The Systematic Theology Your (most) Pastor Studied was deficient and is Contributing to Abusers (Evil) Hiding in our Churches (JeffC) I enjoy studying theology. I have grown to particularly love what is called biblical theology which is a kind of tracing out of the big theme(s) of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. I also have benefited from the study of what is called Systematic Theology. You can buy big thick systematic theology books that are excellent in many ways (Charles Hodge, Herman Bavinck, and many others). A systematic theology is basically a what the Bible says about _______ (fill in the subject): God, salvation, man, the Bible itself, last things, and so on. Systematically arranged by topic you see. Really, the major confessions of faith like the Westminster and the various catechisms are in essence systematic theologies. But to our point. One of the topics of systematic theology is called hamartiology. The name comes from the Greek word for sin hamartia. Hamartiology (hope I spelled that right) is the doctrine of sin. And this is where I say your pastor got short-changed in seminary. I did. Think about it. What do most all the systematic theology books (at least the ones that hold to the authority and inspiration of Scripture) tell us about the doctrine of sin? Sin is lawlessness. Question: What is sin? Answer: Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God. (Westminster Shorter Catechism). And that is true. Sin is that. Hamartiology discusses the origin of sin. It talks about the effects of sin on man (total depravity) and how sin results in death. Somewhere under this heading, or perhaps under a separate one like Angelology or Demonology, your pastor learned about Satan and demons and the various names they are given in Scripture. But what your pastor did NOT learn about is EVIL. And what I mean by this is, he did not (unless he was a very rare and privilege exception)...sit under an instructor who KNEW evil and taught his students to KNOW evil. The classroom was, you see, just too neat and academic and sterile. Most pastors, most seminarians, most professing Christians do not know EVIL. That is to say, their hamartiology was and remains defective. They have a defective, deficient theology of experiential EVIL. They have not met the Prince of Darkness in the wilderness, or if one of his representatives in the person of some fine, eminent, and holy-appearing church member works the evils of darkness on them, they do not see it for what it is. They never have grasped the gravity of Jesus warning: Matthew 10:16-18 Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. So, guess what, abuse victim? What do you suppose is going to happen when you, who have been the object of wickedness and evil for years at the hands of some apparent angel of light, - what do you suppose is going to happen when you go to your pastor or some Christian counselor, or a Christian friend, and describe to them what is really going on in your home and ask them for help? Most all of you know the answer. You are going to blow the guy away. Remember the movie, Groundhog Day and when Bill Murray goes to see a newly-graduated psychiatrist and tells him he is reliving the same day over and over? All the guy could do in his confusion was say maybe we should meet again? You see, when you describe EVIL to someone who has no paradigm for such a beast in his or her theological system, they have no tools with which to connect with you. You are speaking an alien language to them. Though the Word of God is FILLED with truth about evil, and illustrates it in many, many ways, this is a subject that Christians are living in denial about. And here is one of the most common results of this ignorance of evil: these people that Christians are going to for help think they can redeem evil. Because they dont KNOW evil, they think too lightly of it. They are very much like, excuse another movie reference, Luke Skywalker who just KNEW some bit of good was left in Darth Vader. Reformed theologians claim they believe the doctrine of total depravity, which clearly denies that such a remaining island of goodness exists in fallen man. And yet in practice what we are seeing is that EVIL is being dealt with as if it were partly good - at least a little bit. So I want to announce to as many pastors, theologians, seminary professors, church leaders, counselors, and Christians at large -- unless you KNOW evil, unless you have met it face-to-face repeatedly and for an extended period of time like these abuse victims who we hear from every week, please acknowledge your ignorance. Please start listening carefully to what these victims of rank evil are telling us. Read their stories on this blog. Talk to me or the elders of the church I pastor and we will be glad to help you become as wise as serpents in this matter of evil. Because I am telling you as loudly as I can, you did not learn wisdom about evil in seminary. And as long as you remain in denial about your ignorance, you are not going to be any better at counseling an abuser or a victim, or really any other sort of evil or its victim, than if you were a medical doctor setting up practice in oncology but having no real knowledge about cancer. You were taught wrongly in seminary about evil, if you were taught at all. This is why you are applying the promises of redemption and the gospel to EVIL men rather than giving them the thunderings of the Law that makes the sinner tremble. You have been taught that the gospel is the universal prescription for every single sinner, when the Bible is quite clear that it is not. You think that by pleading with the abuser, whose heart is thoroughly evil, who has been pretending godliness for decades all the while wickedly abusing his wife and children, you think that by pleading with him to accept Jesus, you can reach his heart and fix him. Well, as someone who knows evil, let me tell you right up front - you cant. For starters, consider the devil. Is he redeemable? Of course not. Yet, I tell you I have met Christians who seem quite convinced, at least in their feelings, that he is. And you see this ignorance (some of it is willful) about Evil in the fact that so many pastors and Christians and counselors want to deal with the Evil man as if he were a Christian. I see it in the language of the books and pamphlets the leading Christian counseling groups put out. I hear it in the words of their lectures. They function on the assumption that the wicked, evil man is a Christian. Misguided? Off track? Yes, but still a person indwelt by the Spirit of God and redeemable. Admit it. We didnt come out of seminary KNOWING evil. Any Christian who does know it, who has suffered at its hands for decades, and who has finally come into the light and shaken off the fog of deception that it cast on them, will tell you - Evil is a slithering, deceptive serpent capable of morphing into all kinds of pleasant forms, able to have YOU eating out of its hand far more quickly than you would ever imagine. Brothers and sisters in Christ, we must humble ourselves. We are not doing well in knowing the wiles of Satan. And many, many people are suffering as a result.
Posted on: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 02:33:03 +0000
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