The expression “chew the meat and spit out the bones” is an interesting one. Christians say this when reading books with questionable theology, meaning “I'll keep what I think is Biblical and ignore the other stuff.” But what bones are we willing to gnaw around and which ones should we avoid like the plague? I've been wondering about this for some time and finally have come up with a list (in writing, not just mental) of things I would consider problematic.
You may think I'm going over the top by considering these as potential items in Christian books. But frankly there's a lot of garbage out there written by professing Christians and sold by Christian booksellers. Also these aren't necessarily no-brainers as error can be camouflaged very well. The Shack contained bones #1-#4, and it still went viral among Christians. Granted there as many views on what's kosher as believers, but orthodoxy isn't a matter of consensus. So whether you agree with me or not, here are my bad bones:
You may think I'm going over the top by considering these as potential items in Christian books. But frankly there's a lot of garbage out there written by professing Christians and sold by Christian booksellers. Also these aren't necessarily no-brainers as error can be camouflaged very well. The Shack contained bones #1-#4, and it still went viral among Christians. Granted there as many views on what's kosher as believers, but orthodoxy isn't a matter of consensus. So whether you agree with me or not, here are my bad bones:
- Misrepresenting the nature of God – such as denying the Trinity, denying or confusing the order within the Trinity, God's God-ness reduced to a super-sized version of man.
- Attribute amnesia – ignoring God's attributes such as holiness, justice, righteousness, wrath, sovereignty, omniscience, immutability, and self-existence for the sake of focusing on a single attribute, and even focusing on a single aspect of a single attribute. (If I were a gambler, I would wager that this attribute is love.)
- Incorrect view of sin, the depravity of man, and repentance.
- Denying substitutionary atonement.
- Denying the authority, sufficiency, inerrancy, and infallibility of scripture.
- Jesus plus something else as the means of our access to or acceptance with God - such as higher planes of consecration, trendy mysticism, and works righteousness with its multitude of disguises.
- Bad ecclesiology.
- Covert feminist agenda.
- Overly subjective, sentimental, and experiential versus objective and scriptural.
What bones do you to avoid?
As far as what to do once you've identified the bones, I have a few thoughts for tomorrow, God willing.
As far as what to do once you've identified the bones, I have a few thoughts for tomorrow, God willing.
Great post! Great list, wonderful thoughtful and serious thinking went in to your list. I am going to print it out, and with your permission turn it in to a post in the future.
ReplyDeleteMy list would include anything that makes God less than what He is;
incorrect handling of the word of God
deminishing of God's glory
experience rather than objective scripture
Please do, Gregg. I like your additions, too.
ReplyDeletePersis,
ReplyDeleteThis is great! I would especially like to see number 9 fleshed out. :) Having not studied the mystics, do you think this is mostly the category they fall under? I've started Machen's Christianity and Liberalism, and it speaks much of the "sentimentalism" so I'm looking forward to seeing how I've been influenced by that as I was growing up.
I just love this post Persis-well done. I avoid all the bones you mentioned-and I spit out any bone that exalts felt needs over God and His glory-which you and others here have already said.
ReplyDeleteI fear that 90%+ of "Christian" books written today fit in your number 9 position.
Good list!
ReplyDeleteThese are all bad bones. I have had a huge #9 stuck in my throat for a long time, along with many others. God has rescued me, and I've gladly ditched all the bad bones He has revealed, although I am thankful for them all, in that they taught me well what really matters, especially in light of God's truth!
ReplyDelete@Trisha: The Machen book looks good. I might try to read it online.
ReplyDelete@Petra: I had #9 stuck in my craw too. Yanking it out was painful, but the lessons learned were valuable.
#9 is a big one. As far as the mystics, I tend to stay away from them in general just because I was heavily influenced in the past by their teachings thru other people. It may be personal reaction but touch-feely gives me the heebie-jeebies now. Also I wonder:
Ties of modern day Christian mysticism to gnosticism?
Is any form of higher-plane experience, consecration, etc. just another form of non-Lordship salvation?
If we value an experience or reading about experience more than the truth/Word, what does that say about our spiritual condition?
"touch-feely gives me the heebie-jeebies now." Same here!
ReplyDeleteModern day Christian mysticism etc., seems to me like just another form of the same old lie!
Thank you for this post. It's so funny, last night I sat looking through my bookshelves thinking basically "What was I thinking" about several books, then this morning I come across this helpful post. I really relate to #9, and yes I get the heebie jeebies when I come across overt emotionalism or anything experiential. God's word is enough.
ReplyDeleteGreat list, Persis! Guess we all could write posts everyday for the next year or two on #6, alone! Another one would be,say a # 10, or maybe a 6,9 combo is to read Roger Oakland's Faith Undone. Now that would take many a book off the shelf!
ReplyDelete