The Well-Beaten Path to Universalism

I've noticed a trend among the public statements people who progress towards Universalism (of which Rob Bell is the most recent and sadly not the last.) This seems to be a predictable path down which one trods to end up at this error.

At this point, I'm not drawing any kind of conclusions here. It is just an observation from watching enough of these over the last several years:

Step 1: Mysticism. They start out in a place where feelings and philosophy are in a place that is clearly above the authority of the texts of Scripture.

Step 2: They begin downplaying the seriousness of sin, its effects, and corruption.

Step 3: They make God exactly like us and describe Him as having human perspectives, attitudes, and methods and judge His will based on what sinful humans consider to be good or bad.

Step 4: They engage in topics with deconstrucitonism and logical fallacies.

Step 5: They downplay or voice serious questions regarding the truth of the penal substitutionary atonement on the cross for our sins (a result of Steps 2-4.)

Step 6: They begin to express appreciation and affinity for other religions and "moral" non-Christians (see Step 2 and 5).

Step 7: By now they have been accused of Universalism (which may be premature, but is certainly on the horizon). They respond by denying Universalism, but they state that God certainly has the power to do anything He wishes.

Step 8: They continue to deny Universalism, but very emotionally state that they personally hope that it is true and that God's mercy might win out in the end.

Step 9: They stop denying Universalism. They publicly wrestle with the scriptural teaching of eternal torment in hell for those who are outside of the faith in Christ.

Step 10: They publicly agree with all the classic teachings of Universalism (perhaps using a different term) and they continue to claim that they are still wrestling with these things... and continue to ardently teach and advance Universalism even while they "wrestle with it".

Why Satire can Hurt Your Fealings Without Being Mean-Spirited or Evil

As is so often the case, Wikipedia provides an excellent clear definition of true satire which I will post here in support of my point:

"Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement. Although satire is usually meant to be funny, its greater purpose is often constructive social criticism, using wit as a weapon." (my emphasis added)

If a harsh remark or insult is like shoving a knife in someone's gut in order to do them harm and cause them pain, true satire is more like a surgeon's scalpel which must inflict harm with the intent of doing a greater good. Satire seeks to cut out the tumors of ignorance, abuse, folly, and other ills. It must do this because, in the estimation of the author, all other tactics have failed. The perpetrators of the wrong that a particular satire seeks to address have closed their ears to polite criticism and humble encouragement. The patient is too far gone for mild treatments. It is time to operate... always with the intent of forcing change, improvement, and awareness.

No doubt, people considered Jonathan Swift cruel and wrong for suggesting infanticide and cannibalism in "A Modest Proposal" as a way to deal with poverty, over-population, and hunger in 18th century Ireland. I'm sure the rich English establishment did not like the implication that they were being hard-hearted.

No doubt, people considered Mark Twain's portrayal of Huck Fin's moral guilt over betraying his southern upbringing by being racially tolerant to be offensive and mean-spirited.

No doubt, people even today hate to even read George Orwell's "Animal Farm" and Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451" because they don't like to encounter such direct, dystopian, and derisive analysis of modern culture. Portraying socialists as pigs and comfort-addicts as brainless, spiritless, and heartless is not a way to win friends. It is a way to get your point across when people otherwise will not listen.

That brings us to the knee-jerk defense when you find your faults cornered, exposed, and ridiculed by satire. You want to call the author out for being mean... or at least being unfair. Are they being mean or unfair? Is the author just being a jerk who unnecessarily tears down his opponents? Does the author have a point or is he just being overly critical to different poitns of view? These are important questions. They are important enough to warrant serious evaluation and application instead of just an uninformed and emotional denial.

There are alot of jerks out there who hide their bad attitudes and offensive sense of humor under the label of "satire". There are alot of bad examples of satire where it falls flat on its face. But it is easy to answer these questions on a case by case basis by just looking at the individual piece itself. Satire isn't about tearing people down in order to be funny. It uses humor and wit to tear down bad ways of thinking in order to build people up and improve their situation if they would just abandon the folly that the author is pointing out.

So when a Christian creates true satire in speaking about the church with the intent to address and correct public matters of doctrine and practice, is he sinning against his neighbor? I don't think so. Individual cases vary, but one should not jump to the conclusion that the strategy is inherently evil especially when the intent is to bring about a greater good and all nice approaches have failed time and again.

...especially when the Prophet Nathan uses a satirical parable in 2nd Samuel 12 to rhetorically corner King David and call him to repentence by turning his own words against him: "You are the man!" If David was a fool, he would ignore his sin and accuse Nathan of being mean and trapping him. David was not a fool. He saw the point of the exchange and recognized it for what it was: a harsh, direct call to repentence.

Causing Offense with New Age Jargon

If you want to win me over to your cause, do not use the word "tribe" to describe some non-tribal group. Using it in this way is a weasel word, a piece of jargon made to manipulate people while obfuscating the details of the actual truth.

Examples of this include calling Lutheranism the "Lutheran tribe" or calling the Jews in the New Testament the "Jewish tribe" (which is properly called a culture that happens to contain 12 actual tribes if you know anything at all about the subject) or the "Gentile tribe" (which is the biggest abuse of the word "tribe" thus far). None of these groups are tribes in the sense that the word tribe has ever been used in the history of the English language. Stop it. You might as well call a group of cats "a fleet", or a collection of books "a herd", or the whole human body "an organ", or two boats "an armada", or the State of Alabama "a county".

It makes you sound stupid and ignorant. It makes you sound like you are putting on heirs. It tells me that you are the kind of person who can't use words properly or is just not honest and precise enough to call something what it actually is. It tells me that you are a parrot who picks up things that sound interesting and repeats them without true understanding or analysis. Parrots are annoying.

Most of all this artistic use of the word "tribe" is very offensive to people who have actually interacted with real tribal groups and all the complex community-based interactions that go along with it. If you have lived with, worked along side, or known people who actually have true tribal ties you realize that Lutherans are not a tribe. The whole Jewish culture is not a single tribe. Everyone who is not Jewish is not a tribe. That's just silly and wrong.

A Few Lessons That I have Learned by FAILING at a Fast

Now is the time of year when everyone wants to talk and read about successful fasting techniques and the kinds of lessons you learn while fasting. I'm going to engage in the exact opposite discussion by talking about some of the things that I have learned by unsuccessful fasting and what can be learned after you fail at it. :P

1. Your inability to keep your outward disciplines has no effect on your eternal standing before God... and neither does your ability to temporarly obserive such disciplines. On account of Christ, you remain an heir of the Kingdom of God by grace alone through faith alone. You have failed in even the simplest things and remain His beloved child in spite of what you do or do not do rather than because of it. Even when you fail in greater things, the promise of the forgiveness of sins and heaven are not denied to you. At the point of failure is where the Gospel is at its clearest.

2. Your fallen nature is such that you cannot keep this simple devotion for a short period of time... where then is your boasting in things which are far more difficult or impossible? If any man boasts, let him boast in the Lord.

3. While you were being successful at your fast, you felt pride at your accomplishment which was replaced by disappointment and shame when you failed. That entire time while you fasted, you habitually engaged in sins far more heinous and injurious to faith. Why do you not lament them as severly as this abandonment of your simple outward training?

4. Your lack of dedication has not cut you off from God's revelation to man. You have made a concerted effort to exercise a discipline and failed... and yet God continues to speak to you in His Word and from the mouth of your pastor, God continues to give you the forgiveness of your sins in His word of Absolution, and continues to draw you to Himself through the mysteries of the Holy Sacraments. He remains steadfast and true to His promises to you even when you cannot keep the promises and resolutions that you make to yourself. Contrast this assurance with the vein worship of the mystics who wrongly think that they must prove themselves worthy before they can be truly enlightened and uplifted by the Holy Spirit.

5. God's loving blessings to you in this world are so complete, lovely, and abundant that even His gift of daily bread is a precious thing to you that you hardly call to mind... a gift that you do not realize how much you enjoy until you attempt to do without it. It is hard to understand the great hights of blessing that God has given you in this life until you attempt to forgo a few of them. You are so blessed that you have food and simple delights that you must constantly ignore in order to observe any kind of fast. God's bountiful riches are given to you in such abundence that they bombard you like an annoyance when you attempt to forego them. How can you then complain about your lot in life with such profound and bountiful gifts from the Heavenly Father?

6. You could not do without a few meals by choice. Imagine the suffering of those who involuntarily go without food on a regular basis through poverty or famine. Imagine the horror you would know if you could not end your fasting as easily as you did. Realizing this, you can now recognize that you have the power in this modern age to help your fellow man to feel as physically satisfied as you do now... through charity and the feeding of the poor around the world.

7. The hunger that you suffered during the fast is nothing compared to the hunger of the soul who desprives himself of God's Word and Sacraments. You cannot experience the former for a few days without great suffering, but--in your sin--you can ignore the latter for extended periods of time and actually feel better about yourself and your situation. You are hard pressed to ever skip a meal, but skipping church or family devotion is no big deal at all. When you are starving for food it as though no feast is large enough for your eyes... and yet the spiritual feast which God offers to halt your spiritual starvation quickly becomes tiresome, boring, repetitive, and too much for your tastes.

The Thing Most Needful

The church will always have weaknesses and fall short this side of Glory. There will always be room for improvement as we toil and wait for what is to come.

But if the church is to be found wanting... let it be in anything but fidelity to the Word of God and the declaration of the forgiveness of sins in the name of Jesus Christ.

The pure and true Gospel of Jesus Christ is the one thing that is most needful.

The Solution for a Church Full of Hypocrites

This was actually one of a couple dozen theses that I penned while trying to list some points on another topic, but I have come to realize that it is significant enough to deserve its own blog post apart from the issue that brought it up so that I can expand the thought and broaden its scope.

The Solution for a Church Full of Hypocrites:

A "hypocrite" is someone who says one thing but does the opposite. He is an actor who portrays something that he is really not. The church is full of hypocrites. This is a very, very bad thing. Christ hates hypocrites and specifically warns against hypocrisy when dealing with the Pharisees. It is a charge that is levelled against the church quite often. This charge is unfortunately true and has an endless string of examples to prove its veracity. I have heard wrong-headed people suggest that the church is supposed to be full of hypocrites. They will even respond to the charge by saying something to the effect of, "certainly the church is full of hypocrites... and there is room for one more!" NO!!! That is wrong! The church is not supposed to be hypocritical at all. Thankfully, the people who actually think the church is okay being hypocritical is relatively small.

The problem comes when people aim to fix this issue of rampant hypocrisy among "Christians". Everyone knows that they way to do away with hypocrisy is to make some one's words and public face match who they are and what they do. So one must ask, "Why is the church full of hypocrites?"

Answer: The church is full of hypocrites because it is full of people who claim to be pulling holiness off when they are not. A "Christian" is a hypocrite when he claims to be righteous when he is in fact a wretched example of horrible thoughts, emotions, and behavior. He proclaims the changed life when he appears completely unchanged and lives as bad as the pagans.

The history of the church is filled with heretics, pietists, legalists, and plain ole erring leaders who have sought to rectify this problem... but went about it the wrong way. Without a proper understanding of man's sinful condition this side of Heavenly Glory, they seek to motivate, cajole, encourage, and threaten men into acting in accordance with the high principles of the Law. They wrongly believe that, if they can just reform people's behavior, the whole hypocrisy problem will be resolved. They foolishly think that, if they can just fix enough people, the church as a whole will improve itself and finally live up to expectations. They wrongly believe that the reason why this has not happened yet is because the right methodology has yet to be applied and set out to finally institute the purification of the church. This is not possible because the sinful flesh still clings to our mortal bodies. It will never work.

This will sound pessimistic, but the only feasible way to remove "Christian" hypocrisy is to lower the person's self-concept, words, and public face down to the level of his poor behavior and spiritual depravity. One must bring a person's words in compliance with his bad behavior through the power of the Holy Spirit by teaching him to always pray "God be merciful to me, the sinner!"

In light of God's Law, which demands perfect and sincere obedience in every way at all times, a hypocrite who tries harder is still a hypocrite no matter how successful he thinks that he has become. He will always fall short of the glory of God. There is none righteous. Not even one.

A sinner who claims the title of "sinner" is no longer being hypocritical. His self-perception and behavior finally agree. He finally sees himself for what he is: a fallen creature in desperate need of a savior because he cannot free himself from his sinful condition.

And here is where the Law has finally done it's great work by driving desperate men to the cross. Here is the place where the sinner encounters the God-Man Christ Jesus, the Great Physician, who declares, "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Here is where the diagnosis finally fits the symptoms and the holy imputed righteousness of Christ is administered to him through the proclamation of the Word and the administration of the Sacraments in accordance with Christ's institution. Here is where the sinner finds healing, wholeness, and unity in the Body of Christ as a fellow beggar among brothers rather than just a puffed-up, lying failure in the company of other puffed-up, lying failures.

Here is where the Law is completed in the death and resurrection of Christ and the freedom of the Gospel liberates the sinner from all of the Law's threats and demands. This is where the public perception no longer matters and the man abandons boasting in himself and begins to loudly boast in the only thing that he truly has to boast in: the Lord God Almighty. This is where the light yoke of Our Savior is found as He, the blameless and spotless sacrifice, assumes our burden of guilt before God the Father and becomes a perfect advocate on our behalf. This is where the Holy Spirit does a mighty and mysterious work within the regenerated soul of the Christian in accordance with His perfect will and bestows upon him diverse and new gifts filled with pious passions as a gracious free treasure of matchless worth. This is where the threatening veil of God's wrath is pulled away and, through the mediation of Christ Jesus, the true face of our merciful God of love is found.

In this freedom that only the Gospel can give, the Christian is finally free and empowered by God Himself to do truly good works which God had predestined before the foundation of the world for His purchased servant to walk in by faith. Free from the burden, despair, and compulsion of obligations, the sinner is supernaturally conformed to the image of Christ through sharing in His cross. He stops toiling in the vain hope of favor from God and the approval of men for all his hard efforts and finally begins to work for free in selfless holiness because God has shown him that Christ has already earned his heavenly wages on his account. It is then that the Christian is able to achieve by faith the truly God pleasing works which no external source on earth--not even the church herself--could compel him to do through human machinations and the exhortations of the Law.

In the gratitude of his salvation and with the secure knowledge that his eternal destiny has already been won completely by Jesus so that there is not even one single thing that could even be added, the Christian gladly and joyfully undertakes the work of a servant to his fellow man as a holy act of true, genuine worship. Freed from despair and guilt, the Christian recognizes that his imperfect obedience in this new life is covered and perfected by Christ's imputed righteousness just as his disobedience was when he was born again by water and the Spirit.

He is finally no longer loathed to contend with the imperative force of the Law's demands but finds himself living freely in the Spirit and walking in God's ways as a new creation in Christ. He can now see his lingering sinfulness for what it now is through Christ: the vestigial Old Adam which clings to him for a short time but will be done away with when this life of tears comes to an end and God rescues him from this body of death. He no longer resists sin because he fears as though he "has to or else" but rather he resists sin and wages war against it on all fronts because his regenerated spirit actually wants to walk in newness of life. He no longer simply fears his sinfulness as an eternal liability but comes to hate his sin as a contagion and detestable thing of which he desires no part according to his regenerated spirit.

The Christian no longer lives in a state of hypocrisy where his words and ideals do not conform to his heart and actions. Instead he lives honestly as a sinner redeemed by grace whose life is one of constant combat between the right spirit which was given to him by the Holy Spirit and the sinful flesh which still clings to him with all its temptations and faults. Rather than attempting to reform his sinfulness through legalistic new measures, he seeks to kill it daily through repentance and enjoys the gift of the forgiveness of sins given in holy absolution and the Lord's Supper with his church family.

In jubilant praise and compassionate concern for his fellow sinner, he finds that the Holy Spirit has given him a voice of expression which helps the church on earth proclaim the very saving message that had won him back from that liar the devil and the gaping jaws of hell itself. Rather than forcing himself to be the greatest among his peers and struggling to fit in, the Christian settles into community with his fellow sheep and peacefully lives out his life in the Body of Christ in accordance with his various callings, vocations, and stations in life.

This is how true disciples of Christ are made and this is how those disciples are kept steadfast in the faith. This is where the Kingdom of God is at hand and made manifest: in Christ Jesus Our Lord. This regenerative act of salvation is where Jesus Christ exercises His power of kingship and how the church of God is brought into being, preserved, sanctified, and eventually glorified on the Last Day.

And so the health of the church is never measured quantitatively or even qualitatively according to humanly conceived standards but is measured Christologically according to its faithfulness to her Savior through the clear preaching of the Divine Word and the proper administration of the sacraments in accordance with the Gospel of Christ.

Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!

Who Invented Your Means of Grace?

There is no such thing as a church without sacraments.

I'm serious. Every church has them. They may call them different things and they may morph and change on a whim, but no church is devoid of some kind of sacrament. The reason for this is that you cannot avoid it. You have to answer the question, "How does an individual receive the objective promise of the forgiveness of sins?" You can't ignore that question because even a young child will hear John 3:16 and impertinently ask "But how does that happen to us?"

Every church body that still remains remotely Christian explains how this objective promise is applied to the individual through some kind of "means". There is always a "Means of Grace" whereby you are given access to forgiveness. The reason for this need is the simple fact that you are separated from the cross by 2,000 years and over 2,000 miles. It's a fundamental question that must be answered. "How do I get this forgiveness of sins?"

Scripture is clear and the early church fathers confirm its truth: The means by which an individual encounters the forgiveness of sins are found in those times and places where God has promised to do so. He calls the shots, remember? These means are in those places where the Word is applied to poor miserable sinners by the power of the Holy Spirit. Where you find the gospel preached, the Sacrament of the Altar celebrated, Holy Baptism applied in the triune name, and the proclamation of Absolution, there you will find the means of God's grace. This revelation is supported by similar types and forms found in the Old Testament as God's chosen people await the coming messiah and are pointed towards His supreme and all-availing sacrifice on the cross. The Old Testament is filled with typological sacrafices and signs that reveal that this is how God choses to interact with His chosen people. In this way, the ways of God are consistant so that He--and He alone--declares His promises to us and gives them as gifts to His people all the way from Adam up to the present day.

There are churches that claim that they have no sacraments. This is not true. In fact, they simply ignore the means of grace that God instituted in favor of a man-made means that has no Scriptural support. They point you to "your decision" to "make Christ your personal Lord and Savior" as the means whereby the objective promise of the forgiveness of sins is applied to you specifically. That's important. It's not the Gospel that does this. Nor is it the Holy Spirit. Nor is it those things that God instituted in His Word that have His promise for the forgiveness of sins.

It's your decision that makes this forgiveness happen for you. That's what gives you access.

You do it.

YOU.

Christ promises forgiveness, but you bring it into effect by your conscious effort. Grace is not given to you as a free gift and imparted to you through the means that God instituted. Instead, you summon grace to yourself by the power of your own independent, autonomous will. Of course you are saved by faith... it's just that this faith is something you muster up from within yourself and are expected to maintain through discipline, mysticism, and forced zealotry.

That is significant. That is an amazing, bold, and dangerous claim. It smacks of the Garden of Eden where the devil entices man with the promise that we, the creature, will "be like God". The Scriptural supports to defend such an unfounded invention are weak at best. Do the research and you will find that the "proof texts" are taken wildly out of context and interpreted broadly with sweeping assumptions and mental leaps read into the actual texts. In contrast, the sacramental proof texts are starkly clear and unmistakably obvious. The fact that this debate still continues is a testament to the strength of fallen human pride and ignorance.

Many people who have not really looked into decision theology with any honest analysis (and probably never had to tortuously labor under its unpredictable and tyrannical yoke) will dismiss opposition to it by saying that we are splitting hairs.

This isn't hair splitting. This is the difference between searching the Scriptures to believe and practice what they clearly say...... and gross, man-centered idolatry. It is the difference between pointing a sinner to Christ and turning him back in on himself.

There is no other way to put it. It really is that crass. It really is that important.

Continuing Luther's Work....... By Undoing It?

History is full of people (past and present) who have said a great many good things about Dr. Luther.

Quite often, I come across theologians who have found themselves in the 500 year wake of the ongoing Lutheran Reformation who make magnanimous-sounding statements that all can be summarized as:

"What Luther did was a great start with the right intentions, but he just didn't go far enough."

Red flag. Right there. Run away. You can tell this is going to end badly. It's one thing to respectfully disagree with Luther... I just get really nervous when someone seeks to out-Luther Luther.

It never fails. As soon as they get that sentence out of their lips, every single one of them then proceeds to outline their doctrines and "fixes" that are intended to continue what Luther started... AND COMPLETELY UNDO EVERYTHING LUTHER STOOD FOR AND PROFESSED! What you end up with is not a continuation and perfection of Luther's work... but a complete repudiation of his ideas that would turn us back towards the very medieval superstitions that Luther sought to combat.

Look... either you're down with Luther's work or you're not. Please don't try to co-opt him for your own purposes in order to drape your shabby ideas in the regal robes of a true theologian.

God Did Not Design You This Way

It is a gross and blasphemous error, when people equate God's perfect creative work with the world in its current fallen state without qualification. Sin has corrupted what God called "good" in the first few chapters in Genesis (remember the Father's regret at the start of the story of Noah's Ark which prompted him to destroy the world He had made?). This world is not as it was designed or as it should be. By the same token, while man was created in the image of God, he is also corrupted and enslaved by sin: a aberrant spiritual disease which God did not make.

God did not design you with your various sinful habits and opinions. He did not place your sinful condition and sinful impulses in you.

God is not the author of sin.

Our purpose and condition must always be viewed through the lens of the Fall from Grace. You are a sinner who is enslaved to rebellion against Him by your sinful nature. You are allied with the devil against Him. God, in His perfect justice and purity, does not "love you just the way you are" and your sinful condition is not "part of His plan for you". Death is also not a creation of God and the fact that things die is not "part of God's circle of life".

This is why Christ had to come and die for your sins so that you can be redeemed back from death and hell. This is why this world and all of its corruption will pass away and give rise to a new creation on the Last Day.

It is not God's fault that you are this way and living in the world that you are living in. Please stop talking and thinking like this. It is as incorrect, dangerous, and ignorant of the facts as it is offensive.

Theological Assertion

I am a big believer that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Theological Assertion - The modern Christian quest to discover, quantify, and actualize one's live purpose is a kind of crypto-holiness movement that (1) promises the unattainable (in this life at least), (2) gives Christians a distorted view of vocation, (3) obscures the Christian doctrines of repentance, hope, and suffering, and (4) presents a shallow do-it-yourself message of life change to unbelievers that is not evangelism in any true sense.

I welcome discussion on all points.

First, there can be no doubt that the therapeutic desire to realize the Christian life as defined by purpose is really a modern slant on good ole methodism. I recently heard something brilliant and entertaining from the brilliant and entertaining Rev Jonathan Fisk (who unanimously would win the Lutheran Blogosphere "New Internet Theologian of the Year Award" if such a thing ever existed... seriously, go watch his videos.) He correctly identified that the American church is overwhelmingly Baptist in its theology, Methodist in its practice, and Charismatic in its worship (thank you John Wesley and Charles Finney).

This holiness movement influence in terms of practice has given rise to all sorts of purpose-oriented books, bible studies, and even churches over the last several decades. Rather than see this as an improvement in the life of the church, discerning Christians should watch these aberrant developments with alarm once they realize the unintended consequences of such teachings.

1. Purpose promises the unattainable (in this life at least)...

Simul justus et peccator. We are simultaneously justified by the imputed grace of God on account of Christ. While we are a new creation in Christ Jesus [2 Corinthians 5:17], the old sinful nature still clings to our mortal flesh [Romans 7] in this life so that the life of the Christian is one of internal and external spiritual warfare [Ephesians 6; 2 Corinthians 10] that is only ended when the perishable passes away and we rise again in new life with imperishable and perfected bodies [1 Corinthians 15; Philippians 3].

Perhaps due to an improper appreciation for our fallen condition, obsessively chasing after purpose in this life gives the false impression to hearers that this perfected, fundamentally God-pleasing nature as a human being is attainable in the life of the Christian through discipline rather than through the death and resurrection of Christ. Sloppy preaching and teaching in this area strays dangerously into the theology of "infused grace" which is unbiblical and a Roman Catholic error that many synergistic Protestants seem to be out doing the papacy on in their zeal to realize the Baptist formal principle of "The Changed Life" and this Charismatic drive to perform mystical worship practices.

In this way, many protestant (and incorrectly named "non-denominational" churches) put the Bible and the Reformation aside and follow Rome down it's path of "Jesus saved you so that you can work harder to please God and either earn (in the hard form) or reimburse God (in the soft form) for your eternal salvation." The Bible does not speak this way. Instead, the good works for which Christians have been set aside to perform are actually the works of God through the Christian by faith [Philippians 2] for service to our neighbors. This principle of being "God's workmanship" stands directly opposed to the purpose-seeking idea that, while we are God's creation, we are fundamentally our own workmanship and we have just been not doing a very good job.

This distorted view of sanctification takes away with one hand what is only occasionally given with the other as legalism snatches away the sweetness and freedom of the gospel in favor of a new enslavement. To paraphrase Rev. Fisk: it falsely teaches that we have been set free so that we can be enslaved. This in itself is gross false doctrine that is dangerous to faith and injurious to eternal salvation because it places the trust of the believer back in his own works rather than pointing him to the cross and the hope that comes in our eventual perfection on the last day.

2. Purpose gives Christians a distorted view of vocation...

The doctrine of vocation is probably one of the most under-taught and misunderstood doctrine in all of Christendom. I submit that the void left by a true Christian understanding of what the Christian is to do and how he is to see his good works after conversion is what allows wrong-headed opinions like methodism and purpose to swoop in and take root. Christians have a legitimate need for training in a proper understanding in righteousness and good works. The faith within them cries out for this holy and practical teaching. When it is not given, well-meaning Christians seek anything that looks like it can fill that hole.

...but purpose is not the proper fit. Where a right view of vocation teaches the Christian to understand his place in the world wherever he may find himself at any given moment, "purpose" teaches him that his place in the world is some hidden mystery of God that must be sought out and discovered through all manner of mystical and rationalistic approaches. Purpose, calling upon mankind's natural desire to answer the question "what am I going to do with my life?", wrongly teaches you to look past the objective reality of where you may find yourself and who your neighbor is so that you can sink deep down within yourself to hear what God really wants you to do.

The reality is that God has already told you very clearly what he wants you to do: it's called "The Ten Commandments". They're written down in the book of Exodus so that you can look them up and apply them to every aspect of your life. Unfortunately, purpose distracts you from such pious self-examination and improvement in piety because, while the world moves on around you with ample opportunities to do God-pleasing works by faith, you sit and stew in your own egotistical juices as you try to discern what grand design awaits you in the kingdom of God.

The mother will ignore the rearing of her children as she sits in her bedroom praying for insight. The student will disregard his teacher's instructions as he wracks his brain over where God wants him to be. The worker will ignore the poor and needy all around him as he wonders what in the world he has been put on this earth to do. The pastor will skip proper sermon study and preparation in favor of spending hours contemplating whether God wants him to open an new ministry across town. Most tragically, churches will shelve the proclamation of the only Gospel which saves sinners from hell in order to help the above people find answers to their navel-gazing questions. It's all a horrible mistake. The military calls this "paralysis by analysis": you think so much about your actions that you fail to act and it is as if you never even engaged the problem at all.

3. Purpose obscures the Christian doctrines of repentance, hope, and suffering...

All one has to do is read the first few chapters of Ecclesiastes in order to learn that, yes, this life is full of meaningless vapor and pointless striving after ephemeral nonsense. It's a real problem that is a natural consequence of man's fall from grace in the Garden of Eden. This world is a pretty horrible and futile place and all of creation groans in anticipation of being destroyed and made anew. Because the law is written on man's hearts, everyone (Christian and pagan alike) is consciously aware of this threat of pointlessness. The entire field of philosophy is consumed with man's attempt to answer these fundamental questions: "Why are we here? What are we doing? How do I achieve meaning?"

Christ came to earth and preached the answer to these questions: "Repent! For the kingdom of God is at hand!" (The kingdom of course being Christ himself.) Later, his own apostles preached the same answer: "Repent and be baptised everyone of you for the forgiveness of your sins" and "Repent and believe the Gospel." The holy spirit revealed this same answer to Martin Luther when he wrote: "Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when He said Poenitentiam agite ("do penance" or "repent"), willed that the whole life of believers should be repentance."

Here we see the true "purpose" of fallen man in this world in view of the Theology of the Cross. Do you not know what you should be doing? Look to Christ hanging on the cross. Repent and believe the Gospel. The devil encourages us to obsess over the question rather than looking to the answer and the quest for purpose that is being carried out by the church is a tool whereby many well-meaning believers are directed away from the cross so that they can curve in on themselves. This is where the rubber meets the road in the ages-old battle between the Theology of the Cross and the Theology of Glory. Is this all about the redemption won for you and all mankind on the cross by Christ? ...or is this about you and what you need to be doing with the 80 or so years you may (or may not) have on this earth.

We live in a fallen world. Corrupted and fallen from the original goodness that it once possessed at its divine creation, the child of God will always feel out of place here. He will always feel as though he (along with the rest of the world) is falling short of expectations. This place will always feel futile, sinful, and devoid of eternal meaning. You will always feel imperfect, partially blind, and wayward as you journey through a world that is not your true home. The Christian church tells people truthfully that these feelings of ache and homesickness are valid and good.

Do you feel like you are not living up to God's will? Of course! It's because you aren't! Do you feel like you do not pray as you ought? Of course! It's because you aren't! Do you feel rejected? Of course! As a Christian you will face rejection! These identifications and feelings of heartache are the law of God working in your own heart as it faces the assaults of your sinful flesh, this sinful world, and that liar: the devil. The living faith within you that clings to the perfect will of God and at least partially recognizes how the world should be but isn't can clearly see that these things are not taking place around and within you. It's easy to see how the world is failing.

But "purpose" does not say these things because legalism tells only a half truth. Instead of telling you the truth about your situation and pointing you to Jesus, purpose makes the sufferings and crosses that Christ Himself said that we will bear into a flaw in your faith and an oversight in your practice. Purpose peddlers do not speak as Paul does who tells his sheep things like:

"Wretched man that I am! Who will save me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then I myself with the mind serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin."

and

"Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account."

Instead, purpose looks at your suffering and tells you that you are just not being Christian enough. Purpose does not point you to the only true hope which rests beyond the grave in a glorious resurrection. Instead, purpose mangles law and gospel by telling you to get to work because Christians shouldn't feel this way after all that Jesus has done for them. If you feel out of place and inadequate, the real problem is not your fallen condition: the real problem, in the sophists' estimation, is that you are living outside of God's true plan for your life. Once you discover and live your purpose, these feelings will subside.

I'm here to tell you that they will never go away this side of glory. Purpose is selling you a bill of goods. Your hope is not in yourself and what you could be doing. Your hope is in Christ and what He has done, what He continues to do, and what He will do on the Last Day. You feel this way because you are a fallen creature who is sinning and living in a fallen world filled with sinners. Your answer is not "try harder and conform better to God's unknowable will".

Your answer is "Repent and believe the Gospel."

4. Purpose presents a shallow do-it-yourself message of life change to unbelievers that is not evangelism in any true sense.

Since the completely erroneous teachings about repentance, hope, and suffering are believed by many American Christians, this is the "evangel" that they take to the lost. They preach the "changed life through better living that makes you feel better" because that is the message which has been given to them. The seed they cast falls on hard ground and in the weeds because it appeals to man's sinful need for autonomy and earning salvation rather than delivering the Holy Spirit through the clearly preached Word of God. It is not "the faith once for all delivered to the saints" but is a pseudogospel of Oprah do-goodism and sentimentality. It is a message that does not save. It makes people feel good... but the feeling does not last because the human invention of purpose, like all things under the sun, is vanity and a meaningless chasing after the wind.