How Fundamentalists Accidently Sell Out the Faith

Over the years, especially when I was a high school chaplain supporting the kids, I have been a spectator at games. Most of the time, I have a vested interest in a particular team winning. As such, I found I was keenly aware of analyzing referees and umpires to find times where they erred in their calls. It is a pretty universal phenomenon that people say "The ref/ump stole that game from us." I have never, ever heard anyone say, "The ref/ump handed us that game." In general, we quickly integrate a call in our favor as "balancing out other mistakes they made" or "finally we get a break." We experience the world through our beliefs and observations. We also observe the world through our beliefs. We are subjective and not objective.

I bring up the sports analogy because I think the concept of "our team" is a strong motivator for our subjectivity. It motivates us to maximize the negatives of adversaries and minimize the negatives of allies. It also means that we overstate the value of what we value and are ready to criticize the values of others with whom we disagree. This gap leads to breakdowns in communication and community. It also tends to increase over time and intensify as we divide into our sides and hurl our "arguments" back and forth.

Now, disagreements and conflicts are not all bad. In many cases they are good and needed. However, because of "team spirit" (or love of kin, country, church, or a particular position) we tend to quickly become blind to our blindness. An example, at a typical baseball game fans sit above, far away from and at an angle of home plate. There is not any doubt about this. There is also no doubt that a baseball is traveling at a pretty high rate of speed. So a spectator has a split second, literally, to observe a moving baseball passing through a "strike zone" (the area between the knees and mid-chest of the person at bat and over the white plate on the ground). The zone has to be constructed by your eyes and mind, it is not made of anything. And yet, on a constant basis, people whine and grown that the umpire, who is sitting directly behind the plate less than four or five feet behind it all, is somehow incorrect in calling balls and strikes, while we, sitting far away at an angle in the stands are able to critique what he is doing. [sometimes he is wrong and sometimes we are right, but based on the angles I am thinking we probably cannot really see what is going on] Less this seem to be something I am making up, I remember a game where I was upset about where my son was standing in relation to the plate. I thought he was too close, his foot almost appeared to be on the plate. As I walked over to get closer and tell him to move I was shocked to find that standing directly behind the plate it was clear that he was exactly where he should be. My perception was in error, not him.

So what does this have to do with faith and "selling out"? We live in a time where perhaps the Fundamentalist-Modernist battle is coming to a close. The main reason seems to be the rise of post-modernism. This is key. It is not because we (Christians) won or they ("Liberals" or "Modernists") won. It is beause the rules of engagement are changing. The ascendency of pure reason has peaked. The numerous critiques of the modern world (I think Romanticism was one), including the Christian, have often suffered from not realizing that the rules were the basis of victory.

What do I mean? Well, in simplest terms, Christians (I live in the Bible Belt) tend to read the Bible with the same assumptions as the people with whom they disagree. And, because of the heated controversy (us v. them) the reflective process gives way to more emotional battling. Whatever "they" say is wrong (like the ump) and whatever "we" say is treasure (go team go!). So, for example, the creation account is understood as science. Why? Because in our culture (which contains both Christian and Modernist) Scientism reigns. Truth means literal, concrete, measurable, countable, etc. And so Christians, while rejecting the Modern explanation (Bible is in error) embrace the opposite (the Bible describes exactly what took place over seven days--because that is what it says). Of course, it does not exactly say that. It seems to exactly say that. How can I be so obtuse and think this?

I do not think the Bible was written for Modern People. It was written for Ancient People, by Ancient People, in Ancient times. And not just any people, but particular people, most expressly, Jews and Greeks. So they use images and words and thought constructs which made sense to them. And it is one of Modern Man's arrogant beliefs that Modern is good, ancient is bad. Facts are good, truth is bad. Literal is good, figurative is bad. Science is good, myth is bad. Positivist history is good, legend is bad.

So the week of creation is a literal week because that is what Modernist say it isn't and we hate them so we will argue with them to prove our point. And that is the sell out. Right there, in the assumptions and the rules. You see, we let them (Modernist) set the rules on what matters and what has value. And then we try to fit our faith into that context. So we values things based on their criteria.

We turn salvation into an economic commodity and talk about Jesus in value add terms. [If you believe you go to heaven, great investment opportunity, just believe and you get eternal bliss] We talk about Jesus in therapeutic terms [He will fix your family life, or your emotional life, or relationships, or get you off drugs]. We speak of Jesus in competitive terms [He is better than "..." at fixing what ails you]. Modern people vote and are self directed, so we talk about "accepting Christ" as if He is a new kid in school who wants to join our cool group....

The Bible speaks in pre-modern terms. Ancient people get it. In many ways the Middle Ages got it. We don't. We vote and choose. They had kings. Jesus is not President, He is King of kings and Lord of lords. These are not concepts with which we are familiar.

We need to be aware that the values of God (found in the Bible) do not always fit in our world. We should not let the debate be on terms set by people who  have missed the boat on so much. And we need to stop sweating some of the problems which we are worried about and realize that they are only problems based on certain assumptions.

I long for the day when we move beyond it all. I think, we are seeing the dawn of that day. I long for the time when the veil is lifted and we see clearly. The "unveiling" (Greek word for that: apocalypse!!!) where our human culture's assumptions and prejudices will be removed. And we shall see clearly. And we won't sell out the faith by accident, because we have embraced and been embraced by a foreign culture, foreign to God's Kingdom.