This post concludes this series. The subject has not been exhausted. Hopefully, it has raised awareness of the SBC crisis and its implications for all churches. I have no illusion my posts will have much impact, but I could not not write on the subject of sexual abuse in the church.
Conversation with clergy and others outside the bible belt revealed little awareness or interest in the SBC by their congregants. I suspect that is true for most non-SBC churches in the bible belt also. As one leader expressed, “I’m glad we don’t have to deal with this.”
I believe such responses are short-sighted. As is often the case, the presented problem is not the real problem. The SBC crisis is a problem but it is only the tip of an iceberg. I applaud the reform efforts that have been approved but they address symptoms not cause.
““‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.”Revelation? 2:2-5 ESV (my emphasis)
The church is dying— the fragile local church,— not the Body of Christ, eternal and impervious. SBC is representative of every other church/denomination in western Christianity, not dead but on a trajectory that portends their demise. SBC by virtue of its size and influence is the leading edge of a tsunami . Receding waters that follow the initial crisis warn of what is to come. This is not a time to breathe a sigh of relief, but to repent.
That trajectory can be described in a number of ways:
— abandonment of “the love they had at first”.
— “I am the Vine, you are the branches…Separated, you can’t produce a thing. John 15 – MSG
— “..not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together…” Col 2:19 ESV
— “hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness…” Matt 23 ESV
Each of these offer insight into how the church (we) can be headed in the wrong direction and should be the subject of self-examination.
I want to suggest another trajectory— more subtle and insidious —secularization.
Secularization, for Christians, typically brings to mind culture war issues such as abortion, homosexuality, pornography, and drug use and multiculturalism, diversity, and school curricula, to name a few. Though each is important in their own way, they are a distractions from the real problem. Charles Taylor in his tome A Secular Age defines the essence of a secular age as disenchantment. An unfamiliar term , the following is helpful in understanding disenchantment.
The default mode for the disenchanted age is reliance on human ability/reason and scientific laws as an ultimate source for answers to the problems of modernity. Utility, efficiency and production are our preimemmant tools to achieve full potential as human beings. Inherently, disenchantment rejects the transcendent. Mystery, fantasy, spirituality, faith, divinity, magic, art, namely, enchantment, is rendered irrelevant. our existence in a disenchanted age is reduced to one dimension, removing depth and meaning and distorting the purpose of our lives. (Emphasis is mine)
http://www.georgeezell.com/2019/02/defaulting-to-disenchantment/
That definition led me to make this assertion: Living in a disenchanted age is the most significant challenge we face in seeking a relationship with God. I have not changed my mind about that but have been affirmed by what is happening in Christian churches.
Expressed differently, disenchantment is loss of transcendence. Fr Stephen Freeman recently wrote about the loss of transcendence:
…a common element within human experience can be suggested by the word “transcendent.” It is an experience of beauty, of goodness, of wonder, that goes beyond itself. It demands poetry and art, songs and symbols. And despite our love of technology and the giftedness of our machines, it is the transcendent that speaks most fluently to our lives. We get out of bed in the morning because of transcendence (or so I believe). The loss of transcendence is something akin to death.
https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/glory2godforallthings/2022/06/22/healing-the-soul-and-unbelief/
If, as I believe to be the case, we are created for wonder and transcendence, then it would seem that we are malnourished and suffer from starvation in our souls. If everything that troubles us within the “problem of evil” were to miraculously disappear, or even be diminished for the greater part, it would do nothing to nourish our souls. In a certain manner, we live in a vegetative state in which our “needs” are met while our true hunger is ignored.
The “belief” that is native to the human soul is among the casualties of the modern life-style (in all its aspects). We are not particularly nurtured with awe and wonder, but by the consumption of pleasure and the avoidance of pain. Our pleasure/pain principle has created a shallow culture. In short, we do not suffer well (as in somehow becoming better, more compassionate people), nor are our pleasures remotely sublime. Two words: reality tv. We have become a people among whom the cheap-shot versions of atheism easily prosper.
The experience of belief begins, I think, with the experience of transcendence, the questions of meaning and significance. It is a conversation that struggles to find its way in a sea of commodities and mundane pleasure. We are not immune to the transcendent – but simply distracted.
As a Christian, I believe there is a transcendent reality. An awareness that we exist and recognize our need for meaning and purpose which is unfulfilled in a disenchanted reality. This is our common need which can only be fulfilled in the transcendent.
Christianity, at least western Christianity, navigating a secular age has chosen a trajectory leading to increased reliance on human ability/reason and scientific laws as an ultimate source for answers to the problems of modernity. Utility, efficiency and production are our preimemmant tools to achieve full potential as human beings.
It is my contention the problem for SBC and western Christianity is loss of transcendence.
Admittedly debatable, I find no joy my conclusion. For if true, Christian faith devoid of transcendence portends fulfillment of Nietzsche’s infamous declaration, “God is dead”.
Ironically, Nietzsche believed that scientific developments and the increasing secularization of Europe had effectively ‘killed’ the Abrahamic God, who had served as the basis for meaning and value in the West for more than a thousand years. (Wikipedia)
Perhaps the Apostle John writing to today’s western churches would say: ” I have this against you, that are abandoning our transcendent GOD. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, you will lose your place in the Kingdom of God, unless you repent.”
STILL ON THE JOURNEY