Alien Drums

System of belief vs. redemptive life July 26, 2007

I sent this quote to a family member recently:

Brian McLaren:
“When Christian faith presents itself as a system of belief, postmodern people are often skeptical. But when it presents itself as a redemptive way of life within human history, they see something unique and hopeful.”

He responded with the following:

“Our Christian faith is both a system of beliefs and a way of life. My question for Maclaren is this: Is it not our beliefs that determine how we live and think and act? Postmodern people, including myself at times, tend to believe in all sorts of things that are contrary to the word of God. And at the same time they (we) try to live a “redemptive life” that will hopefully, in the end, outweigh a life of unbelief. Redemptive living cannot be a substitue for a right believing in, and knowing of, God.

“Redemptive living is a necessary result of walking and talking and trusting Jesus and His word.”

And here’s my response:

I think the problem is not “belief,” it’s “system.” Modern, rationalistic man has done something that Christ, a premodern, did not seek to do; modern man sought to systematize belief, to construct a logical system of A+B=C. This systematizing effort actually began much before modernity but Jesus did not do it. He almost completely used story (his own and the one’s he told). Story is a great way to convey truth but it is not a systematized way of conveying truth. When you start to try to organize and systematize you almost invariably change it because you are trying to connect dots that previously were not connected. Not systemization can be helpful because it helps us organize our thinking, but we need to recognize that the act of putting it into a system changes the message.

Regarding your question: “Is it not our beliefs that determine how we live and think and act?” Here’s how I would approach it: Some would say how you live and think and act actually reflect what you believe. That is true in a sense, but I’m reminded of Paul in Romans saying that he did what he did not want to do and didn’t do the things he wanted to. I believe the Fall has produced an inconsistency within men and women that distorts the easy connection between beliefs and actions. Most believers would affirm that believers do in fact still sin. In other words, even though they believe it’s wrong to sin, they (we) still sin. If their actions reflect what they truly believe, then they’re not a Christian because they did not trust Christ in that circumstance. As a result, you cannot be absolute about that. I think you can say that the difference between your beliefs and your actions create a discontinuity in life that causes great spiritual and mental discomfort. Which reminds me of the old quote about not resting until we rest in Thee.

You said postmodern people tend to believe in all sorts of things that are contrary to the Word of God. Of course, that is not isolated to postmodern people; modernists are just as contrary. But the difficulty is the “contrary to the Word of God” part. That is stated as if it is an established fact. The reality is not so simple. Many believing modernists and postmodernists disagree on what the Word of God teaches. For instance, people used to use that very phrase to justify slavery and then racial discrimination. Now, we think that is ridiculous, but those Christians who once believed that thought Scripture was clear in that regard. It’s because they looked at Scripture through a cultural window and found what they wanted to find. That tendency has been there throughout the history of the church, and so I suspect that you and I are susceptible to that same tendency. What seems obvious to us is not so obvious to people of other times, places or cultural perspectives.

Now, we can take Jesus’ words to the bank: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son. …” But we still have to interpret what that means to us today. That may seem easy, but it’s not. The first step is trying to understand what the original Greek words that were written down mean because, as you know, every translation is an interpretation. (Plus there’s another translation that has taken place — Aramaic to Greek — that scholars can only speculate about.) To understand the words requires comparisons to other texts, biblical and non-bibilical, that use the words. Once you have a pretty good grasp of what the words and phrases and sentences mean, then you start having to compare them with the other words of Christ to see how they might work together; then you compare them with other scriptural teachings on the same topic and again try to understand how they relate. Of course, there are seeming contradictions. Well, in fact, there are some genuine contradictions but they are not that critical. In trying to deal with the seeming contradictions you must employ another level of interpretation. And then you look at what other Christians have said through history and how they have interpreted those passages. More interpretation.

So, while it’s easy to say “contrary to the Word of God,” that’s a really fuzzy statement; and well-meaning, “orthodox,” believing experts and spiritual giants through the years have interpreted Scripture differently. While I might say that some things McLaren and other postmodernists might believe appear to be contrary to Scripture, I could say the same thing about any Christian thinker. I am using my interpretation of Scripture to say that.

Of course, this doesn’t even begin to deal with one’s basic approach to Scripture. Everything I just said can be said about people who approach Scripture as God’s unique, authoritative, even inerrant Word of God. If you don’t say any or all of those things then you open yourself to even more possible interpretations.

I don’t think McLaren is saying that redemptive living is a substitute for belief; he’s saying that redemptive living is what attracts others to our Savior. If faith in Christ has changed us, redeemed our lives, then others have hope that it can redeem their lives, as well. As in the early church, what really attracted people to Christ was the fact that believers loved one another and that it showed itself in outward ways.

Short question, long response. Great to hear from you. I pray for you every day because, like Christ, I love you. Blessings.