Theological pornography

"Don't watch that movie." I was told.

"Why not?  It gets great reviews." I replied.

"It is a horror movie.  And it gave me nightmares."
  
I took the advice and did not watch the movie.  The person I was talking to was credible.  I knew that she and I had similar taste in movies.  I also knew I did not enjoy horror movies.  Did I miss out on a great movie?  Maybe, but I doubt it.  Do I regret not watching it?  Not at all.  I choose the media I watch carefully.  I should probably be even more careful.  The things I see in movies and TV shows tend to revisit me at the most inopportune times.  Like when I wake up in the middle of the night and in the darkness and silence some dreadful murder scene from a movie I just watched begins playing in my mind.  Or maybe I remember the scene of some topless actress in that romantic comedy I just watched.  The truth is, the media I put into my mind affects me.

Months ago I sat down with a pastor-friend of mine and asked him to pray for me because I was struggling with a lot of fear in my life.  We prayed and he asked me what I had been reading.  I told him I didn't read much.  He encouraged me to read some classic Christian books.  Why classics?  Because the classics have stood the test of time.  Let their words and truth pour into my heart and mind, he said.  He also encouraged me to listen to Christian music instead of my normal go-to stations on my morning commute.  The point was to immerse myself in Biblical truth as an exercise to build faith.  The first book I began reading was The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis.  From there I started Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan.  Then to Knowing God by J.I. Packer, Spectacular Sins, by John Piper, and then Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts by Jerry Bridges.  The point was not to read books specifically dealing with fear and trusting God, but to feed myself a consistent diet of Christ-centered ideas, and fear-conquering faith would be a natural by-product.

This process has taught me the importance of selecting wisely the books I read.  I choose the books I read the same way I choose the TV shows or movies I watch:  I want to know up front what kind of ideas they will be putting into my mind.  If I'm going to invest minutes, hours, or days consuming a show, movie, or book I want to know that time is well-spent and constructive.  I know as a male I'm drawn to visual images.  I do not want pornographic images infiltrating my thoughts so I try to avoid explicit visuals.  Likewise, as a sinful person it is always a struggle to be faithful to God and so I don't want theological pornography I read in some poorly chosen book being repeated over and over in my head at a moment of weak faith.  There are a lot of popular "Christian" books which are theological pornography.  They feel good now but destroy faith long-term.

When I use my GPS I always start by inputting my desired destination.  I want to know where it's taking me before I start driving.  When I read a book I start by asking up front where the author wants to take me and whether I want to go there.

Through the looking glass of Christ

A friend told me recently, "I don't relate to the God of the Old Testament.  I can relate to Jesus but I can't relate to that God.  They are different."  Her reason, to put it simply, was that God in the Old Testament seemed extremely harsh compared to Christ, who "did not come to judge the world, but to save it" (John 12:47).  This understanding caused her to buzzsaw not only the Old Testament but Revelations as well with all its imagery of destruction.  Christ was appealing but all the other stuff was not.

I rejoice that Christ was appealing to her.  If we stop there, all is well, because Christ is, after all, the overarching subject of the entire Bible.  Even if you can't see him in the whole Bible--he's there.  But I can't help but believe she is missing out on a depth of worship that can only come through understanding how vividly Christ reveals the heart of God to us, and how his loving plan is woven throughout the Old Testament and consummated in Revelations!  If you leave those books out you can still believe in Christ, but so much more joy and freedom is possible when we know the beginning and end of the story!

When I hear someone say, "I can't relate to the God of the Old Testament, but I can relate to Jesus" it throws up a red flag in my mind because they are the same God.  It pleased the Father to put all of His fullness into Christ.  Jesus himself said to the Pharisees, "You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also." (John 8:19)  When Christ said "I and the Father are one" in John 10:30 he meant every part of the Father overlaps every part of the Son.  As Hebrews 1:3 says, "He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature."  What this means is Christ doesn't contradict God's justice, mercy, and faithfulness towards the Israelites in the Old Testament.  He clarifies it.  And when I read about Christ's compassion for the adulterous woman, his anger with the moneychangers in the temple, and his sacrifice on the cross I learn about the Father.

The danger lies when we fail to use Christ as the lens through which we discover God in the Old Testament and instead throw out the Old Testament altogether as being inconsistent.  As Hebrews says,

1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. Hebrews 1:1-2

God has revealed Himself through the entirety of his Scriptures and that is seen most clearly when we read the entirety of Scripture through the lens of Christ.

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.  Colossians 1:15-19

It's bread, not an energy drink

I am fortunate to believe the Bible as much as I do.  I am fortunate because it answers the hard questions I have and it answers them with such profound truth that I feel sorry for anyone who does not believe the Bible is the Word of God.  Sadly, I cannot tell you the number of Christians I have spoken to who do not know what the Bible says because they do not read it.  And in truth, the reason so many Christians do not read the Bible is because they do not believe it is God's Word.  If people believed God's very Word was available to them they would read it.  I know this because I too went through a long period when I never read the Bible.  It just did not interest me and did not seem relevant to my life.  I wasn't opposed to it, I just did not care about it.  I owned multiple Bibles and went to church regularly but I was almost completely apathetic towards the Bible and assumed knowing what it said wouldn't benefit me.  I did not view the Bible as bread to be eaten in order to live but as an energy drink that didn't taste very good yet might provide a spark of insight if I hit a tough time in life.  Thankfully, God snapped me out of that daze, and I hope if you find yourself in the same apathetic mindset that He will snap you out of it as well.

Half-truths are more dangerous than outright lies

I am convinced that the greatest threat to truth is not outright lies but half-truths.  Counterfeit dollars do not resemble Monopoly money--they resemble the real thing--and for good reason:  outright fakes are easy to spot.  And so I am not concerned about being deceived by outright lies.  I am fearful, however, of being deceived by half-truths.  Half-truths operate by taking something true and distorting it ever so slightly.  Start with the truth, and then twist it.

Let me give you an example of this type of distortion: the Prosperity Gospel.  This gospel says God will bless his faithful with all sorts of material blessings.  Money, nice cars, luxurious living.  To build the case, teachers of this gospel will use verses like Romans 8:32, "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" or 2 Corinthians 8:9, "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich."

Folks, this is a distortion of the gospel of Christ.  God has not promised to bless our lifestyles, he promised to bless our lives.  And blessing our lives may mean depriving us of our lavish lifestyles.  Why is this?  Because God wants us to testify to the world that Christ alone satisfies.  But how will the world know that Chris satisfies if it looks as though we are satisfied by our new Mercedes?

Paul knew we could be led astray by false gospels.  He wrote to the Corinthian church,

3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.  2 Corinthians 11:3-4

Do not "put up with" false gospels creeping into your theology.  There's only one way to protect yourself from being deceived by half-truths:  know the real truth with such intimacy that you recognize even the slightest variance.  Federal agents tasked with identifying counterfeit money do not study every possible fake, they study the real thing so when they see a fake they know it.  Art forgeries are spotted the same way.  Deceivers are always familiar with the real thing.  We must be more so.  When Satan tempted Jesus he deceptively quoted Scripture.  But Jesus was not deceived, rather he responded back with Scripture:

9 The devil led [Jesus] to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. 10 For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you
    to guard you carefully;
11 they will lift you up in their hands,
    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

12 Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”   Luke 4:9-12

To know the truth intimately we must love the truth deeply.  I encourage you to love the Word of God.  To hold fast to it as an anchor for your soul and never let go.  Test everything by it, so you will not be among the deceived (1 John 4:1).