Monday, March 5, 2012

Be careful. An OVER-reaction to something negative still lands you on the wrong side of positive.

This is always true.

It applies in so many spheres of life (e.g. personal, social, etc.) but I've become increasingly aware of how true this is in theology and church life. Cessationists overreact against charismatic extremes and end up treating the Spirit like something to be managed rather than Someone to be submitted to. Charismatics overreact against stoic intellectualism and often divorce experience from truth (yes, there is a difference). Liberals (like the emergent church movement) overreact against dogmatism and lapse into relativism (among other errors). Fundamentalists overreact against secularism and end up isolating themselves from...well, everybody.

Social activists overreact against the often reductionistic emphasis of many churches on evangelism and end up reducing the gospel to the good news of upcoming service projects. Evangelism people overreact to social justice people and make serving the poor the equivalent of the free weekend you get at a resort as long as you listen to the timeshare presentation (That's not service by the way; that's marketing). Grace people overreact against moralism and minimize (or eliminate) the necessity of hard work inherent in our sanctification. Seeker-friendly churches often overreact against inward-focused churches and end up making customers rather than disciples.

I could keep doing this. And I will keep doing this as I see overreactions in my own life.

Scripture is the weight that brings us into balance. And yes, we often ironically justify our overreactions with Scripture. But that's a problem with us, not the Bible. We have to continually come before God in His Word, with confidence that His Spirit guides us and with humble awareness that our view may in fact reflect more of our particular theological tradition than the text itself.

But hey, maybe this post is an overreaction....Nah.

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