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Evangelical Christianity Re-examined
A Former Evangelical Minister Re-examines his Tradition
As noted in my bio (see ‘About Us’), I was born a ‘preacher’s kid’, brought up in the womb of a loving Christian family and church. I later went on to spend four years in theological training and then twelve years as a minister in New Zealand Baptist churches.
Looking back, I have always been prepared to stick my chin out and to question and re-examine the status quo and Christian traditions of my upbringing. This led me in the early 1970s to be one of the first to embrace the burgeoning charismatic movement, which at the time was regarded with much hostility by the vast majority of non-pentecostal evangelicals, Baptists included.
In 1972, when I entered the NZ Baptist Theological College, I was the only student who was a ‘charismatic’, but over the next two years a significant charismatic revival swept through the student body, much to the consternation of the College Board, principal and staff. In the ensuing years the ministers who came out of Baptist College from this and later intakes were particularly influential in transforming virtually the entire Baptist denomination and making it perhaps the strongest and most stable evangelical/charismatic denomination in New Zealand.
It was in the years after I left pastoral ministry that, through what I am convinced was the amazing guidance of God, I began to find the courage and, hopefully, honesty to begin asking ‘hard questions’ about some of the ‘assumed orthodoxies’ taken so much for granted among evangelical churches.
So, why me? What qualifications do I bring to this discussion?
The qualification of deep love and respect for my evangelical roots
The evangelical church is full of sincere, wonderful people, people who live loving sacrificial lives, people who give selflessly of their time and money to all sorts of needy people, causes and charities. These people, along with the church and beliefs that inspire them, are worthy of great respect. Yet if we ever allow this profound respect to stifle the vital need for ongoing critical examination of our assumptions and accepted orthodoxies then we do what we love a huge disservice and doom it to the slow death that always comes to those movements which refuse to continually ask on-going ‘hard questions’ of their cherished traditions.
This was the great sin of the Judaism of Jesus’ day, and the reason why the Jews were unable to see the significant error they had, over the centuries, embraced as infallible doctrine. Accordingly, they rejected Jesus. For evangelicals to imagine that this is an error that we have not, to some degree, fallen into is as dangerous an error as it is arrogant.
The qualification of a love for the Bible, brought about by a sound theological Bible-based education and sixteen years of Bible teaching and preaching
While not holding to an inerrantist view, I see the Bible as an amazing collection of divinely breathed writings. Taken as a whole, it is a history and account of God’s dealing with the men and women of its era and geographical setting. But, above all, it tells the story of Jesus the Christ, records his teachings and gives the history of the beginning of the Christian church.
Because I hold the Bible, and especially its record of the teachings of Jesus, in such high regard, I am grieved if I see what, after careful examination, I believe to be shoddy interpretations that ignore the overall biblical evidence, and in particular ignore or downplay the clear teachings of Jesus.
The qualification of spending the last fifteen years in the secular world of business
As a life insurance broker I am visiting and talking with couples and individuals at some depth several times a week, and ninety percent of the people I meet and mix with every day would not identify themselves as ‘religious’ or ‘Christian’. This has been an eye-opener, and more often than not a pleasant one. It has given me a window of insight into the minds and hearts of the types of people Jesus was most at ease with.
The qualification of spending the last five years meeting and sharing at depth with many wonderful and deeply sincere people best described as being of ‘alternative spirituality’
This has meant lengthy discussions and a chance for me to discover what these folk actually do believe. Often, as I have learned, this is very different from what we evangelicals think they believe. Most important of all, I have been able to look into their eyes and hearts and, as always, this changes everything.
Such people are clearly regarded by the evangelical church today in the same manner that the Jews of Jesus’ day regarded the Samaritans, as rejected heretics forever outside any possibly of a relationship with God. I certainly used to believe this, and preached vigorously against what I labelled as these deceived ‘new-agers’. I have now come to believe that Jesus is far less concerned with ‘correct doctrine’ as a necessary qualification for salvation than is the evangelical church.
In fact, I am more and more convinced that a real relationship with God has vastly more to do with the state of one’s heart and a lifestyle of ongoing heart-motivated genuine goodness than correct Christology or the finer points of the nature of God, or other Christian doctrines.
(For a discussion of The Broadness of Salvation see Inclusive Christianity)
The important qualification of no longer having my salary paid for by a Christian church or church-based organisation
This leaves me free to be totally honest and, if need be, brutal in my thinking without the very real fear that I could lose my livelihood were I to come to conclusions significantly different from that of the church or Christian organisation I worked for.
This factor cannot be over-emphasised.
Having been in the employ of churches for twelve years I know how pastors think, and the subtle but very real pressure they are under to stay away from controversial issues. Many theologically trained pastors live under great tension. On the one hand they hunger to be able to be truly honest about what they believe and would love to broaden and challenge their congregations’ conservative thinking on some issues. Yet they know that if they did, they risk being out of a job. So the temptation to not rock the boat and to keep away from anything that might raise the ire of the self-appointed ‘heresy hunters’ (and every church has them) is immense.
This is true even for those working in the academic world of Christian theological education. One lecturer we spoke to working in a large ‘middle of the road’ theological institution told us how a vociferous group of conservative students tried to get him sacked for stating in a lecture that he believed the Adam and Eve story to be more symbolic than literal.
We have on New Zealand television an advertisement which features a number of car assembly workers praising the quality of the cars they build. After each one says their piece they give a grin and come out with, “But I would say that, wouldn’t I!” However, the final person who praises the cars’ quality is an independent engineer from a New Zealand wide motor industry watch-dog organisation, and his parting punch line is, “And I can say what I like!” Likewise for me. I can say what I like, and I will.
The qualification of not being alone in the concerns I raise
I am just one of a long and growing line of thoughtful evangelicals who are deeply concerned with what we see as accumulated centuries of doctrinal baggage and assumed orthodoxies that cannot stand up to careful scriptural scrutiny, let alone Godly commonsense.
The qualification of speaking to issues and saying out loud and in a thought-out way what a surprising number of evangelical church goers secretly struggle with
Over the past few years a common comment from evangelical friends when discussing with them a range of issues similar to those raised on this web site has been, “Hey, that’s very interesting. Over recent years I’ve had similar uneases and found myself secretly having real doubts about such and such a doctrine or teaching. But I’ve always thought that I must be the only one thinking like this and have been rather sacred that I was becoming some sort of heretic. Dead scared also that others in my church would think so too, so I’ve just kept my mouth shut and tried hard to stifle those nagging questions.” Significantly, all of these people are deeply committed Christians and long-standing members of conservative evangelical churches!
I believe that the Spirit of God is trying hard to once again give his church new supple wineskins and to move us on into the next chapter of his unfolding journey of divine truth.
My sincere hope is that you will do me the honour of at least hearing me out and thoughtfully and prayerfully considering what I share. Whether you end up agreeing or disagreeing, or something in between, let us keep our spirits sweet towards one another and respect the sincerity of each other’s hearts and motives.
By Bruce Puddle
www.ists-spiritualschool.org
From section: Christian Controversies
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