“Why Religion Is Giving Way to Spirituality”
The above was the sub-title of a book by Paul Heelas and Linda Woodhead, published in 2005, entitled The Spiritual Revolution. On one side, the book puts “a Christianity whose characteristic mode is to make appeal to transcendent authority”, and on the other “a spirituality” in which “the subjectivities of each individual become a, if not the, unique source of significance, meaning and authority. . . . The goal is not to defer to higher authority, but to have the courage to become one’s own authority; not to follow established paths, but to forge one’s own inner directed, as subjective, life.” The aim is not to rely on the knowledge and wisdom of others but to know oneself and be true to oneself. “People are turning inside themselves for answers rather than looking to external religions, which people have to fit into rather than finding something which fits them.”
In November 2010 the local Diocese of the Church of England had a “Spirit of Life” stand at the Manchester Mind, Body, Spirit Festival, to “help people explore spirituality from the Christian tradition. It offered foot and hand massage, prayer-bead making, Jesus Deck reading (a type of applied Bible study based on a card drawn from a pack of cards), prayer and general conversation.”
In May 2011 Manchester Cathedral is to host its own Mind, Body, Spirit event – “an opportunity to engage with the Spirit of Life through meditation and mysticism, prophecy and Jesus Deck reading, massage and therapies, craft workshops and seminars, poetry, dance and creative arts, anointing and healing prayer”. It aims to introduce “a way for people searching for spiritual meaning and experience to connect with God through spiritualities old and new”.
The Bishop of Manchester described the event as “a chance to discover and explore old and new Christian spiritual traditions from living in a community to praying with icons, from healing to bead-making, from Franciscan spirituality to contemporary music and movement. Practitioners from all over the country will be on hand to offer their experience of how God speaks to us today through the cultural language and practices so common in mind, body, spirit fairs.” A fire-breathing vicar will also perform. In response to media coverage the bishop stated that “the event seems to offer a clear Christian alternative to the usual offer at Mind, Body, Spirit events, and is doing what the Church of England has always done – being present within culture, coming alongside people and offering them Christ”. He does not believe that these activities are incompatible with Christian belief.
Here we see an expression of the idea that, to influence contemporary society for Christ and bring people into the churches, we must adapt to (and then adopt) the culture of the day, even those aspects of the culture which are antithetical to the truth, which requires acknowledgment of the transcendent authority of God and of His will revealed in His Word. It is an attempt to make the Church and its message seem relevant to those whose basic mentality is enmity to the God of the Bible by showing them that what it has to offer is another way of fulfilling their carnal aspirations. There is a sad departure from the absolute authority of Scripture and its message, with its assertion of the sinfulness of human beings, the demand that the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts, the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as the way to God, and the dependence of sinners upon the grace of God to save them from their Godless state and aspirations.
Much of the religion of the day, as well as the “spirituality” which some are choosing as an alternative and the secularism which characterises the masses, is alien to the truth as it is in Jesus. To bring people into such religion is only to offer them one delusion in the place of another. We cannot look with complacency on the masses of our fellow sinners who are without God in the world and must seek to “come alongside them” with the gospel. Our compassion must not lead us to compromise the truth, but “speaking the truth in love”, adhering to the principles and practices that are in accordance with that truth and walking in the truth, we must look to the Lord to bless His Word, revive His work and in wrath remember mercy – which alone will restore power and genuine spirituality to true religion.
HMC
The Japanese Tsunami
The tragic Japanese tsunami of 11 March, which has left more than 27 000 people dead or missing, has led to a revival of Shintoism and Buddhism, according to news reports. Japan, like the West, is deeply secularised, and people were surprised soon after the tsunami to hear the Governor of Tokyo saying that “the Japanese people must take advantage of this tsunami to wash away their selfish greed. I really do think this is divine punishment.” The Governor subsequently apologized. Experts on Shintoism and Buddhism, a blend of which is the prevailing religion in Japan, hurried forward to explain that the Governor was misrepresenting Japanese religion which does not contain the ideas of “divine retribution” and “punishment”.
The Governor, it seems, was more enlightened than the experts. Perhaps he got the idea of punishment from Christian influence, or even from his own conscience: “the Gentiles . . . show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness” (Rom 2:15). Natural disasters are a consequence of sin, but they are not necessarily a direct consequence. Christ says that we are not to think that those who suffer in them are greater sinners than others but we are to heed the warning: “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Lk 13:3). Nowadays a major natural disaster transmits a warning virtually to the whole world.
It is estimated that 1-2% of those in Japan profess Christianity. The writer heard of a Japanese pastor about 40 miles from the Fukushima nuclear reactor. He and his family were a few days without electricity, and possibly without running water as well, although they keep reserves of bottled water because of the likelihood of earthquakes. For at least a week after the earthquake it was difficult to sleep because of the frequency of the aftershocks. Food was in very short supply. The pastor did not wish to evacuate, partly because he wanted to remain with his congregation, partly because the road away passed nearer to the nuclear reactor, and partly because he did not have any petrol. We have not heard more recent news but we are to remember the people of God “which suffer adversity, as being ourselves also in the body” (Heb 13:3). We pray that these things will fall out “unto the furtherance of the gospel” (Phil 1:12). DWBS
Prince Charles and Religion
During a discussion with Islamic scholars at a university in Morocco recently, Prince Charles complained of being “abused and ridiculed” over his attempts to promote inter-faith dialogue. While neither abuse or ridicule are proper responses to his statements, it is absolutely appropriate to point out the serious errors in his views.
His contribution to the discussion included the claim: “One of the hardest things is to remind people of the great truth of traditional Islam, not distorted Islam, and trying to remind people of the great truth of traditional Christianity, not distorted Christianity”. But he should have started with the basic fact that there is one true religion, and only one. There is one true God, ruling over everything; there can be no more than one such Being. This God has revealed Himself in the Bible. We are under an inescapable obligation to follow the true religion – to believe the precise doctrines that God has revealed and to worship Him in the way He has appointed. This obligation follows from the fact that God has created us. It is not only appropriate for human beings to worship God and serve Him in a way that is acceptable to Him; the relationship between us and Him binds us to do so as an absolute duty.
From the fact that there is one true religion it follows inevitably that all others are false. Although not all their individual teachings are false (for instance, many religions point to a supreme being), none of these religions provide a safe guide through life. More significantly still, none of them can show us the way to heaven, “for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” except the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12). Thus, as far as religious truth is concerned, there is no real point in distinguishing between “traditional Islam” and any of its other forms; none of them constitute true religion – yet clearly some of them are much more dangerous than others in terms of people’s physical safety.
One doubts, however, that the Prince has any understanding of what constitutes true Christianity; what he sees as traditional Christianity is probably quite different. Certainly mainstream Anglicanism, with its liberal outlook and its rejection of the authority of the Bible, is a distorted form of Christianity; and Roman Catholicism is even more serious in its distortion of biblical truth. Yet we wish the Prince well, for time and eternity. May the Lord convince him, both in mind and heart, of the truth that God has revealed!