Sobering Reflections on De-Conversion

I appreciated Ed Stetzer's heart-felt, humble, and searching reflections on the de-conversion of Bart Campolo.
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Half-Truth and Happiness

I thank God for revealing his truth to humanity—for sending Jesus, who is the truth (John 14:6); for his written revelation:  “Your word is truth” (John 17:17).  The Scriptures give light to show the way in a dark world (Psalm 119:105).  How we need God’s truth!

But still, distorted or veiled or incomplete or diluted or slanted words of truth are dangerous:  half-truths hurt people.  Like teach­ing that “God is love” while ignoring the fact that “God is light.”  Or teach­ing that we’re not saved by good works without clari­fying that we are saved unto good works.  Or favoring the NT and ignoring the OT.  Or tell­ing people to love neighbors without helping them first love God.

A certain half-truth recently went viral online:  Victoria Osteen (co-pastor with Joel Osteen at Houston’s positive-thinking Lakewood Church) declared, “When we obey God, we’re not doing it for God … we’re doing it for ourselves, because God takes pleasure when we’re happy.  Just do good for your own self.  Do good because God wants you to be happy.  When you come to church, when you worship Him, you’re not doing it for God really.  You’re doing it for yourself, because that’s what makes God happy.”  Here's the video:

The Christian blog-o-sphere lit up like fireworks in response.  First it was everyone saying how outrageous Osteen’s remarks were.  Then, after a bit, it was how some of the criticisms revealed an opposite error.  One half-truth was being exchanged for another.

So, what’s the grain of truth from Osteen?  It’s that God doesn’t need our worship—he has no need.  We don’t do good “for” God in a way that makes up for any deficiency in God because, of course, he has no deficiency.  The Maker and Master of all things is not “served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:24). 

What’s more, everything that exists belongs to God (Psalm 24:1; 50:10-12).  We’re merely stewards of his property entrusted to our care (Luke 12:41-48; 1 Cor 4:7).  So we’re just not in a position to “give” God anything.  Even you yourself belong to God (“You are not your own, for you were bought with a price,” 1 Cor 6:19-20).

So Victoria Osteen touches on something true:  we don’t act for God in a way that makes up for any lack on his part (he lacks nothing).  Plus, all that we might give to God is really his already.

But still, there is a grievous distortion of God’s true word in Osteen’s remarks.  In response, Ligon Duncan points to the Westminster Catechism:  “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”  Duncan contends, “Our fullest joy cannot be realized or exper­ienced apart from the pursuit of God’s glory.”  “True worship is both God-glorifying and soul-satisfying.”  Psalm 73:25 comes to mind, Whom have I in heaven but you?  And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.  And 16:11, You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

The whole truth is that God does want you to be happy—so much so that he insists you find your happiness in what’s truly, eternally satis­fying.  So don’t just worship or do good because “it’s the right thing to do.”  Saying the right words or doing the right thing without a heart of love for God is not Christian worship (Matt 15:8; Rev 3:16).

Here’s a good word from eighteenth century evangelist, George Whitefield:  “A life spent in communion with God, is the pleasantest life in the world” (from his sermon, “Walking with God”).

The Bible commands us, “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).  So again, God wants you to be happy.  Now a reckless reading of this verse locks in on Part B:  Hey, here’s my ticket to getting what I desire—let’s see, I desire a big house, luxury cars, perfect health, high status, trouble-free rela­tionships…  But that interpretation is crazy—and wrong.  Any response to Psalm 37:4 that takes joy in God’s gifts more than in the All-Satisfying Giver himself (remember:  “Delight yourself in the Lord”) amounts to idolatry. 

It would have been so much better if Victoria Osteen had said, “God wants you to be happy in Jesus:  in his love and acceptance, in his forgiveness and comfort, in his purifying and refining work to make you holy and help you walk in his steps!  That’s what you were made for, and no pleasure in mere prosperity will ever satisfy your heart.”

(For a devastating critique of prosperity theology, see John Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad, 3rd edn., pp. 15-32.  For other helpful resources, search on “prosperity” at Desiring God.  See also the Sept­em­ber 3 article from Al Mohler).
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Discontented Contentment

This summer has been a season of wrestling to find the wise and healthy “place” the Lord has for me—and for all his children—somewhere between chronic restlessness and sinful complacency.

On the one hand, Jesus offers us “rest”:  Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest (Matt 11:28).  He brings peace (John 20:19, 20).  So release your anxieties into his fatherly care (Matt 6:25-34)!  Don’t worry about anything, but pray about everything—that’s how we receive God’s peace that passes understanding (Phil 4:4-7).  Christians under pressure (e.g., 1 Pet 4:12) are to cast their anxieties on God since he cares for them (5:7). 

The life Christ calls you to, here and now, is one of peace, rest, and humble trust.  Anxiety breaks out in our souls when we forget who we are—and who the Lord is!  But godly contentment takes root as we lift up our eyes to the One who loves and saves and sustains and cares for us eternally (Psalm 121:1-2; 123:1-2).  Are you walking with Jesus today in an attitude of contentment?  Or is your heart being lured by the Enemy into a fretful, anxious, contentious state? 

The thing about the restless, straining, driven, overly idealistic path is that, the further you take it, the harder it is to get back.  We know we ought to “be still” (Ps 46:10), but we feed off of the ego boost that comes with all our great work and in imagining our­selves so far ahead of others, and we want more.  And more!  Yes, God is able to deliver us from this swamp—but you may lose the desire to turn to him! 

So peace, rest, calm… that’s the one hand.  On the other hand, the Bible calls us to a life of striving:  Jesus goes on in Matthew 6 to teach his disciples to “seek first God’s kingdom.”  Seek.  Paul tells his story of relentless straining and striving, pressing on, pursuing the prize (Phil 3:12-14); he portrays the life of faith in terms of diligent labor (2 Tim 2:1-7).  God says, You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart (Jer 29:13).  Lukewarm, ho-hum, blasé spirituality in the church is revolting to the Lord (Rev 3:16).

So we’re called to a restless restfulness, a discontented contentment.  That’s our paradox.  And it’s a very delicate balance:  we fallen humans easily slide into one sad propensity or the other—that is, to relax our way beyond contentment into complacency and self-serving mediocrity, OR to strive our way beyond the quest for growth in godliness so we end up as proud, straining achievers who really long to feature our own success rather than the glory of Christ.

What’s more, in some seasons of life we lose balance in an ambitious, striving direction, while in others we tip toward sloth, stifled imagination, and lost vision of earlier dreams.  In light of the fact that we oscillate like that, how can we thrive together in Christ as a church community?  For example, as a family with loved ones at different “places” along the continuum living under the same roof—strivers and resters?  Or as a church family made up of members who are in every possible position along the striving-resting spectrum?

Here are a few words of encouragement when it comes to shaping a life of discerning, humble, hopeful spirituality.  First, remem­ber that we all still have a long way to go in terms of spiritual growth.  Which is to say:  you have not “arrived,” nor is your case hopeless, nor are you too old to make new strides, nor are you too young to have grand hopes.  Settling into a life of “settling” dishonors the Lord:  he is at work in you to will and to accomplish his good pleasure (Phil 2:12-13), and his good pleasure includes your development of a healthy, humble rhythm of spiritual life that truly rests in God’s love and that also truly presses on in pursuit of Christ.

Second, be on the lookout for your own “signature sins” (to borrow a phrase from Michael Mangis’s book by the same title).  Know thyself.  Are you prone to slip into the mire of self-pity or doubt or sloth—and are those actually expressions of unbelief?  Or are you inclined to plateau and lock in to a no-change life—and is that actually a way to try and exert control and insulate yourself from life’s harsh winds and waves?  Or, in the other direction, are you prone to push and pull and strive and strain, always seeking more, never at peace, ever chasing some magnificent ideal—yet is that actually a way your heart slides into self-promotion mode while sidelining Jesus Christ?

Third, have mercy on your brothers and sisters in Christ, even if they’re driving you crazy with raging ambition or torpid sluggish­ness.  Be patient (1 Thess 5:14).  Lovingly encourage one another (Heb 3:12-13).  And bear with one another, always ready to forgive:  you must forgive, just as Christ has forgiven you (Col 3:13).

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