"As they passed the rows of houses they saw through the open doors that men were sweeping and dusting and washing dishes, while the women sat around in groups, gossiping and laughing.
"What has happened?" the Scarecrow asked a sad-looking man with a bushy beard, who wore an apron and was wheeling a baby-carriage along the sidewalk.
"Why, we've had a revolution, your Majesty -- as you ought to know very well," replied the man; "and since you went away the women have been running things to suit themselves. I'm glad you have decided to come back and restore order, for doing housework and minding the children is wearing out the strength of every man in the Emerald City."
"Hm!" said the Scarecrow, thoughtfully. "If it is such hard work as you say, how did the women manage it so easily?"
"I really do not know," replied the man, with a deep sigh. "Perhaps the women are made of cast-iron.""
- L. Frank Baum, "The Land of Oz"
Monday, December 7, 2009
For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father."
-- Romans 8:15
I hadn't realized this, really, until a couple of years ago, but the church traditions I grew up in dealt heavily in dispensing spirits of fear. I felt an aversion to a lot of what I experienced -- although not to the core doctrine I was taught, which was all solid -- all through my adolescence, but it took me into my thirties to put a label on it: the spirit of fear.
The revivalistic invitationalism reduced the gospel to a bet-hedging spin on Pascal's Wager, hinging on the weekly intonation of "If you were to die on your way home tonight, would you go to heaven?"
It's a great question. It's a valid question. But in the context of the spirit of fear, it didn't just create a tremble at the thought of hell, but a tenuousness in our thinking of salvation. (Was I ever really sure? Maybe I should say the prayer again or rededicate.)
The list of things to be afraid of began when I was young and did not relent.
- The inherent witchcraft in the practice of trick-or-treating or any other recognition of Halloween.
- The New Age infiltration of everything from He-Man action figures to rainbow stickers.
- Nuclear war, which Gog (or Magog -- I can't remember which) was going to wage on us, according to prophecy.
- Catholics.
- Calvinists.
- Basically any non-Baptists.
- People who drink beer.
- Demon stories told by youth leaders at camp.
- Skits about car crashes.
- Youth camp games like Underground Church, which involved "pretend torture," and Sheep and Goats, which involved simulating a mass disaster and sending certain church youth groups to "hell."
- Satanism.
- Backmasking in rock and roll music.
- People and places and works to boycott and/or protest.
- The rapture.
That last one really did me in. The original "left behind" movies (A Thief in the Night and those other classics of 70's Christian cinema) had me so in fear of being left behind, I had ongoing nightmares. I was twelve years old and had to sleep on the floor of my parents' bedroom. I ended up getting saved and baptized again.
I'm a neurotic guy anyway and was plagued with a natural lack of self-confidence. This stuff really messed me up.
Yet I'm not mad about it. I get angry sometimes about the stuff itself, and the spirit that gives rise to it. But I know when pastors and churches deal in this kind of stuff, they basically mean well. There are subtle issues of control and power going on in there, but I know a lot of this stuff was meant to move people to Jesus. And yet the damage it does along the way can leave scars that remain long past salvation. This is not the sort of confidence gospel wakefulness is meant to create in the born again.
I know all my pastors and Sunday School teachers and church leaders loved me. They cared about my soul. But they made me a very frightened, timid, powerless believer. And I was ill equipped for real life, because I had been given the spirit of fear.
Thankfully evangelicalism seems pretty much "over" a lot of this stuff. But we peddle in new fears, and it grieves me. What are we afraid of now?
- That liberals will take God out of America. (As if that was possible.)
- That Democrats will pass bad laws.
- That stores will say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas."
There's a lot more, and most of them are of the culture war variety. Politics and social concerns. You may think these are all valid issues, and some of them are, but the way they grip the evangelical's attention and the way they drive him and her into anxiety, preoccupation, anger, obsession are all evidences of the spirit of fear.
The difference maker is this: Is God sovereign or not? Is Jesus risen and now sitting on the throne or not? If so: Relax.
I know all the fear-spirit peddlers usually mean well. But an imperfect love, even though love, is not the perfect love of Christ which drives out fear. If God is for me in Christ, who can be against me? What shall I fear?
Nobody. Nothing.
(And by the way, it really confuses (and sometimes concerns) people if you don't give a crud if the Ten Commandments get taken out of the courthouse or if "In God We Trust" gets taken off the money. They can't take Christ out of my heart or God out of his heaven, can they? No? Well, I'm all set then.)
The love of Christ is perfect, securing salvation eternally, fostering assurance and confidence in him.
Let the world toil and tumble. My Redeemer lives.
In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
-- 1 John 4:17-18
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1. 31 Hertz
- 12/08/2009 9:08 am CST
“The revivalistic invitationalism reduced the gospel to a bet-hedging spin on Pascal’s Wager, hinging on the weekly intonation of “If you were to die on your way home tonight, would you go to heaven?” It’s a great question. It’s a valid ques...
Comments on "Imperfect Love Drives In Fear":
5. Bob Sacamento
- 12/08/2009 10:29 am CST
I won't get into the culture war stuff, but you are so right about all the Halloween/backmasking/rapture stuff we had to put up with.
I only wish I could agree with you when you say, "Thankfully evangelicalism seems pretty much "over" a lot of this stuff." I have to spend way too much time watching TBN (It's an in-laws thing.) and they are as bad about this stuff as ever, probably worse. And you left out Harry Potter.
But it was a great post, and every pastor in America should be required to memorize: But they made me a very frightened, timid, powerless believer. And I was ill equipped for real life, because I had been given the spirit of fear.
Thanks!
7. Karl
- 12/08/2009 10:44 am CST
Great post. I'm of a similar age, and remember all of those things. Thankfully while I was exposed to them to a considerable degree, I also was exposed to much better and more empowering visions of the Christian life and discipleship along the way, too. So while I carry some baggage it's not nearly as much as that carried by many of my friends whose only context for being a Christian, was that type of context.
I agree with Bob that there's still a lot of it out there. It may have morphed some and it may be less pervasive in some evangelical circles than it used to be, but it's still out there. I also agree with you Jared, that a lot of the current culture-war stuff (not all IMO, but a lot) that conservative Christians hear repeated rallying cries about, trades on a similar spirit of fear. I had a lot of problems with Frank Schaeffer's "Crazy for God" - and have significant disagreements with Frank himself - but I thought his comments on the 80's era culture wars and their trading on fear for the rallying of the conservative troops, were quite telling.
9. Russ Mangiapane
- 12/08/2009 12:02 pm CST
It is over questions, doubts, and fears from my evangelical upbringing that drove me to find answers in the last place I ever expected to find them: The Eastern Orthodox Church. Much of these fears are generated from a false conception of God as a terrorist who deals out punishment to those who refuse to accept His Son. I challenge you to read this article dealing with hell but from a different perspective:
http://www.orthodoxpress.org/parish/river_of_fire.htm
Hell is not a place designed to punish unbelievers, but rather it is our existential reality when we fail to become what we are created to be: persons made in the image and likeness of God. When we say no to this calling, the result is torment and gnashing of teeth, not because God is dealing out the torment, but because He is a consuming fire and will continue to pour out His perfect love that He loves us with. If we refuse this love it is a torment, if we accept this love it is paradise. I hope the article will help give you some answers the way it has helped me.
Russ
12. Headless Unicorn Guy
- 12/15/2009 4:33 pm CST
- Youth camp games like Underground Church, which involved "pretend torture," and Sheep and Goats, which involved simulating a mass disaster and sending certain church youth groups to "hell."
No shit?
Those are just the sickest ideas for "youth camp games" I have ever heard. ("I wish I had never heard... I wish I had never seen... Ia, Ia, Cthulhu Fthagn...")
Though I think I can top you about a variant to "Sheep & Goats". Didn't happen to me, but I read it somewhere on the Net: Interrupted the youth camp campfire meeting with a fake Nuclear Attack alarm -- Incoming ICBMs, twenty minutes to impact/detonation, Do You Know Where You Will Spend Eternity?
- Satanism.
- Backmasking in rock and roll music.
Don't forget Dungeons & Dragons...
- The rapture.
That last one really did me in. The original "left behind" movies (A Thief in the Night and those other classics of 70's Christian cinema) had me so in fear of being left behind, I had ongoing nightmares. I was twelve years old and had to sleep on the floor of my parents' bedroom. I ended up getting saved and baptized again.
I'm a neurotic guy anyway and was plagued with a natural lack of self-confidence. This stuff really messed me up.
Messed me up the same way. From Hal Lindsay's heyday, the time of Christians For Nuclear War (It's Prophesied!), when the Bible was only 3 1/2 books: Daniel, Revelation, the "Nuclear War Chapter" of Ezekiel, and Late Great Planet Earth (which superseded the other 2 1/2).
Who will restore those 15 years the End Time Prophecy locusts have eaten?
13. Headless Unicorn Guy
- 12/15/2009 4:38 pm CST
P.S. Re Thief in the Night:
That movie hit the church circuit during the Age of Hal Lindsay; I kept hearing about how it freaked out a LOT of people. I've never been wrapped all that tight to start with, so to keep my sanity I never saw the flick -- or any similar one.
Some twenty years later, I saw three clips of Thief in the Night on some PBS documentary. (This was a few years after I'd been introduced to Mystery Science Theater 3000.) These were my exact words:
Clip 1: That's Thief in the Night? It looks more like Manos, Hands of Fate!
Clip 2: Where's Joel and the Bots? They should be at the bottom of the screen commenting!
Clip 3: AAAAAAGH! WE HAVE MOVIE SIGN!
15. Jared
- 12/18/2009 8:35 am CST
M, only to press further into the gospel. Reflect daily on Christ's finished work on your behalf, that God approves of you and adopts you as his own based on Christ's perfect righteousness. That you are his and that he is FOR you, always. Preach that to yourself daily, read as much as you can about it, sing about it, meditate on it, talk to people about it, and praise God for it.
Gospel-centrality isn't just new coinage or a buzzword: it makes a huge difference in one's Christian life. It did mine, anyway.
Leave a Comment:
I think we're around the same age. You just described my childhood, but remove "Baptist" and insert "Pentecostal."
I remember numerous ongoing nightmares after seeing some sort of Tribulation/Rapture focused film at around age 6-7.
To this day, I am still afraid that "I'm not doing it right" - so much tied to trying to figure out the "right" doctrine, fighting to control what happens in the world around me, worrying about things all the time. I have little to no trust in God. Phew, there I said it. Now, I realize that something is "off" there - I should have confidence in Him I know that the Scripture teaches this... I just have never learned how to practice it.
As long as my Christianity has been about trying to control the issues around me I am intensely miserable and pessimistic. I have a bad habit of looking at the "big picture," which often seems to bleak if you're looking at the world around you to reflect any type of Scriptural value system.
Thank you for giving me something to think on... again. :)