro-forma decorum and charm.
Routine, unthinking conformity, can deaden the heart and the senses, causing one to be incapable of inspired engagement with a neighbor in need.
“Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, say Smith and Denton, seems to be “colonizing many historical religious traditions and, almost without anyone noticing, converting believers in the old faiths to its alternative religious vision of divinely underwritten personal happiness and interpersonal niceness.” [Kenda Creasy Dean, Almost Christian : What the Faith of Our Teenagers is Telling the American Church , 2010, Oxford UP]
DIFFUSE GENERALITY
Norman says: “I love everyone. Why pay special attention to the individual I see in front of me.” This formulation an absence of focus and manifests itself in Ignoring and avoiding the proximate and the temporally present.
“He who would do good to another must do it in Minute Particulars: general Good is the plea of the scoundrel, hypocrite, and flatterer, for Art and Science cannot exist but in minutely organized Particulars.” [William Blake (1757–1827), Jerusalem, f. 55, ll. 48–53, 60–6]
Vagueness – “But the religious hermit and the salvationist had both got hold of a great and carried to excess or are not restrained by other important duty, — the duty that is taught us in the “Second Commandment”: “Thou shalt love of love thy neighbor as thyself.” Unless there is such a thing as a righteous self-love, this “Second Commandment,” which Jesus said is like unto the First, has no meaning. For it is not the vague general precept, Love thy neighbor; but a definite and specific command to each human being to love his fellow-man as if that “neighbor" were really himself, worthy therefore of as much affection, regard, and love as a man may bestow upon himself.” [Henry George Spaulding, The Teachings of Jesus, Boston: 1887, p. 94]
Richard T. Ely – Contenting “herself with repeating platitudes and vague generalities which have disturbed no guilty soul,” the Church for many years has done but little to promote the true welfare of man and his fellowman; to bring about a reign of righteousness and justice in the community. The blame may be laid on the little knowledge of the fundamental principles of sociology possessed by the clergy, and of their too close observance of the first of the two commandments on which “hang all the law and the prophets,” often to the ignoring of the second, which reads : Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Professor Ely truly says that: “We cannot love our fellows effectively unless we give them our mind. We must devote ourselves long and carefully to the study of the science of human happiness, social science. This second branch of the gospel of Christ, so long neglected, ought to be pursued with equal earnestness, with equal diligence by Christians, with theology." [Fred De Land, notice on: Richard T. Ely, Social Aspects Of Christianity, And Other Essays. New York. Crowell, p. 25; in Electrical Engineering Magazine, Vol. 5, Jan-Jun.1895]
DISCERNMENT AVOIDANCE
Vague statements about God’s will are popular among churchgoers. The “God’s will”: comments avoid the recognition of the existence and the mandate of free will, ignoring choice when confronted with temptation. This mentality reveals a dangerous unawareness of the necessity of discernment. Apathy is reinforced by the tendency to ignore Satan.
The suffering of others is, in the words of a large share of churchgoers, explained as God’s plan, thereby providing excuse not to “intervene.” The parable of the Good Samaritan is conveniently forgotten. The story is about actively using free will and taking concrete action to intervene. The priest and the Levite give in to wicked temptation, give in to Satan. The law expert is likewise inclined. Yet the Samaritan resists temptation and fulfills God’s will: to love a neighbor as he loved himself.
The first part of the Great Commandment requires no
discernment, nor is there practical risk of harm to the object of the
believer’s love, who is God. With the second part, discernment is required –
and there exists substantial material risk to the object of the believer’s love
when that object is in need of assistance.
DUTY COMPLETED (Legalism)
Norman says: “There are Christian charities who are supposed to assist others in need – and I give to them. I even volunteer sometimes to participate in highly structured activities that are managed by these charities. Besides, I tithed already.”
There is always a danger of slipping into the mode of “buying” proof of compliance with the Great Commandment, both part one and part two. Gospel Heart is something different. It is not centered on institutional service, but rather on the proximity of the one who loves, making him, alert, observant and curious about his surroundings.
“How else do you motivate people to do justice? Not through duty, but through beauty. . . . Duty is self-absorbed and you’ll never do justice that way. [Timothy Keller, Sermon, “Doing Justice and Mercy,” Mar 21, 2016, 34:30]
“Legalistic remorse says, ‘I broke God’s rules,’ while real repentance says, ‘I broke God’s heart.’” [Tim Keller, Daily Keller, Twitter, Jan. 30, 2013]
Means to an end? – “The ministry of mercy is not just a means to the end of evangelism. Word and deed are equally necessary, mutually interdependent and inseparable ministries, each carried out with the single purpose of the spread of the kingdom of God.” [Timothy Keller, Ministries of Mercy 3rd ed., P&G, 2015, p. 113]
Heart, not fulfillment of duty – Deuteronomy 6:6 – These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.
There is a real risk that tithing and charitable donations, and even dutiful organized volunteer activity, can be treated as a pre-reformation indulgence. What is common in all three is mediation, the appointment of an agent (in volunteering, there is an “expert” in charge), which allows those who have not invested the requisite energy into strengthening their shown capacity for here-and-now Heart – ready to love, as himself, the neighbor in front of him who has interrupted his routine – to be dutiful in a disengaged or circumscribed sense so that his place in Heaven is “paid for.” In this way, the true meaning of Heart, “of love as yourself,” can be sidestepped and one’s scheduled routine can be maintained.
ERRAND-BOY GOD / “DIVINE BUTLER” (Superstition)
Norman says: “I will pray for him. It’s up to God what happens. I don’t know the details of the supplicating Neighbor’s situation. All I know is that he needs help and I can’t solve his problems with my resources, so why ask questions? He should pray. And I will pray for him. It’s God’s will my marginalized Neighbor poor and have no access to opportunities to make a living. I will pray for him.”
Hiding behind the “Divine Butler” or the “sentimentalist” type of prayer seems to be a practice encourages by churches. When one becomes reliant on the Divine Butler the neglect of neighbors in need becomes systematic and epidemic. There is a time and place for prayer; and there is a time and place for deeds. When we lack a capacity for discernment, we cannot tell the difference between them and we become merely superstitious. The skeptical world sees this and so do neighbors in need.
The command to LYTAY, as explained in the Good Samaritan parable, show love as specific and concrete – not generalized and abstract. The story also shows the action is costly. Many churchgoers who say that the LYNAY commandment is satisfied by two things: a) sharing the gospel message, and, b) making prayers to Jesus on behalf of the neighbor that would result in the neighbor’s needs being met by Jesus’ neighbor-serving acts. But the GS parable shows plainly that the commandment cannot be met through these two things. Rather, the commandment requires costly, specific, appropriate, concrete heart-propelled actions that are responsive to an unsought situation with a neighbor. The parable introduces the gospel definition of “neighbor” as anybody in one’s proximity rather than “one of our identity group.” The notion of “love as yourself,” however, is not novel. It is already understood that God expects believers to engage in works without passing the buck and expecting God to do the works. The believer has an assignment and it is not meeting the command to pray that God would fulfill the assigned task himself.
Tim Keller points out that the passage in (Nehemiah 4:9), “We prayed to God and posted a guard,” illustrates “the relationship between God’s sovereignty and human responsibility.” [43:46] . . . [48:33] [N]o matter how bad things get, on the one hand God is completely in charge on the other hand what you do really matters. And I know, intellectually, we say,” How can they both be right? It seems like if God’s in charge it doesn’t really matter what I do? If it matters what I do – if that really matters – then what happens can’t really be set in God’s plan. Now, I know that, logically, it doesn’t work, but I want you to realize how incredibly practical, at the heart/lived-life level, it is to believe what the Bible says. If I really believed that my actions could change the plan of God, that my prayers could change the plan of God, you’re not thinking. [Looking for a God Who Fights For Us,” 43:46 ca, Jul. 14, 2014]
Here is a prayer asking for the capacity to love one’s neighbor – Prayer: “May I never lose sight of how to love. May Christ renew me each time I lose sight of His commandment of love and bring me back to the path He has prepared for me. May the people I meet in this path become opportunities for me to live the teachings of Christ.” [Pearl Dy, “How to "Love Your Neighbor As Yourself" - Bible Meaning of Mark 12:31,” Christianity.com, March 16, 2020]. For a neighbor in need this is the proper type of prayer. It asks for the power to accurately understand and to engage in appropriate loving deeds for the neighbor in need. This stand in contrast to making a Divine Butler prayer that asks God to do the action. The Divine Butler prayer is not what is called for in the command to love thy neighbor.
“The current Catechism of the Catholic Church considers superstition sinful in the sense that it denotes "a perverse excess of religion", as a demonstrated lack of trust in divine providence (¶ 2110), and a violation of the first of the Ten Commandments. The Catechism is a defense against the accusation that Catholic doctrine is superstitious: Superstition is a deviation of religious feeling and of the practices this feeling imposes. It can even affect the worship we offer the true God, e.g., when one attributes an importance in some way magical to certain practices otherwise lawful or necessary. To attribute the efficacy of prayers or of sacramental signs to their mere external performance, apart from the interior dispositions that they demand is to fall into superstition. Cf. Matthew 23:16–22 (¶ 2111)” [Wikipedia]
It is popular for churchgoers to pass along “prayer” requests, to any including strangers, asking that prayers be said in order for al ill person to be healed. Yet, those who state they believe healing can be effectuated by this method, when confronted with the suggestion that it be used to heal complete strangers, for example people near death in hospitals, no interest in doing so expressed. Yet the contradiction seems not to bother the believer. They want to believe in their ability to direct God to concrete action and specific results in healing of a select few, yet they see no lapse in love of other in using their purported influence on God to heal the multitudes. This is vanity and immature “magical thinking.”
10:16 “You can be inspired and you can be emotionally moved, and you can get a quiver in your liver and you can have, you know, goose bumps, and you can be really emotional and never have real faith. James gives us an example of this: in James, chapter 2, verses 15 to 17, he says this: ‘Suppose you see a brother or sister who needs food or clothing, and you say to them, “I wish you well! I feel for you and I hope you stay warm and eat well!” But then you do nothing to meet their needs. What good does your sympathy do? It’s worth nothing! In the same way, faith, if it is not accompanied by action, doesn’t work. It’s dead and useless.’ Do you see the sarcasm James is using here? He says, you know, you see somebody who is out of work and we’ve got 32 million people out of work right now, just in America, and they need food, and they’re in the food lines. And you go up to them and say, ‘Hey, buddy, I feel for ya; hang in there; cheer up; keep your chin up; don’t worry, be happy – and say, you know what, I’ll pray for you.’ They don’t need your prayer. They need your food. OK, you can say all these words, but it’s not faith unless you do something about it.--- If I shut my finger in the car door and I can’t get it out, I don’t need your sympathy. I need your assistance. I need you to help me get my finger out of the door. I don’t need you to come up and say, you know, ‘I sense your pain,’ (let it flow, let it flow …). No. Real faith is practical. It gets involved with people’s needs.” [Rick Warren, with Pastor Rick Warren,” May 30, 2020, Pastor Rick Youtube channel, 10:16-12:15]
A young woman I know was as a toddler taken ill with a high fever. Her parents, adherents of The Way International, sought no medical assistance for the child but instead relied solely on prayer. Another party observed this and, without the parents’ permission, took the child to a doctor. It was discovered the girl had meningitis and was given treatment which saved her life. There are thousands upon thousands of stories like this. Christian Science is notorious for such "perverse excess of religion," which frequently results in death.
ETERNITY GAZING / APATHY ABOUT “ON EARTH”
Norman says: “God has a plan, therefore there is no point into trying to interfere with what happens to others – except – when we decide to pray to God to alter his plan and relieve the specific instance of suffering, we have decided to ask God to address.” This line of thought is illogical and profoundly self-serving.
“Everybody [in our large congregation] is busy.” [a real quote]
“Many churches are full of 'believers' who have 'said the prayer' and feel assured of their salvation and yet do not appear to be seeking to be—let alone helping others seek to be—more and more like Jesus. If being a Christian is simply a matter of what we believe, then whether or not we choose to 'obey' the greatest commandment is a moot point. When our context has taught us that what we believe is all that matters, well, then, what we believe is all that matters (and how we live or what we do or don't do, doesn't).” [Karen Wilk, “9 Reasons Christians Fail to Love Their Neighbors,” MissioAlliance,” Sep. 19, 2016]
It is common for people to say “God has a plan,” as a
generic comment on an event or situation. It turns out that the expression has
two distinct meanings. I learned this by stating “God has a plan; and so does
Satan.” I was offered the reply that “God wins.” This, of course, is a good
scriptural response when it comes to spiritual warfare. For many professed
Christians the endgame is all that matters – at least in the discourse I engage
them in. Yet, there is another sense of “God has a plan; and so does Satan,”
that requires a completely different response. This is the quotidian personal
spiritual welfare that involves individual agency and choice. It requires
discernment. One needs to know what voice they are hearing: God’s or Satan’s.
The “Eternity Gazer” is constantly dismissing daily life, and is eager to
dismiss it, invoking the Omega. And in this grandiosity the careful development
of the art of discernment is ignored.
EXPERTISM (Bureaucratic Charity; Institutionalism opposed to Individual Ministry)
Norman: “A marginalized person tells me he needs help of some sort. I respond by referring him or her to a list of Christian ministry organizations that provides ministry. After all, they are the experts, and he/she now has a long list of places to select from.” [see also PASSING THE BUCK]
Do we send our neighbor in need off to an “expert?” What are Christians called to be expert in? Expert on the scriptures? experts on laws? experts on jargon? expert on decorum? expert on elaborately and verbosely asking God to do our will? expert on the afterlife? experts on eschatology? experts on operating a non-profit? It seems to me there is only one expertise Christians are called to: The Great Commandment. Not half of it, but all of it. The Great Commandment is far more than the sum of its two parts. In fact, part one causes part two. If part two is lukewarm then there is visible proof that part one is lukewarm, too. This lukewarmness is not just “imperfection,” as so many enjoy claiming as a way of justifying themselves and their churches, but lukewarmness is really a cancellation: breach of covenant. The fruits are the proof. All the piety and mastery of texts in the world cannot make up for lack of heart. And heart is the beginning of faith and obedience. Christians, in short, are required to be experts in loving God and their neighbors (as themselves). The two-part Love is not optional, it is mandatory and cannot be assigned to an agent.
There exists an idolatry of process (bureaucracy, protocols, systems, procedures, credentials, rote training, policies) which stands in the way of, or replaces gospel heart.
Corralling the population of marginalized people and processing them is not the only way and is certainly not appropriate to every “outcast” or other person with critical problems that are unsolvable without assistance. This is a problem of categorization and idolatry of status. Know your place in the hierarchy is a feudalist concept, or a Confucian one; it does not recognize the existence of Gog-given gifts that go unidentified by credentials, CV, academic participation. The use of by churches of the bureaucratic charity model can be a very good thing, yet, there is a moral hazard. The practice insulates the congregation from direct personal heart-based ministry, which requires an active and discerning manifestation of heart that cannot be developed in a context that favors passivity and referral of the needy to others, to “experts.” A few hours of volunteer work in a highly structured bureaucratic charity is a good thing in of itself. It can also be a perfect way to begin learning about what marginalized people are experiencing and the problems they need to solve. But that beginning is not a fulfillment of a mandate for personal ministry, it is a first step.
Ministry to those in need requires true gospel heart conjoined with Fluent problem-solving. In order to avoid burden or limitations of one’s own specific knowledge and skills another requirement exists. This is a ready, eager and inspired network of community members (congregants and others) who can brainstorm and take action. Few individuals are ready to deal with a stranger or non-intimate acquaintance who is desperate or depressed. Ministry of difficult cases is teamwork.
Jesus was a practical and creative problem-solver. He didn’t to follow “the rules” and did not brush off people by sending them to the “experts,” the bureaucrats, such as the law expert, the priest and the Levite of the parable of the good Samaritan. Jesus had one rule, which was love, which was not a mere sentiment, but an effective response to real problems that would carry through to concrete results. This is not at all the same thing as proceduralism, following policy, or merely making good will gestures (virtue-signaling).
Jesus did not respect the “Human Resources” model of recruiting and managing. He was able to identify gifts without relying on CV or credentials. He saw able to correctly identify God-given gifts in every single person, as well as the absence of gifts. Pharaoh, Rome, the Sanhedrin, the Pharisees, Levites, however, put people into “boxes.” Like Confucians they saw everyone as having a socially (earthly) dedicated place in a worldly hierarchy which could only be maintained through absolute adherence and respect for static worldly order and authority. Jesus’ philosophy of people’s roles was the opposite from static place, it was dynamic growth.
Bureaucracy and hierarchy are necessary, but the gospel requires the believer to constantly transcend the hard-heartedness and lack of imagination that the se social institutions inculcate and enforce.
Jesus, in his three years of ministry, was not a “company man,” he was an entrepreneur.
“However, in at least one realm, the ministry of mercy, the
laypeople are still consigning ministry to ‘experts.’ In fact, the church
herself has almost completely conceded this work to secular agencies and
authorities. Many Christians cannot clearly define this duty, though they may
have good understandings of the ministries of evangelism, education, worship,
teaching, and fellowship.” [Timothy Keller, Ministries of Mercy 3rd
ed., P&G, 2015, p. 44]
Norman says: “Jesus didn’t really mean ‘as myself.’ The teachings on the second part of The Great Commandment by Martin Luther, Johnathan Edwards, Charles Spurgeon, Timothy Keller and John Piper are just plain wrong.”
Norman says: “It would be following the fallacy of ‘salvation by works’ if I were to feel obliged to take practical action to assist a neighbor in need. “
Since “social gospel” – which is really a worldly, rather than Gospel-sourced doctrine – is popular in churches that prefer to ignore most of the scripture there is a tendency among some Christians to erroneously label teachings on “radical gospel neighboring” as merely embodying the “social gospel” doctrine. Yet this equivalency is a false calculation.
“I wish the reader to understand that as often as we mention Faith alone in this question, we are not thinking of a dead faith, which worketh not by love, but holding faith to be the only cause of justification. (Galatians 5:6; Romans 3:22.) It is therefore faith alone which justifies, and yet the faith which justifies is not alone: just as it is the heat alone of the sun which warms the earth, and yet in the sun it is not alone, because it is constantly conjoined with light.” [John Calvin, Antidote to the Council of Trent (1547)]
“The way Jesus Christ can tell real faith from lip service is whether or not you don’t just talk about love, but you actually give it expression in deeds to people who have physical and material needs . . . . First John 3: ‘Brethren let us love not in word only, but in deed and truth.’” [Timothy Keller, Sermon: “Blueprint for Revival: Social Concern,” Sep. 2, 1990, 40:05, Luke 10:25-37 (Good Samaritan); @ 16:14]
1 John 3:17 – If we have what we need and we see other people in need, but we turn the cold shoulder and do nothing about it, the love of God is not in us. [Rick Warren, "A Faith That Loves My Neighbor as Myself" with Pastor Rick Warren,” Pastor Rick (channel), May 23, 2020, 55:27]
James 2:14 – Dear brothers and sisters, what’s the use of saying you have faith if you don’t prove it by your actions? That kind of faith can’t save anyone. [NLT]
James 2:17 – So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. [The Epistle of James is probably the earliest New Testament scripture]
James 2: 14-26 – 14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
Complementary statements of James and Paul – 4:51 “James and Paul do not contradict each other; they complement each other . . . When Paul is writing the emphasis of Paul is to know I’m saved, but the emphasis of James is to show how to be saved. Paul’s focus when he’s writing about this, he’s focusing on the root of my salvation, which is internal and unseen. James is focusing on the fruit of my salvation, which is external and visible. It’s two sides of the same coin. When Paul is talking about “works,” he’s talking about keeping Jewish laws, in order to become a believer. And he says you can’t do that; they won’t save you (keeping Jewish laws). But when James uses the same term and he talks about works or good deeds, he’s talking about living like Jesus because you already are a believer.” [Rick Warren, “‘Real Faith Versus Fake Faith’ with Pastor Rick Warren,” May 30, 2020, Pastor Rick Youtube channel, 37:28; 4:51]
“The Good Samaritan: In order to understand why Jesus told the lawyer to “go and do” we must understand that for Jesus to love God and love your neighbor are virtual synonyms (1 John 4:20a; cf. Matt 5:23-24; 25:40, 45).” [Alan P. Stanley, Did Jesus Teach Salvation by Works?: The Role of Works in Salvation in the Synoptic Gospels, Pickwick Pub., 2006, p. 330]
FEAR OF COST
Norman says: “My neighbor doesn’t need a simple hand-out; he needs a whole community of neighbors to accept him and help him develop. That’s too much effort.”
Norman says: “I don’t want to be manipulated. I can’t provide for the needs of others on my own and the church does not want to act as a network to provide collective help, except for emergency cash handouts. I’m too busy and everyone else in the church is too busy. Yet we are saved because we believe the Creed and we love God.”
Cost is not the problem here, it is fear. Fear will cause us to shut off curiosity and will block imagination and creativity that would, set free, result in new learning and delight. Once the fear is conquered, thoughts of cost will not be of great and immediate interest. The person in need will be of great and immediate interest – and the whole church community, if their Heart is strong, will be there to share the burden.
HEAVEN-GAZING (Tunnel-vision)
The heaven-gazer’s gaze is vertical (Kingdom of Heaven in Heaven), but not lateral (Kingdom of Heaven on Earth). The Great Commandment commands both.
Seeking metaphysical future solutions, while discounting immediate incarnate solutions. Encourages procrastination, emotional distancing fueled by legalistic intellectualism and abstractionism.
Eternity is God’s purview of glory. But our own connection to that grandeur involves incarnation: here and now, in actions, in learning and with engagement with neighbors.
1 John 3:17 – If we have what we need and we see other people in need, but we turn the cold shoulder and do nothing about it, the love of God is not in us.
HEAVEN-HOARDING (Individual Salvation Project)
Norman: “The purpose of belonging to a church is making sure I go to Heaven. The only requirement is belief. Everything else is ‘elective courses’ and optional ‘extra credit’ assignments.”
Synonyms for “Heaven Hoarding”: “The gospel of sin management” (Dallas Willard). “Cosmic Fire Insurance.” “Pie in the sky when you die.” “Fire-insurance gospel.” “Eternal Fire Insurance Policy.” “Individual Salvation Project.”
EXCERPT: “There are huge pockets of evangelicalism where this profound Reformation reframing [of the definition of ‘the gospel’] is little more than four simple (and thin) points: God loves you, you are messed up, Jesus died for you, accept him and (no matter what you do) you can go to heaven.” [p. 73, Scot McKnight, The King Jesus Gospel: A Conversation: The Original Good News Revisited, 2011, Zondervan.] (Jan. 11, 2021; added Feb. 19, 2021)
Secular thinkers correctly recognize that many preachers and churchgoers refuse to follow Jesu’s commands: they treat the second part of the Great Commandment as if Jesus did not mean what he said. They just want the “free stuff.” – “Evangelicals don’t exactly hate Jesus — as we’ve provocatively asserted in the title of this piece. They do love him dearly. But not because of what he tried to teach humanity. Rather, Evangelicals love Jesus for what he does for them. Through his magical grace, and by shedding his precious blood, Jesus saves Evangelicals from everlasting torture in hell, and guarantees them a premium, luxury villa in heaven. For this, and this only, they love him. They can’t stop thanking him.” [Phil Zuckerman, Prof. of Sociology and Secular Studies, Pitzer College in Claremont, Ca. & Dan Cady, Asst. Prof. of History at California State University, Fresno. Why Evangelicals Hate Jesus, Huffington Post, Mar. 3, 2011 (May 25, 2011)] (Jul. 31, 2020; added Feb. 19, 2021)
In a church small group which met weekly, the topic of the church’s position on engaging in directly with neighbors in need of, and/or, requesting (non-financial) assistance garnered no interest apart from generalized comments on how being a good neighbor is a good thing. Yet, the topic of whether those who are saved will be reunited with pets in Heaven was discussed with strong interest and a book on the subjects was recommended.
We won’t be able to remember what we’re doing unless were member who we’re doing it for. We’re not doing it for ourselves. The practice of faith isn’t just — and isn’t primarily simply an individual salvation project. The practice of faith is the practice of eucharistia, “eucharist,” thanksgiving. Not thanksgiving to countries, or governments, or leaders, or political parties — particularly when they demean the innate dignity of every human being, no matter how different or “lowly” they may appear to us — but thanksgiving to God who always extends the promise of His love, a promise we’re to extend to others. That’s what God’s law does: it guides and channels the practice of our love for others. That’s the promise God extends to each one of us, and that’s the promise we’re to extend to others. When we enter God’s promise, we’ll enter His land. And we’ll find that the promised land is the land right beneath our feet. [Deacon Philip Johnson, Nov. 31, 2018]
Heaven-hoarding – a perverse insurance policy aimed at guaranteeing expiation below, followed by a rather pleasant version of immortality up above – is the motive behind the hypocrisy so common among nominal Christians, the unconverted “sanctified” ones who think they are converted, but are not. “Christian” hypocrisy is not a mere passive lapse, a matter of a falling short of “perfection.” Rather, it is an active violent assault on the Gospel itself and likewise is a violent assault on neighbor and community. It creates a false sense that things are being taken care of when they are decidedly not being taken care of, leading believers and community to neglect serious needs. It is hard to describe the horror felt by those outside the church when they are confronted with Heaven-hoarding hypocrisy – and the subsequent excusing of hypocrisy – that is perpetuated openly, constantly and consistently in the name of Christ. Why don’t churches preach on this matter constantly and consistently until the problem is reversed? Simple. It is a hard teaching which risks loss of members, thus loss of tithes.
HIERARCHY IDOLATRY
The tendency to rely on worldly signals of status determines the way a person is valued, or assessed. Yet God-given gifts are not always going to come with a certification, degree or legible resume entry.
There is exists an idolatry of status that is intertwined with idolatry of Credentials, class, order, corporations, government bureaucracy, and of institutional routine.
Over-reliance of structured activities and policies in such a way that originality, inspiration and discernment– which are necessary components of love – are absent.
This is not to say that structure, discipline and authority are not necessary, but that it is easy for an institution to become calcified and sapped of inspiration. This causes inspired mission to be replaced by sterile mission-theater. Institutions of love need to be self-critical and constantly refreshed.
HYPOCRISY INCOMPLETELY DEFINED
It is common for preachers to discuss hypocrisy in the abstract as evidence of permanent “imperfection,” and more concretely in examples of “lapses” exemplified by history of Christianity or in news stories of preachers who have been caught in adultery or crime. Another popular common point of discussion regarding Christian hypocrisy is centered on churches which follow doctrine which restricts women from church leadership and which treats homosexual practices as scripturally proscribed.
Yet Christian confession to error and weakness is not proof of fundamental sincerity. Hypocrisy in Christianity is not a matter of failing law or duty, nor even of weakness. It is a matter of greed for immortality and love of social acceptance. It is not the sin that is connected to the promotion of virtue that is the mark of the hypocrite. Rather, it is the blindness to one’s true heart that comes from the greedy desire for the free offering made by Christ of immortality. This greed, this Heaven-hoarding,” is more intense, more complete than the greed for money or power. Its product is pathological denial, the absence of self-knowledge that is backed up by a fierce illusion of sincerity. The smiling self-deceiver who evangelizes (recruits) is the worst possible representative of Jesus’s message. “Before the world they stand as eminently pious, because they are minutely attentive to the externals of the sanctuary; but yet they are careless of the inward matter. [Spurgeon, “Hypocrisy.”]
“A hypocrite may be known by the fact that his speech and his actions are contrary to one another. As Jesus says, "they say and they do not." The hypocrite can speak like an angel, he can quote texts with the greatest rapidity; he can talk concerning all matters of religion, whether they be theological doctrines, metaphysical questions, or experimental difficulties.” [Charles Haddon Spurgeon, “Hypocrisy,” Feb 6, 1859 Scripture: Luke 12:1 Sermon No. 237 From: New Park Street Pulpit Volume 5]
“He who is true will sometimes suspect himself of falsehood, while he who is false will wrap himself up in a constant confidence of his own sincerity.” [Charles Haddon Spurgeon, “Hypocrisy,” Feb 6, 1859 Scripture: Luke 12:1 Sermon No. 237 From: New Park Street Pulpit Volume 5]
IGNORING “AS YOURSELF”
Rev. John Piper – “In other words, make your self-seeking the measure of your self-giving. When Jesus says, "Love your neighbor as yourself," the word "as" is very radical: "Love your neighbor as yourself." That's a BIG word: "As!" It means: If you are energetic in pursing your own happiness, be energetic in pursuing the happiness of your neighbor. If you are creative in pursuing your own happiness, be creative in pursuing the happiness of your neighbor. If you are persevering in pursuing your own happiness, be persevering in pursuing the happiness of your neighbor. In other words, Jesus is not just saying: seek for your neighbor the same things you seek for yourself, but also seek them in the same way—the same zeal and energy and creativity and perseverance.” [John Piper, “Ask Pastor John, Questions and answers with John Piper: Love Your Neighbor as Yourself, Part 2,” May 7, 1995, 33:30; Scripture: Matthew 22:34–40]
“IMPERFECT” (The Popular “Easy Out”)
The “imperfection” excuse is the most prevalent and most damaging of all hypocritical Christian devices.
Norman says: “I’m imperfect.” There’s no immediacy or reason to actually love my neighbor as myself. Loving God is really what’s important. I am fully forgiven for not cultivating in my heart and not acting effectively on “love your neighbor as yourself.”
Norman says: “Since I am imperfect in meeting the first part of the Great Commandment, I choose to expend my energy and time in worshiping (loving) God. That’s why there’s never any time left for the complicated and awkward business of the less important second part of the Great Commandment.”
Norman says: “Jesus loves you. I don’t. It is unfair to expect imperfect persons who are Christians to give practical assistance unless it falls within our standardized charity programs.”
[“Grace is NOT an Excuse to be Imperfect” [title of article, A Woman Saved Magazine, Spring/Summer 2016]
“God’s grace covers our imperfections when we fall short. It is not a ‘get out of jail free’ card.” [Lo Tanner, “6 Excuses Christians Need to Stop Using to Excuse the Sin They’re In,” Laced With Purpose, July 1, 2016]
Matthew 5:48 – Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. – “The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges synthesizes several approaches: Either (1) in reference to a future state, “if ye have this true love or charity ye shall be perfect hereafter;” or (2) the future has an imperative force, and perfect is limited by the preceding words = perfect in respect of love, i. e. “love your enemies as well as your neighbours,” because your Father being perfect in respect of love does this.” [Wikipedia]
“Busy” (unwillingness to give time and concern) and “imperfect” (the rationalization behind “busy” or other failures to take a non-routine interest in a neighbor in need) are the two front-line “reasons” (excuses) for not loving one’s neighbor as oneself. But “imperfect” stands alone as the “reason” that defends the existence of all others. [see “BUSY”]
Imagine this. You have three children, a set of 18-year-old twins and a 17-year old. They each take an academic examination. You have the highest expectations of their scores. The testing entity provides you with a report that states the 17-year-old has a “perfect” score and the other two have “imperfect scores.” Would you regard this information adequate to assist you in your assessment of your children’s efforts and skills? Of course not. Let’s say you request the actual scores of the two “imperfect” outcomes. You receive them and learn that one of the twins got a 99 on the test and the other one got a 20. This hypothetical anecdote demonstrates that a person attempting to explain away or defend their behavior, accomplishment, knowledge, skills or even integrity as “imperfect” is utterly meaningless. The employment of this vague and empty rhetoric is a defensive trick used in order to attempt to fool you into accepting an opaque, uninformative statement as if it were an honest description. This is why churchgoers who try to explain “Christian” hard-heartedness, hypocrisy, or a chronic self-deceptive mindset as merely evidence of imperfection – which, by definition, applies to everyone ever on earth except Jesus Christ – is exceedingly deceptive. What Christ demands (Mark) is a completeness of “Heart,” a complete adoption of his integrity, an integrity that causes actions, attitudes to be consistent with the Great Commandment. The results will be, it goes without saying, imperfect, yet this fact is not proof that Christ commands one to “wish” to be “better” at some distant point in time after having been saved, or that one ought to constantly confess (admit) without genuinely repenting (fundamentally turning around). Repentance is profound, confession is shallow.
INSUFFICIENTLY NEEDY
There is a preference for those who are destitute (“widows and orphans”) over those neighbors struggling to avoid destitution or despair who are not yet flat-out indigent. This is corollary to the preference those neighbors who are not proximate, not present in real time. [REMOTENESS PREFERRED]
“Here’s one excuse: ‘But you say, “They are not truly poor. I only have to help people when they are truly destitute and poor.” And Edwards’ answer: ‘We should relieve our neighbors only in extreme destitution? That is not agreeable to the rule of “love our neighbors as ourselves.” We get concerned about our situation long before we become destitute. We know something about our situation long before we become destitute. So, we should love our neighbors as ourselves.’” [@ 21:17 in Timothy J. Keller, “Neighbors” From series: “The Meaning of Jesus,” Part 2; “Following Him,” February 23, 2003; (43:13); Scripture: Luke 10:25-37; ref. to passages in Jonathan Edwards, Protestant Charity or The Duty of Charity to the Poor, Explained and Enforced. 1732.]
“Some have said that Luke 10:25-37 [Good Samaritan parable] only teaches us that we should help non-Christians in unusual emergency situations. But that interpretation ignores the context . . . . the parable of the Good Samaritan clearly defines our “neighbor” as anyone at all – relative, friend, acquaintance, stranger, or enemy – whose need we see. Not all men are my brothers [co-religionist], but every man is my neighbor.” [Timothy Keller, Ministries of Mercy (3rd ed.), P&R Publishing, 2015, p. 89]
INTELLECTUALIZING - FAKE FAITH (Goat Religion)
Norman: “I believe the Christian Creed, therefore I have faith and am saved. Of course, I’m imperfect, but that is not going to interfere with the fact I have made the commitment to faith that will definitely get me into Heaven. It’s settled, so I can afford to be quite imperfect indeed.”
“Real Faith is practical. It gets involved with people’s needs.” [Rick Warren, “‘Real Faith Versus Fake Faith’ with Pastor Rick Warren,” May 30, 2020, Pastor Rick Youtube channel, 37:28; 12:11]
James 2:14-20 Dear brothers and sisters, what’s the use of saying you have faith if you don’t prove it by your actions> That kind of faith can’t save anyone! Suppose you see a brother or sister who needs food or clothing, and you say to them, “I wish you well! I feel for you and I hope you stay warm and eat well!” But then you do nothing to meet their needs. What good does your sympathy do? It’s worth nothing! In the same way, faith, if it is not accompanied by action, doesn’t worth. It’s dead and useless!” (NLT)
James 2:26 – Just as a body without a spirit doesn’t breathe and is dead, so faith that doesn’t do anything is just as dead.
“You have to have real faith, not fake faith, or it doesn’t work. . . . (1:57) Fake faith has no power to change your life. It has no power to save you.” [Rick Warren, “‘Real Faith Versus Fake Faith’ with Pastor Rick Warren,” May 30, 2020, Pastor Rick Youtube channel, 37:28; 1:27]
13:12 “Faith is more than the words I say. Faith is more than the emotions I feel. Number 3, James says real faith is more than an idea that I debate. And he says that in the very next verse, James chapter 2, You know, for some people faith is just an intellectual game. It’s just a mental challenge – it’s a theology to be studied; it’s a doctrine to be debated; it’s a dogma to be defended; it’s an idea to be discussed; it’s a truth to be talked about. In other words, for them, faith is not something that you do. Faith is just a conversation. They love to talk. Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. They’ll talk all day and night about God, about faith. And they’ll be happy to debate you. And it’s all about conversation, not about conduct. They would rather discuss the Bible than do it. They’d rather debate theology than do it, than practice it.” [Rick Warren, “‘Real Faith Versus Fake Faith’ with Pastor Rick Warren,” May 30, 2020, Pastor Rick Youtube channel, 37:28; 13:12-14:19]
“Our behavior shows what we really believe.” [Rick Warren, “‘Real Faith Versus Fake Faith’ with Pastor Rick Warren,” May 30, 2020, Pastor Rick Youtube channel, 37:28; 32:11]
Goat Religion – We can call fake faith – the legalism of word without deed – Goat Religion, a religiosity that stands apart from gospel-embracing true Christianity. It is the product of an idolatry of the mind which loves rules yet fails in applying them in the Spirit of the law due to underdevelopment of heart. (RKS)
Fake faith kills. He who holds it is killed is made a goat
and the neighbor in despair goes dangerously neglected. (RKS)
JINX EFFECT
Norman says: “If I become open to the idea that problems of my neighbors are not adequately addressed through prayer only then my own faith gets undermined. I believe that when I pray for what I want (for myself or for others) it will be answered, unless, of course, God has a plan that requires my prayers not to be answered. If I were to accept the idea that I should take practical actions that involve what Keller (“Neighbors”) describes as ‘seeing,’ contacting,’ ‘ listening to,’ and ‘thinking about,’ the neighbor in need, and taking actions in an effort to get concrete results, then my belief in the sufficiency in prayer is violated. This would suggest that my expectation of benefiting from my prayer requests will not work. It seems a form of blasphemy to take practical action to assist my neighbor in need.”
KNOWING, NOT DOING (Gnosticism)
“We are tasked with doing more than committing words to memory. The real challenge for us is to translate the words into action. Disciples don’t merely memorize words. Disciples embody and practice the truths learned from their Teacher. The oldest flaw in faith is the belief that knowing the words will translate into living the truths.” [Patrick Anderson, “Red Letter Ethics: Putting First Things First,” Red Letter Christians, Aug. 19, 2019]
“Jesus calls upon His followers not to produce “believers” or “knowers,” but rather to nurture and activate “disciples” who “do” what Jesus said: Love neighbors unconditionally. Welcome strangers. Protect vulnerable people. Condemn hypocrites. Expose liars and thieves. Practice nonviolence zealously.” [Patrick Anderson, “Red Letter Ethics: Putting First Things First,” Red Letter Christians, Aug. 19, 2019]
LIMITING DEGREE OF LOVE, THUS DEGREE OF WORKS
John Wesley – “Sins of omission are avoiding to do good of any kind when we have the opportunity. We must beware of these sins and, instead, be zealous of good works. Do all the good you possibly can to the bodies and souls of your neighbors. Be active. Give no place to laziness. Be always busy, losing no shred of time. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.” [John Wesley, from “Christian Perfection,” in 'Devotional Classics' edited by Richard Foster and James Bryan Smith, 281-86]
MAN AS JUDGE (The merit system)
“I think this person brought on their poverty by their own fault.” [Jonathan Edwards, Protestant Charity or The Duty of Charity to the Poor, Explained and Enforced. 1732.]
“God’s mercy comes to us without conditions, but does not proceed without our cooperation. So too our aid must begin freely, regardless of the recipient’s merits. But our mercy must increasingly demands change or it is not really love.” [Timothy Keller, Ministries of Mercy (3rd ed.), P&R Publishing, 2015, p. 99]
MASCOT SYNDROME
The person who is a “spectacular failure” (a term used by Pastor
Abe Cho, Redeemer East Side, NYC) is welcomed in the church. He is tolerated
and forgiven. It important, however, that the neighbor who is in dire straits
due to his failures does not become for the congregation the focus of a
misguided desire to make use of that neighbor as a tangible symbol of material
poverty and social dysfunctionality. A symbol helps one to focus, and yin this
case the neighbor helps one direct their attention to the gospel message of
respecting the poor. What can occur is
that the neighbor become a “mascot,” of instrumental value who embodies the
idea of the outcast who is welcome and forgiven, and which has utility
specifically because of his misery. In this situation the troubled neighbor is
more useful the more he embodies the useful “poverty principle” tokenistically.
MORALISTIC THERAPEUTIC DEISM (MTD)
Congregational leaders are guided by what Juan Luis Segundo calls the General Rule of Pastoral Prudence, “The absolute minimum in obligations in order to keep the maximum number of people.” Pastors who are now required to report attendance and membership figures every Monday morning are unlikely to challenge this market-driven, consumer culture.
Therefore, United Methodist congregations are populated by people John Wesley regarded to be “almost Christian.”They are outwardly Christian, participating in worship and church programs and activities, doing good works in the church and community, and are generally good, decent, responsible citizens. However, their Christianity is often only skin deep. Their religious beliefs are more akin to what Kenda Creasy Dean calls Moralistic Therapeutic Deism (MTD) than orthodox Christianity. The guiding beliefs of MTDism are:
·A god exists who created and orders the world and watches over life on earth.
·God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.
·The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.
·God is not involved in my life except when I need God to resolve a problem.
·Good people go to heaven when they die.
[Kenda Creasy Dean, Almost Christian: What The Faith of Our
Teenagers is Telling the American Church, (New York: Oxford University Press,
2010), p. 14]
NEGLECT AS STATUS QUO
Norman says: “The neighbor in need, if he believes, will go to Heaven. That’s good enough. We should not expend too much energy on a saved neighbor. Better to focus on converting a non-believer. Meanwhile the believer neighbor is given lots of church-provided religious services. That’s what really matters.”
Norman says: “There are already church members whose needs are neglected and this is not cause for concern within the church. Why should the church extend thorough assistance (Gospel Neighboring, “love”) to a newcomer who is not even a member?”
“’Fertilize the church for mercy by motivating the whole church. Then do the “spade work” of meeting some basic needs within the church and of surveying the community for felt needs.” [Timothy Keller, Ministries of Mercy (3rd ed.), P&R Publishing, 2015, p. 143]
NETWORK INEFFICACY
The lazy heart says: “I saw the neighbor in need. I looked into it. I didn’t have an immediate solution. So, I told him I’d pray for him, which I did. I didn’t bother to tell any of my fellow-congregants, of course. It’s all in God’s hands now, after all.”
There is a great lack of imagination and proactiveness: “I have nothing to spare. In other words, I am too poor to help others, or I am too tired and burned out to help any more people.” [paraphrase of Jonathan Edwards; Ida Kaastra Mutoigo (Canada), “The Poverty Mindset,” WorldRenew, Nov. 26, 2012]
In complex cases no one person can adequately assist a neighbor, yet expenditure of resources (time, social capital, mental effort) can be distributed among many and allow the burden on individuals to be reasonable. But this is not possible if the group is not accustomed to communicate and work as an organic pro-active self-accountable team in an authentic, rather than institutional, community. Connections are extremely valuable [see PRIDE]
Real Gospel community is a group of people who all recognize that we are engaged in Spiritual Warfare. It is like a US Marine Corp platoon wherein everyone can rely on the other. Each is ready to cover the other and to attend to the wounded. Thus, when a job is too much for one, the team is ready to jump in and “get ‘er done.”
PASS THE BUCK
Norman says: “We have a ministry to deal with staff members and volunteers. Neighbors in need should go there. There are church members whose needs are neglected. Why should the church extend thorough assistance (Gospel Neighboring, “love”) to a newcomer who’s not even a member?”
Other forms of Passing the Buck are offering “Divine Butler” prayer (without inquiring and listening, without needed action), instructing a neighbor to rely on his or her own efforts at “Divine Butler” prayer without necessary action, and instructing the neighbor that his bad situation is “God’s will.”
PASSIVITY
Jesus is pro-active on earth – as He is in Heaven. Imitating Jesus is to be pro-active on earth. Heaven gazing and passive responses to Neighbors is not imitative of Jesus.
There is a popular notion that every difficulty must be “turned over to God” and we shall be rewarded for doing so since that practice is an example of faith. This is a formula for neglecting practical immediate needs.
Rev. Charles Spurgeon: “Beloved, it is as much the business of God’s minister to preach man’s duty as it is to preach Christ’s atonement—and unless he does preach man’s duty, he will never be blessed of God to bring man into the proper state to see the beauty of the atonement. . . . You are bound to love your neighbor—then do not neglect him. He may be sick, he may live very near to your house and he will not send for you to call on him. He says, “No, I do not like to trouble him.” Remember, it is your business to find him out. The most worthy of all poverty is that which never asks for pity. See where your neighbors are in need. Do not wait to be told of it, but find it out yourself and give them some help. Do not neglect them. And when you go, go not with the haughty pride which charity often assumes. Go not as some superior being about to bestow a benefaction. But go to your brother as if you were about to pay him a debt which nature makes his due and sit by his side and talk to him.” [Charles Spurgeon, “Love Your Neighbor,” Mar. 18, 1857]
PERSONAL DISLIKE
“I don’t want to help this person because he is of an ill temper and an ungrateful spirit.” [Jonathan Edwards, Protestant Charity, or The Duty of Charity to the Poor, Explained and Enforced. 1732.]
“God continually introduces us to people for whom we have no affinity, and unless we are worshipping God, the most natural thing to do is to treat them heartlessly, to give them a text like the jab of a spear, or leave them with a rapped-out counsel of God and go. A heartless Christian must be a terrible grief to God.” – Oswald Chambers (1874-1917), Run Today’s Race (compilation, 1968)
“And the problem, the reason why what I’m saying is so hard to do, is because people who need your love feel unloved. And people who feel unloved are, how shall I say it, obnoxious. In fact, the less you’ve been loved, the more obnoxious you are, because if you can’t get love you can at least get attention. We’ve all seen this with kids growing up. “If I can’t get my parents’ love, at least I’ll at least get their attention. And if that means, you know, getting into all kinds of stuff I don’t want to get into, then I’ll get their attention. The people who need love the most are often the most difficult to love. When you see somebody who’s rude, who’s obnoxious, who is brutal in their words, and is so demeaning and so demanding, you just need to know, that person needs massive doses of love. Their cup has nothing in it. They’re empty. And so, if I don’t feel good about me, I certainly don’t want you to feel good about you.” [27:09; “Loving The People You Might Overlook with Rick Warren, Saddleback Church,” Saddleback Church, Jan 16, 2018; 55:15; Scripture: Matthew. 20:30-34.]
There is a philanthropy industry which is expert at marketing and branding. Donors may know something directly about the people served, but mostly donors are the subject of standard sophisticated salesmanship designed by the same people who sell any product or service. Therefore, we can expect that at every turn we will be offered opportunities to expend resources to assist others.
This explains why the proximate neighbor is so easily overlooked by those who want to do good deeds to help those in need. The proximate neighbor has no marketing team promoting his story.
“How to Tell if You’re More into Churchianity Than You are into Christianity: You don’t mind serving the outcast but you don’t want them to join your congregation. [Paula Harrington, “How to Tell if You’re More into Churchianity Than You are into Christianity,” Marshall County Daily, Ky. Dec. 16, 2019] (Jan. 11, 2021; added Feb. 19, 2021)
PRIDE
Norman says: “It would be embarrassing to expend social capital within the Church network for someone who has for so long been outside the middle-class workforce.”
Connections are extremely valuable: “Stop looking two rungs above you. Look all the way up to where Jesus Christ is and then look below you. Look at the rungs below you. You’ve got power in your hands. You’ve got talents in your hands. You’ve got ability in your hands. You’ve got connections in your hands. You’ve got some money in your hands, maybe not much. You’ve got power in your hands. Find some people that are in your power to help.” [Timothy Keller, Sermon: “Blueprint for Revival: Social Concern,” Sep. 2, 1990, 40:05, Luke 10:25-37 (Good Samaritan); @ 20:04] [see NETWORK INEFFICAY]
RECRUITING AGENDA (& Apologetics)
Norman says: “Evangelizing is sufficient. After all, the greatest help one can give is to get someone to believe. His soul is all that matters; his flesh will perish. Therefore, I am loving my neighbor as myself by sharing the faith. That is the highest love, so no other manifestation of love need be considered.”
Norman says: “The focus of the church is growth, recruitment. That’s where I put my energy, in loving EVERYBODY in the entire world as a unit. The person standing in front of me should not get special attention regarding his needs (apart from religious needs).”
“When we put church attendance ahead of knowing Jesus, even chronologically, we can unintentionally send people the wrong message – that salvation is about church attendance.” [Karl Vaters, “A Better Way to Invite People to Church – And to Jesus; Attending church for the first time is hard. But we can make it easier for people if we do this one thing.” Pivot, Jan. 15, 2016]
“Basically, people get loved toward belief. They don’t get argued toward belief. And even though it’s my job, I don’t even think people get preached toward belief.” [21: 14; Tim Keller, Sermon: “Hospitality and God’s Grace,” Oct. 14, 2012 Luke 14:7-24]
People can tell when you are thinking of them as generic prospects for recruitment. Treat them as pearls of great value and they will notice that, too. Examine them for their uniqueness; do not try to sell them your product.
RELIGIOSITY
Jesus told neither the outcasts nor the Pharisees that they need more religion. He told them they need more love.
“Religion: My prayer life consists largely of petition, and it only heats up when I am in a time of need. My main purpose in prayer is control of the environment. – Gospel: My prayer life consists of generous stretches of praise and adoration. My main purpose is fellowship with God.” [Timothy Keller, “Religion vs. Gospel,” from Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012, p. 65]
“Religion doesn’t take us very far ……. [Keller, lecture, source?]
RISK AVERSION
“[I]t often appears that many Christians are indistinguishable from their neighbors in critical respects. Risk-averse and security-conscious, we seem unwilling to risk much of anything, let alone our lives, for the sake of the gospel. Yet it is in fact risk-taking in this world to which the gospel calls us (“For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me for the gospel will save it.” Mark 8:35).
[Michael W. Holmes, The NIV Application Commentary: 1 and 2
Thessalonians, Zondervan, 1998, p. 161]
“Idolatry worships a creation instead of the Creator.
Idolatry loves symbols more than the thing to which a symbol points. Idolatry
satisfies itself with knockoffs and shadows. Idolatry imagines God can be
contained and therefore controlled and owned. Because idolaters think they know
where the treasure resides, they allow no alterations to their maps and they
punish explorers—with violence, if necessary.” [Alan Hirsch God in a Doctrinal
box,” 100 Movements, July 24, 2017]
SELF-FOCUSED
RATIONALIZATION
“There’s a misunderstanding in some places in popular
Christianity that: “If I am to love my neighbor as myself, … you know, I’m not
loving myself very much; I haven’t taken a vacation recently; I work too hard;
I think I give too much; … I don’t do enough for myself. So, if I’m to love my neighbor
as myself, I better love myself more.” –
And I’ve heard that taught, but, you know, it’s a complete
misunderstanding and misrepresentation of scripture.” [John Schoenheit, “Love
Your Neighbor As Yourself,” Youtube, TruthOrTradition, Jul. 22, 2016, 11:22
(@1:48)]
SENTIMENTALISM (False Definition of Love)
Norman says: “Having kind, positive thoughts is sufficient – backed up by praying for others. ‘Feeling’ positive sentiments is all that is meant my ‘love thy neighbor.’”
Standardized smiling and employment of piety jargon does not serve as a replacement for engaged, active, present Heart.
Love is not a feeling, it is an action. – “The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 13 that without love nothing else matters. The Bible tells us in 1 John 4 that love shows that we really know God – that if we don’t love our neighbor, we really don’t know God. The Bible tells us that to love God and other people is our number one responsibility on earth. So, what’s love? You know, it’s a very overused and very misunderstood word. Two of the most popular misconceptions about love [are], number one, a lot of people think love is a feeling. No, it’s not. Love creates feelings, but is not a feeling. ‘Cause you can’t command a feeling. [9:26; Rick Warren, "A Faith That Loves My Neighbor as Myself" with Pastor Rick Warren,” Pastor Rick (channel), May 23, 2020, 55:27]
James 2:14-20 – Dear brothers and sisters, what’s the use of saying you have faith if you don’t prove it by your actions> That kind of faith can’t save anyone! Suppose you see a brother or sister who needs food or clothing, and you say to them, “I wish you well! I feel for you and I hope you stay warm and eat well!” But then you do nothing to meet their needs. What good does your sympathy do? It’s worth nothing! In the same way, faith, if it is not accompanied by action, doesn’t worth. It’s dead and useless!” (NLT)
“Quite honestly, I’m exhausted by Christians who don’t want to learn more. It’s one thing to not know much about our faith, but another to have no desire to grow. I’m saddened that atheists are so passionate about what they believe that they will read stacks of books in order to define their beliefs, while we are happy to float along the surface with a “Hillsong-deep theology” and call it good. And we wonder why people are leaving the Church in droves. A church that offers only emotional, feel-good theology is going to lose the long-term wrestling match to a well-read and convincing atheist nearly every time. Puritan Cotton Mather wrote, ‘Ignorance is the Mother not of Devotion but of HERESY.’ (The mushy-gushy can only last so long.” [Ethan Renoe, “The Tragedy of Dumbing Down Christianity,” relevantmagazine.com, Dec. 22, 2017] (added Feb. 19, 2021)
SEMI-SHALOM (Perceived degree of need)
Norman says: “My Neighbor has what he needs already: food, clothing and shelter. If he is expecting more, he is not humble. After all, there are lots of hungry people in the world with greater needs. Loneliness, unemployment, being cut off from society are “luxury problems,” not real needs that fall under the “love your neighbor” command (which is more of as suggestion than a command, actually).
Norman says: “He is not yet destitute. I’ll wait until he is bankrupt and homeless.”
Norman says: “Though the poor are needy, they are not yet in extremity. In other words, we should only help people when they are absolutely desperate.” [paraphrase of Jonathan Edwards; Ida Kaastra Mutoigo (Canada), “The Poverty Mindset,” WorldRenew, Nov. 26, 2012]
Flourishing is claimed as central to church mission in many denominations. “In the Old Testament, the concept of flourishing is best described by the Hebrew word ‘shalom.’ Biblical scholars tell us that shalom signifies a number of things, including: Salvation, Wholeness, Integrity, Soundness, Community, Connectedness, Righteousness, Justice, Well-being. Shalom denotes a right relationship with God, with others, and with God’s good creation. It is the way God intended things to be when he created the universe. [Hugh Whelchel, “What Is Flourishing?” Institute for Faith, Work & Economics, May 20, 2013]
SMALL GROUP TUNNEL VISION (the-Word-ism)
Small groups are often claustrophobic in their “doing our homework” character. There seems to be a fear of social interaction that involves getting to deeply know one another. The studying of the text demonstrates a desire to acknowledge trust in the Word and perhaps an effort to make sure one’s reserved in Heaven is maintained. Yet the group could alternatively focus on DOING the Word, an enterprise that by definition is a living praise of God with all one’s heart and mind. Doing the Word would involve taking a profound interest one one’s group neighbor, which is an activity that is layered and takes attention, concentration, curiosity, selflessness and can only be done over time. Doing the Word, of course, cannot occur before one knows the Word, yet hiding behind Bible Study and pretending there is fellowship and community in the group when there really is decorum, tolerance, and dutifulness, is not what is demanded in the gospel when community and love of the other are cited. Failure to treat the fulfillment of the second half of the Great Commandment is proof of failure to genuinely fulfill the first half. Preparing for the Salvation Achievement Test by knowing the Bible well is not a valid activity: there is no SAT exam accepted by the admissions department of Heaven. Beware of the-Word-ism. The gospel is to be LIVED, not just talked about, heard and preyed about. It is about TODAY among mortals, just as it is about eschatology and eternity.
The habitual exchange of piety jargon is not a form of communication. Usually, this form of interaction constitutes mere cookie-cutter decorum, appropriate among strangers but not among intimates. DOING the gospel involves having real interest in individual others. Relying on decorum without going further is good for keeping one’s distance.
“Christian community is simply sharing a common life in Christ. It moves us beyond the self-interested isolation of private lives and beyond the superficial social contacts that pass for "Christian fellowship." The community also furthers our continuing conversion by being a place where we teach each other and hold ourselves accountable to each other. . . . Ignoring this powerful element is one of the main reasons many small groups never really experience Christian community. They prefer to remain superficial. Inadvertently, perhaps, they enter into a pact of mediocrity in which they tacitly agree to let all the members "mind their own business" and not to hold people accountable either to each other or to the teachings of Christ.” [S. Joseph Kidder, “Community: God’s Design For Growth ,” Elder's Digest Ministerial Association - General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Summer 2017]
STATUS IDOLATRY
“If you haven’t got a hooker or two as friends, you’re not like Jesus. If you’re not pissing religious people off, you’re not like Jesus, either.” [Alan Hirsch, “Missional - incarnational impulse & Apostolic environment,” LederOase conference “The Essentials to a Missional Movement,” DanskOase, Copenhagen, Jan. 24, 2015; Youtube video, 36:32 (@19:14)]
TELESCOPIC BENEVOLENCE
Imaginary benevolence is a version of the tendency to confuse sentimentality and good words (including good words prayer) with pro-active love. [see SENTIMENTALITY]
“Lewis was preoccupied with the word ‘present.’ I see in Lewis the practice of the presence of God. [But] Screwtape likes us to worry about the future because it prevents us from [performing] acts of charity, which are always in the present and always concrete. Screwtape likes Dickens's [illustration in Bleak House of] "telescopic benevolence," which relates to someone far away or some abstract cause or some future goal that we work for, meanwhile neglecting our neighbors who stand in need.” [Peter Kreeft, Symposium, “C. S. Lewis on plain speech ... about God,” By Kim Shippey with contributions from Kathleen Norris, Peter Kreeft, Armand Nicholi, From: The Christian Science Journal, Nov. 2001]
“My Dear Wormwood: Do what you will, there is going to be some benevolence, as well as some malice, in your patient’s soul. The great thing is to direct the malice to his immediate neighbours whom he meets every day and to thrust his benevolence out to the remote circumference, to people he does not know. The malice thus becomes wholly real and the benevolence largely imaginary.” [C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, Letter Six, 1942]
“Must the Christian go around looking for a cross to bear, seeking to suffer? No, insisted Bonhoeffer. Opportunities for bearing crosses will occur along life's way and all that is required is the willingness to act when the time comes. The needs of the neighbor, especially those of the weak and downtrodden, the victimized and the persecuted, the ill and the lonely, will become abundantly evident.” [Dietrich Bonhoeffer, source?]
“Every Christian family must develop its own ministry of mercy by looking at the needs closest to it and meeting them through loving deeds and a spirit of encouragement.” [Timothy Keller, Ministries of Mercy (3rd ed.), P&R Publishing, 2015, p. 143]
TELLING, RATHER THAN DOING
Norman says: “I help my neighbor by telling him Gospel truth, telling him to pray and telling him to read the Bible. It is up to God to help him with difficult practical needs, not me, not my church.”
“It is not by telling people about ourselves that we demonstrate our Christianity. Words are cheap. It is by costly, self-denying Christian practice that we show the reality of our faith.” [Jonathan Edwards, Charity and Its Fruits, 1749]
“Basically, people get loved toward belief. They don’t get argued toward belief. And even though it’s my job, I don’t even think people get preached toward belief.” [Tim Keller, Sermon: “Hospitality and God’s Grace,” Oct. 14, 2012 Luke 14:7-24; @ 21:41]
“If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. [1 John 3:17-18]
EXCERPT: “Living in the inner city also opened my eyes to the easy rhetoric of some of those in the liberal church, those who like the poor but do not like the smell of the poor. Service is not simply about saying the right thing. It is about doing the right thing, what the Reformed tradition calls our works. I continued to write. I was frustrated with the disconnect between Harvard Divinity School, where people spoke about empowering people they never met, and the harsh and brutal reality of the inner city.” [Chris Hedges, Bio for Chris Hedges, 2013]
Telling is abstract, deed is incarnate (like Christ).
“TRYING” IS SUFFICIENT
Regarding a comment that since the Great Commission defines
making disciples as “teaching them to obey all [He] has commanded” then
churches are obligated to teach all the commands and teach the means by which
we become equipped to obey them with competence. – “Since we are saved, isn’t it enough for Christians
to try.” [Staff member B of a wealthy non-denominational church in Manhattan]
UNREPENTANT
The Greek work translated as “repentance,” Metanoia, a transliteration of the Greek μετάνοια, means "a transformative change of heart; especially: a spiritual conversion." The term suggests repudiation, change of mind, repentance, and atonement; but "conversion" and "reformation" may best approximate its connotation. Metanoia (“repentance”) is not confession, feeling guilt, feeling shame, admitting wrong. Rather, the term refers to change of direction. Yet churchgoers make use of confession and feelings to attempt to avoid engaging in the crucial activity of change. Their fellow churchgoers reinforce this.
Most churchgoers know – though many will not admit it – that their primary motive for professing to Christianity is their “individual salvation project.” They spend their religious energy in attempting to guarantee their immortality, their place in Heaven, with the added valuable benefit of having special access to divine intercessions in their earthly journey when wished for. Maintaining this favored this status eats up all their religious energy. From the standpoint of what we might call “religious economy” this makes sense: if the command to “love your neighbor as yourself” is mostly a matter of praying for others, sentiment, good manners, well-wishing , and, failing do fulfill the command can be relived by confession and feeling guilty, it is a better investment to direct one’s hearty toward God (prayer, sacrament, Bible study, tithing, donating to charities) than to get involved with the messy reality of being proximate to and fully engaged with the individual neighbor in need that interrupts one by appearing on one’s path unexpectedly.
WAITING TO “GRADUATE”
Norman: “LYNAY is advanced Christianity. I won’t be required by Jesus to deal with that until I’ve done years of church-attending, years of Bible study and years of prayer. It’s a gradual process until “PhD level” sanctification is achieved. Until then being nice to neighbors, tithing and donations to non-profits will suffice.”
Procrastination rules, excuses buy time – developing Heart as described by Jesus can be dealt with in increments and need not be carefully and diligently developed. The unfortunate reality, however, is that Jesus does not just “describe” Heart, he commands that this muscle be developed up to a great capacity. Yet the churches seldom teach this. They do not operate Heart-building gymnasiums. Nevertheless, a Gold’s Gym for this muscle is what is sorely needed.
II.
Concluding Observations
If a man were to walk among people with his gaze constantly directed up toward Heaven, he would, of course, collide with his neighbors. Each collision would seem, for the Heaven-gazer, an unwelcome interference to his meditation. The man has forgotten that Heaven commands man to walk with a determined circumspect gaze, directed both toward Heaven and toward his neighbor, in a regular back-and-forth rhythm.
In many churches there is a frightening hard-heartedness. They promote religion with enthusiasm; the teachings of Jesus are endorsed as truth and they are given constant praise. Yet, without a hint of irony, these same voices that sing their praise of the gospel message will, with even greater zeal, defend apathy and absence of compassion within the hearts of professed believers as they refuse to materially assist those neighbors in their immediate surroundings, including, those who make a specific request mercy and assistance.
These church-folk will argue and twist and obfuscate in their defense in a barrage of words – no discernable crack in the hard wall that surrounds their heart is seen. The prolific words-without-action are expounded in the name of their closely-guarded religion. The position is: “I shall not assist my neighbor in need, but I shall pray that God assist him, or not. If it His will that my neighbor should descend into poverty and alienation, then so be it. – “God has a plan. Praise the Lord!”
It is truly astonishing how much energy is expended in rebuffing the neighbor who seeks a simple fulfilment of the very words that are so proudly recited in the church. The shallow churchgoer will quick to promote “Divine Butler” prayer and condemn the consideration of offering to take action – because, after all, “God has a plan.” They will present arguments against engaging in helpful action; they will defend their position citing scripture; they will point out that all that really should matter is one’s Heavenly reward in the afterlife. Following their stubborn verbal defense of inaction, they will, of course, offer to pray for the freshly frustrated, confused and saddened neighbor, who, if deeply superstitious will naively count on the incantation, or, if experienced with such brush-offs, will quit bothering with the institution that breeds such cold-heartedness (the Church).
He will think to himself: “Wow! They are telling me I am forgiven for my sins and failures by Jesus in the sky, but among men on earth I am not forgiven for my sins and failures at all. Not at all. It’s just: ‘go way and read and pray.’”
The creepiest part about this process is the pasted-on smile that frequently complements the dismissive verbalizations and the final brush-off.
How, exactly, does this process make the dejected outcast feel? All the Heaven-obsessed religious banter – pointing to after life – makes him want to die. After all, that’s the only escape from his socially alienated status, according to the church folk. Just pray to die.
He outcast shows up broken-hearted and he leaves with his heart broken and crushed.
I can’t think of a more effective way to promote atheism and make the Christian religion seem a childish superstition, a cult, a cruel hoax.
A church is not a monastery; it is an active and interrelated part of the larger locality, or at least it ought to be. If a church fails to build up – both individually and corporately – among its congregants a genuine Gospel Heart (which is defined not just by charity that is provided for extreme cases) it will remain a bubble and will spiritually calcify and decline. This will occur specifically because the church fails to practice both parts of the Great Commandment text it claims is its guidelight. It cannot see that loving God and loving your neighbor are complementary, dynamic and thus utterly inseparable.
There is a sinister corollary to the unthinking and uninspired state of affairs which leads to the failure of serious church congregants to honor the second part of the Great Commandment. This corollary is in actuality the devaluation (not neglectful but rather is systematic and deliberate) of those in need in order to encourage them in their state of despair and cut-offness to submit to the church rules, rituals, jargon, service activities and doctrines, promoting an implied expectation that God alone will provide the Great Commandment love what the church community does not choose to provide. This type of behavior and attitude is not in at all in accord with Christ’s teachings. The church, if it wants to avoid being a mere cult, must lift up the neighbor in both body and spirit equally to share in shalom (in its full meaning) in the earthly Kingdom in an authentically inspired, truly creative (Christ-imitating) mode.
There is a lack of Great Commandment balance when love of God is seen as preferred to, and separate from love directed towards his children. The Great Commandment demands continual motion back and forth, between love of God and love of neighbor, and back again. Love of God is the expression of (and therefore the evidence of) the authentic, inspired and incarnated love of neighbor (never ignoring the proximate neighbor in preference to the distant or unknown neighbor or class of neighbors). When love is treated as a metaphysical thing it cannot be an incarnate thing.
When LYNAY (Love Your Neighbor As Yourself) makes its appearance “in the wild,” the neighbor in need is going to naturally be inclined to wonder “Where does the love come from?” Conversely, it is more common than one might expect that a neighbor in distress will enter a church seeking to escape practical and emotional troubles and will get the impression that the “love” so vociferously discussed is something that exists actually only in the sky and that this sky-love is an invisible love that can only be accessed only by prayer, reading, sacraments and other religious exercises. The neighbor can see the gap between assertion and demonstration, and will walk away concluding, with good reason, that LYNAY simply does not exist, at least not within the very religion that grandly professes it as a first principle.
The wisest, most honest figures in the church know this, of course.
Martin Luther: “[Saving faith is] a living, creative, active and powerful thing, this faith. Faith cannot help doing good works constantly. It doesn't stop to ask if good works ought to be done, but before anyone asks, it already has done them and continues to do them without ceasing. Anyone who does not do good works in this manner is an unbeliever... Thus, it is just as impossible to separate faith and works as it is to separate heat and light from fire!" [Martin Luther, "An Introduction to St. Paul's Letter to the Romans," 1522]
“One sin leads to another. Failure in our love to God always results in failure in our love to our Neighbor.” [Arthur Walkington Pink (1886 – 1952), Reformed Christian writer]
Mr. Luther and Mr. Pink know that one cannot love God with words, one can only love God by having a great Heart – whose love gets expressed right here on earth. Our Heart – our love – is visible on earth and is it is explicitly evidenced by that which issues from it on the mortal plane. It is an error to pretend love for God is an abstract, metaphysical thing, a mental construction, a feeling or sentiment that does not, by necessity, manifest itself in fully realized action that follows through with reliable consciousness. Love for God is seen in one’s love for his children, created in His image, in particular those creatures who are proximate, one’s neighbors who are near.
What “Thinking About” Means in the LYNAY Context
The four elements of LYNAY, as described by Keller in his analysis of the Good Shepherd parable, are see, contact, listen to, and think about. When we are actively thinking about a specific neighbor in need we are, in actuality, thinking about God in Christ, Christ as the image of God incarnated and suffering. When we choose to pray that God do our thinking for us, we are taking the Great Commandment and slicing it in halves, and, without admitting it, throwing the second part away as if it were rubbish. After all, the ritual of thanking God for His grace (forgiveness, blessings and a promise of immortality), and our desire to guarantee that through prayer that these benefits remain securely in place, is compelling to us in the most obvious and self-beneficial way. Yet the second half of the great commandment requires a different kind of work, an altogether different kind of imagination and different kind of activity than “insurance policy” piety, or even the sort of piety that is exercised in order to escape from a present fear.
Standardized piety is akin to Phariseeism. The activities of thanking and praising God are only complete after we have performed both parts of the Great Commandment. Word and deed unified; prayer and action as one bidirectional dynamic of love. The spiritual (prayer to Heaven) aspect must be matched by the incarnate (neighbor on earth) aspect. It must be both metaphysical and concrete. It must be far-reaching (toward Heaven) and proximate (in your close physical presence). None of this can be accomplished unless one is engaged in searching thinking directed toward individual neighbors in our proximity.
What is meant by “thinking about?” It does not mean merely picturing the neighbor, nor feeling good will toward him, nor making token gestures to him, nor tolerating him, nor being courteous to him, nor remembering him. This “thing about” involves prayer, but the opposite sort to a Divine Butler-type prayer. It involves the type of prayer which asks for the power to understand one’s specific neighbor correctly and to act effectively and appropriately toward him.
This neighbor-benefiting mode of prayer ought to take the exact form and be as deeply committed as any prayer we might make asking to receive guidance for decisions and actions that are to benefit ourselves – “Love … as yourself”! The “thinking about” prayer cannot be made, of course, until the “listening to” which necessarily precedes it has been conducted properly. With the exception of emergency situations requiring immediate action, the listening to and thinking about aspects are a continuing and interwoven process that is to be assiduously attended to, just as is found in good parenting.
What “Listening To” Means in the LYNAY Context
First, let’s look at what listening to does not mean. It does not mean educating, instructing, telling, witnessing, proselytizing or engaging in apologetics. “Hold on there, I am an evangelist,” you might say. Not to worry, shutting up, it turns out is, when it comes to LYNAY the most powerful and effective form of evangelizing there is.
Sometimes apologetics and witnessing will produce the desired effect (or at least seem to), but very frequently sometimes it does not. The well-trained apologist might think he can prove the truth of his religion. But the gospel is, in its essence, above and beyond the systems of logic and forensics. The proof of the gospel is in the pudding – in the demonstrated reality incarnated, in the flowing of the Holy Spirit from the believer to the neighbor in close down-to-earth encounter. The only real proof of the gospel that is universally reliable is the manifestation of it in LYNAY. Therefore, we must learn to listen intently with interest and curiosity, for this deliberately to acquired skill is the key to LYNAY.
And what about communicating the primary facts of one’s faith, what of the gospel? Wait to be asked. It takes discipline and patience, yes, but it most certainly is the most reliable and powerful way to convey the message so that it has indelible, incontrovertible effect. Integrity is radiant.
Your neighbor who is in trouble – whether the trouble might be social, financial, or physical – has specific, not generic, troubles. To treat his troubles as generic (non-specific) would be demeaning. Engaging in pro-active other-centered listening is the way to learn what the neighbor’s situation is. LYNAY listening will involve asking questions, but agenda-driven questions designed to serve as springboards for apologetics are not what is needed.
III.
Proposed Remedy
Simply put, the remedy is teaching. The theology of the Great Commandment must be made completely understandable.
The second part of the Great Commandment must be explained in detail. The fact that LYNAY it is not a vague optional suggestion, that it has a complementary and dynamic relation with the first part must be emphasized. It must be shown that without the love of the second part, the love of the first part is non-existent, a charade.
The teaching would be executed through sermons, small group notes, bulletins, newsletter and dedicated workshops the spiritual foundation and practical means of developing authentically inspired Heart. This program would require consistency and careful building the individual’s Heart-capacity over time. Above, all, the teaching must be undiluted and dedicated to the single theme: the integral, indivisible Great Commandment.
This teaching will be a practice-centered development personal growth. Acquiring knowledge without it being applied will be rejected. It is a fact that every Christian mission agenda can be, and frequently is, rendered a pro-forma and overly bureaucratic process that dampens, weakens – and sometimes even exterminates – pro-active individual agency. A Christian organization that is not conscious of the requirement for application through pro-active agency produces “community” that is community in name only and “fellowship” that is fellowship in name only. The remedy to the status quo must challenge the tendency of people to seek out routine, distanced structured avenues of “giving.” Tithing and charitable giving can easily be merely Dutiful, in contrast to the personal and proximate love of the neighbor that Christ commands. Dutiful arms-length giving can easily be perverted into Vatican-style “indulgences” that seek to purchase a seat in Heaven.
The message of LYNAY is summed up in the phrase: Beauty, not duty.
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Writers cited
· Patrick Anderson – editor of the quarterly journal, "Christian Ethics Today." He is a criminologist and an ordained Baptist minister. Patrick currently serves as the Interim Executive Director of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
· William Blake (1757-1827) – English poet and artist.
· Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) – German evangelical pastor, theologian, anti-Nazi dissident, and key founding member of the Confessing Church.
· John Calvin (1509-1564) – French theologian, pastor and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism.
· Oswald Chambers (1874-1917) – early-twentieth-century Scottish Baptist and Holiness Movement evangelist and teacher, best known for the devotional, My Utmost for His Highest.
· Kenda Creasy Dean (born circa 1959) – United Methodist pastor in the Greater New Jersey Annual Conference, is the Mary D. Synnott Professor of Youth, Church, and Culture at Princeton Theological Seminary.
· Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) – North American revivalist preacher, philosopher, and Congregationalist Protestant theologian.
· Richard T. Ely (1854-1943) – American economist, author, and leader of the Progressive movement.
· Chris Hedges – American war journalist, Presbyterian minister, teacher at Princeton U, NYU, Columbia U., Pulitzer Prize; Amnesty International Global Award for Human Rights Journalism.
· Michael W. Holmes (born 1951) – former Chair of the Department of Biblical and Theological Studies at Bethel University, St. Paul; previously faculty at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Princeton Theological Seminary.
· Philip Johnson – Deacon, Good Shepherd Parish in Decherd, Tennessee.
· Timothy J. Keller (born 1950) – American pastor, theologian, and Christian apologist. He is the Chairman and co-Founder of Redeemer City to City, which trains pastors for ministry in global cities. He is also the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, New York.
· Peter John Kreeft (born 1937) – professor of philosophy at Boston College and The King's College; a convert to Roman Catholicism.
· C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) – British writer and lay theologian.
· Martin Luther (1483–1546) – German professor of theology, composer, priest, monk, and a seminal figure in the Protestant Reformation.
· Ida Kaastra Mutoigo (born circa 1960) – Executive Director of World Renew, appointed 2006 (charity), Burlington, Canada; Christian Reformed missionary.
· Arthur Walkington Pink (1886-1952) – Reformed Christian writer.
· John Piper (born 1946) – American Reformed Baptist continuationist pastor and author who is the founder and leader of DesiringGod.org and is the chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
· Henry Harmon Spalding (1803–1874) – prominent Presbyterian missionary in the U.S. Pacific Northwest.
· Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892) – English Particular Baptist preacher. Spurgeon remains highly influential among Christians of various denominations, among whom he is known as the "Prince of Preachers.”
· Philip Johnson – Deacon, Good Shepherd Parish in Decherd, Tennessee.
· Alan P. Stanley – Lecturer in Biblical Studies at Brisbane School of Theology, since 2003.
· Karl Vaters – pastor of Cornerstone Christian Fellowship in Fountain Valley, California; author.
· Rick Warren (born 1954) – American evangelical Christian pastor and author. He is the founder and senior pastor of Saddleback Church, an evangelical megachurch affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention in Lake Forest, California, that is the sixth-largest megachurch in the United States (including multi-site churches).
· John Wesley (1703-1791) – English cleric, theologian and evangelist who was a leader of a revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies he founded became the dominant form of the independent Methodist movement that continues to this day.
· Hugh Whelchel – executive director of the Institute for Faith, Work & Economics, a Christian research organization in the Washington, D.C. area.
· Karen Wilk – National (Canada) Team Member for Forge Missional Training Network, Missional Leader Developer for the Christian Reformed Church in North America. Author of: Don't Invite Them to Church: Moving from a Come and See to a Go and Be Church (2010).
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