Doubting Doubt
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Update
Background to the Update
The purpose of this
supplement is to provide an update to the essay, Doubting Doubt. Before I
give the update I would like to give some background:
In
an essay in the subsequent booklet that I wrote, Hello Church,[1] I made reference
to an article written by Dr. Carl Trueman called What if Life was Complex?[2] In the article, Dr. Trueman wrote about, as
he put it, “the impact of celebrity on evangelicalism” and described the
situation with the term “Evangelical Industrial Complex.”
Trueman’s article describes in a tongue-in-cheek style a situation which
in fact actually exists. In the
satirical style of his article, he wrote,
The key leaders would be the
men at the big churches or with the ability to pack a stadium or to handle
media with slick sophistication.
Of
course, the reality is that this is not really a farcical statement. This is the very real trend today. Elsewhere in his article, Trueman wrote,
Criticism would be
effectively stymied. Most critics would
lack the stature to present a threat and could thus be safely ignored.
The sad thing is that what Trueman describes jokingly actually is just
like this and it is not one bit funny.
What is even sadder is that it is not limited to the celebrity
evangelicals. Celebrity evangelicals are
not the only ones leading the Evangelical Industrial Complex, as Dr. Trueman
calls it. Despite Christianity’s call
for each and every one of its disciples to “test all things” (1 Thessalonians
5:21) and to grow in Christian maturity, even to the extent that the disciples
themselves can become teachers, what we have now is that only the elite
academicians are endowed with the acceptance to speak on Christian subjects.
For the purpose of this supplement, let me phrase that another way: The elite academicians may very well be the celebrity evangelicals. This is a “double-whammy” to use a slang
expression, because these evangelical celebrities are the elite of the
elite. They are untouchable due to their
lofty ivory-tower positions. Should a
layperson challenge one of their declarations, they view it as an affront. “How dare you – a layperson, a peon, a nobody – how dare you challenge me, a
PhD, head of numerous prestigious organizations, a renowned author and
speaker? Be grateful if I hear you
once. You’ll be granted no more hearings
before me.”
There is one final part to this background before my first update. As I wrote about in still another essay,[3] this trend is
pervasive. It reminds me of the old
1960’s TV series, The Invaders,
because it seems that no matter what church leader one tries to talk to, he’s
“one of them!”
I
have heard some surprisingly inaccurate Bible teaching come from some very
prestigious Christian leaders who I otherwise regard as very helpful and
respectable. Yet if I even suggest to
them that some teaching of theirs seems to be incorrect, the result is exactly
as Dr. Trueman described: Because I have
no credentials, I lack the stature to present a threat, my criticism is
effectively stymied and I am, if not ignored, just plain blown off.
I
have always been forthcoming, ever since the very first few pages of the first
of my writings that I am no Bible Answer Man and I have no credentials. However I have drawn from the very best
teachers and reference resources I can find and I have put in enough effort to
very often be able to spot inaccurate Bible teaching and definitely to
differentiate between true Christianity and a counterfeit. Here is what I said in my very first book and
continue to say to this day:
If there is anything that I
can say that I am to qualify me to write anything it is that I am a student of
the Bible; and of that I will say this: I work hard at it. And I pay attention.[4]
I
would also add this: I make every effort
that I can to avoid giving my own personal and private musings, ponderings and
introspections. We do not afford
peoples’ speculations the same weight and value as scriptural support and I am
required to apply that same standard to myself.
Christianity is not a game to me because it is not a game. I have taken very seriously the Bible’s
instruction to “test all things” (1 Thessalonians 5:21), and to “be prepared to
give an answer” (1 Peter 3:15), because there is much at stake, because there
is an enormous amount of false teaching and Bible twisting in the world,
because Christian persecution is very real, even if it may be subtle in
America, and because, as I understand the Bible, I am expected to share the
Gospel and make disciples if I can.
I must say that lately this barrier, this divide, between disciples and church leaders has caused me to say to myself many times these days, “I believe in God. I don’t believe in people.” And it is not my own fellow disciples who are the people I do not believe in, it is the church leaders. I don’t want to lose my confidence in them.
This concludes my background for this update. The update begins on the next page.[1] Monty Dicksion, essay Discipleship: Leaders and Followers, book Hello Church, An incoming call from one of your own (self-published, 2013), p. 7
[2]
Dr.
Carl Trueman, What if Life was Complex,
Reformation 21 website, http://www.reformation21.org/articles/what-if-life-was-complex.php,
April, 2013, site accessed August 3, 2013
[3] Monty Dicksion, essay Shepherds, Flocks and Disciples, book Hello Church, An incoming call from one of your own (self-published, 2013), p. 15
[4] Monty Dicksion, Compendium of Discovery (self-published, 2012), p. 19
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