Thoughts of Another Traveler…

Many years ago, early in my vocational ministry career, I attended a seminar on “Paradigm Shifting”.  (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/paradigm)  The course itself was very enlightening and educational.  Especially for a young, aspiring theologian who had it all figured out at 25 years old.  I took a lot from that learning experience overall, but one takeaway from the seminar has resonated in my life since then.  One of the sessions introduced itself with this little quote:

“Methods are many, Principles are few; Methods change often, Principles never do”

 This statement contributed to one of those “Light Bulb” moments we are granted along the journey of life.  At the time, I was serving in full-time vocational ministry as a recently ordained minister.  The church where I served at the time was going through some challenging times related to growth and change.  If you don’t know or understand, change within the Church usually requires more miraculous intervention from our Creator than walking on water, or descending to the gates of Hell to conquer death.  Back in those days, great debates were occurring on some deep, fundamental theological debates such as – “Hymnbooks or Projector?”  “Hymns or Contemporary (even with drums!)” “Can a church board member enjoy a glass of wine?”  Reminder, that I grew up in church as a pastor’s Kid, and this irrelevant garbage is exactly why I had originally pulled a Jonah and ran away from Nineveh like the plague.

I will not divulge this essay into a diatribe on my ministry years because I could write a book.  What I did learn during this time was a deeper understanding of a phenomenon that caused a tremendous amount of debate and opposition to change.  I learned that building a distinction between a “Principle” and a “Method” can be life changing.  And the lack of an understanding (or the willingness to build on that distinction) between the two can be both paralyzing and extremely dangerous.  Frankly, a paradigm shift in my own personal faith and spiritual walk really began to occur as well.  I began to take a deeper look at my own faith, understanding of scripture, theology, and personal philosophy of ministry and life.  I began to evaluate all of this by asking myself, “Is this concept or belief a ‘Principle’ (an actual Biblical truth/Theological pillar) or, is this concept or belief simply a ‘Methodology’ (a personal or culturally derived method or philosophy of presenting/delivering) said ‘Principle’.  

Although I am not writing this essay specific to my experience in vocational ministry, I developed a personal belief at this time that I believe is still true today.  The Church (not a building or denomination) of Jesus has seen more destruction from within, hurt more people, destroyed more faith, and eliminated more influence on a lost world with this issue than any other.    Pastors, teachers, televangelists, and well-intentioned spiritual dragons have spent decades preaching and arguing over ‘Methodology’ (doctrinal issues, style of music, church membership, and the list goes on) instead of intelligently and spiritually teaching ‘Principles’ (Eternal truths that are pillars of Christian theology, Biblical understanding, and Christian World view) that truly change lives and fulfill Jesus’ vision of a unified body of believers as prayed for in John 17.  Leadership failure and human pride have (in my humble opinion) literally escorted us into an era where Christians have very little desire to distinguish a theological/foundational truth (a ‘Principle’) from an opinion or cultural relevant trend (‘Method’).  For those that do still seek foundational truth and principle, many lack the leadership, tools, and building blocks to do so.  Enter the era of Moral Relativism (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/relativism ) and Postmodernism (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism ) dominating both our culture and our churches.

Several years ago, I was working as an adjunct professor for a Christian University—writing and teaching several courses on Ministry and Theology.  I remember one of the Senior Theology professors (who was critiquing and approving class material/documentation for my classes) said something to me that I will never forget.  He said, “Never, ever forget that there is a vast difference between ‘Theology’ and ‘Philosophy’, and the biggest mistake we can make is to confuse the two while teaching the Bible.”  I immediately connected that statement with “Methods are Many, Principles are few; Methods change often, Principles never do.”  Today we live in culture that is rife with people who have been hurt by the Church, by their religious upbringing, and by the failure of parents, pastors, and hypocritical Christian leaders who couldn’t or wouldn’t distinguish between the two.  We have failed by trying to force vast amounts of “Philosophy” (Methodology) down throats of several generations of kids while proclaiming it as “Principle” (Theology).  We are reaping a social media culture exploding with the belief that the greatest percentage of the Christian faith is nothing more than “Methodology” or “Philosophy” with very little “Principle” or “Theology” worth believing in at all (much less worth dying for).  A few years ago, I began to refer to it as the “throw out the baby with the bathwater” movement.  In other words, I believe we are seeing a great percentage of our entire culture (even believers and those who profess Christianity) who truly believe there are very few “Principles” which are eternal.   The current cultural response (to any belief that may be viewed as ‘counter-cultural’) is that most faith based teaching or Biblical truth that has been revered as “Principle” (for thousands of years) can simply be placed into a non-culturally relevant bucket and thrown out as nothing more than a “Methodology”. 

Maybe worse, we are seeing this post-modern ideology take a stronger foothold in historically Christian Institutions of higher education, Denominational leadership, best-selling authors, and even small-town pastors struggling to stay ‘Relevant’ in this crazy world.   Teaching the historical truth that Christianity (the “Principles” and “Theology” of the faith) has always been and will continue to be counter-cultural is not a popular approach today.   It sells better (and surely makes Jesus more palatable) to further the mistakes of the previous evangelical generation by reducing “Principle” to “Methodology” and just throw out the “Principles” that don’t feel good or line up with the current “woke” culture.  Ironically, we now live in a time when instead of trying to turn “Methodology” into “Principle” by taking scripture out of context—we are becoming content to turn “Principle” into “Methodology” and evaluate the relevance of that “Methodology” based on what might offend or be counter-cultural.  I suppose this is exactly what Jesus meant when he sent the disciples out to teach in his name and he told them:

• “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.  But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.  Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.   For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother-in-law.   And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.    He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.   And he that taketh not his cross, and follows after me, is not worthy of me.   He that finds his life shall lose it: and he that loses his life for my sake shall find it.”   Matthew 10:32-39

In many cases, I consider myself to be a progressive-thinking person.  In my early years of ministry, I was continually stirring up controversy with teachers, pastors, and saints challenging “Methodology” that had been twisted and turned into “Principle”.  I stood and fought intently for what I saw as needed change in the Church in many areas.  I lived to challenge the “We’ve always done it that way” crowd when it came to “Methodology”.  I learned to despise the hypocritical and arrogant approach of so many Christian leaders and Churches whose “Philosophy” of ministry had ventured so far from actual “Theology” that it was more damaging to the Gospel of Christ than most Atheists attempts ever were.  Maybe, because of this, I developed a deeper passion for the “Principles”.  I began to devote a considerable amount of time to the study of Hermeneutics, Apologetics, Theology, Church History, and the writings of Christian forefathers who were willing to die for these “Principles” –despite existing cultural trends, ideologies, ethnicity differences, or societal influence of any kind.  I was not willing to be satisfied with a Faith/Belief system (that calls me to take up my cross and be willing to die for it), or with any “Principle” (eternal truth) that needed to be adjusted every time society, culture, or new religious trend deemed it irrelevant.

I am not willing to “throw the baby out with the bathwater” to become “woke” or “culturally relevant”.  To take that stance, I have had to do a lot of soul searching, reading, and praying to come to a place in my life where the simple phrase “Methods are many, Principles are few; Methods change often, Principles never do” has more meaning than I ever dreamed it would.  We live in a hurting society.  A culture where every person on Social Media is an expert in just about any topic—and actually has the right to be an expert since we are living in the philosophical fog of Moral relativism and Post-modernism.  Our culture is looking for answers, looking for truth, looking for something to heal the pain, looking for something to believe in—and the church is failing to provide that.  I believe it takes truth to heal, truth to provide answers, truth to guide—and truth comes from our Creator and all that He has provided to us to seek and find that truth.  His truth is “Principle” that doesn’t change.  Attacks on “Principles” and theological truths that have proven the test of time (across civilizations, ethnicities, wars, modernization, persecution, and technology) will continue to increase as people look elsewhere for answers.  Why?  Because God’s “Principles” and true “Theology” always run counter-cultural and counter-intuitive to human intellect and reasoning promoted by those whose faith has been built (or destroyed) with mere “Methodology”.

What are your “Principles”?

  ¹⁸ For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹ For it is written:  “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”   ²⁰ Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹ For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. ²² Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, ²³ but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, ²⁴ but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵ For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.  I Corinthians 1: 18-25