Subjectivism and Christ

For the comparatively short length of my lifetime, subjective thought has dominated and pervaded the public and popular psyche. And according to what I read in history books, it has been this way for quite some time. Most churches and Christians that I have encountered seem to be almost at a loss as to how to confront such a notion. I was in that same boat to for many years, typically just avoiding the ideas when possible so that I wouldn't have to deal with the consequences.

But I feel very differently now. Several years ago stress ,years of ignoring obvious questions to faith, and willful sin caused me to spiral into a state of depression. I was in law school at the time, which completely drowned me in busywork and kept me from coping with my dilemma. For many months, I turned very strongly against my Christian principles and took up a thoroughly subjective (albeit horribly cynical) worldview. My mind has always been a major battlefield for me, but at this point I felt I had lost the war. Or had won it, depending on what vantage point I was under.

Months previously, my wife and I had left the church we were very involved with. Friction, struggles under new ministry leadership, and the typical passionate ebbing and flowing of creative types eventually proved too much. We began questioning all sorts of ideas. We started looking for new congregations that would harbor us during this time of trial. For several weeks we even attended a local "emergent" group, which proved to be extremely helpful, both because it allowed us approval to question basic ideas we'd had and because it showed us that many in that group were not of a similar faith to ours whatsoever (despite using similar language).

What I found in subjectivism was that it became terribly easy to tear ideas and notions apart. My passionate bitterness made it difficult to refrain from rudely scoffing at anyone who had any sense of moral truth or trust in some god they could not see. The problem that revealed itself, however, said to me, "Now that you have torn everything down, what do you have left?"

The only reasonable answer, fully following that line of logic, is nothing. There could be no morality in the land I now lived in. No law had ultimate meaning. No notion of right and wrong could ultimately exist. And yet I had a clear, disturbing knowledge of something, which I suppose now is what caused me such bitterness. I'm convinced that many skeptics and cynics are so vocal because they are simply trying to hear their own voice, to remind themselves that what is plainly in front of them is not there at all.

The most beautiful revelation that I have ever had, however, is that this very line of thought, this dark trek into the most dangerous and unforgiving of mindsets ultimately led me back to Christ, back to an even more orthodox position that I had ever held originally. It was as if my mind had wandered away on a small globe. For all my wanderlust, I could only end up back in the same place. So instead of just talking about my subjective experience, let's talk about how this actually reasons out, how we can go from subjectivism directly to Christ.

Subjectivism can be summed up in the idea that no action or inaction has ultimate meaning or value, but that meaning or value must be derived from the person experiencing it. Most philosophers will go with Descartes long enough to say, "I cannot be sure that this is not a dream. Reality is not undoubtedly true. But I know then at least I think, therefore I am." From there, we can very easily see that many things people believe are true often turn out to be very false. That casts a shadow of doubt on our own security. Mark Twain said in paraphrase, "The very wrongness I'm so quick to point out in the assuredness of others should remind me that I am just as likely to be wrong." Many Christians will take up a partial subjectivism and say, "I've only experienced this... so maybe they've experienced something else and thus believe differently. Who am I to judge that?"

But all of this only dances around the problem. All of those people are not saying that moral absolutes do not exist, but that we do not currently know them or have the faculties to know them. It is typical agnosticism.

This modern age looks then to science and reason as a valuable back door to avoiding God. In this age of enlightenment, how can we deny evolution? With anthropology we see that many people believed many different things. And to all of that I say, "Have you no perspective? Do we not mock psychologists, chemists, and astronomers that published the most inhumane or provenly ridiculous claims not just twenty years ago?" We cannot hold on to science, for while we are closer to knowing great things through it, we can never "arrive" at an ultimate comprehension, and furthermore, science can have nothing to do with questions of things outside of scientific testing (creation, spirituality, etc) or of value. Science is valuable, but it provides no shelter whatsoever in the quest against subjectivism.

But all of this leads us to one place, and that is faith. Perhaps not faith in God, but faith in something. We all  accept something completely by faith. You have no amazing reason to believe anything that you experience. You accept it by faith, because it is simply easier that way. The sun will rise tomorrow (God willing), but you cannot prove it. We accept it by faith because it is reasonable knowing what we know. But even those things we know are accepted on faith. And thus we can show that ultimately there is no more or less reasonableness for those that believe in God by faith and those that "believe in science" (whatever that means) by faith. We could even believe in neither, and that is reasonable at this level.

And from here we can press forward into embracing subjectivism in a Christian way. From what I have experienced as a believe in Christ, I know for certain of my spirituality. I know for a fact that sin harms my relationship with God, that the Bible is the Word of God, and that when Christ is glorified my spirit soars. But I cannot convey these facts to you... nor can I rely too heavily on what I feel. I could try to mash these feelings into objective ideas, but that only mutilates the true place of both. There are things in my spirit that I now know in a sense that is altogether different than reason and logic. Furthermore, I can understand why perhaps you disagree or cannot accept that. In my worldview, the unbeliever is spiritually dead until they believe in the atoning death of Jesus upon the cross and are reborn through that faith, so thus the unbeliever cannot grasp what I'm saying.

But that sounds like a terrible cop out, and I understand that.

With this in mind, it seems good to point out that as Christians, we cannot hope to gain converts through reasoning and logic, although we should exercise those gifts wisely because they do have value. Apologetics can reassure us that our faith is sound. We know that historically everything we read about existed, and that is to the thanks of science. But just because it existed does not mean that it was true or right. That is all by faith. On our end of the experience of life, the regeneration of our soul is subjective--it happened when I believed at the age of sixteen or seventeen. From God's point of view, though, it is objective--I was crucified with Christ before the foundation of the world.

We can derive true value from what God values, but that must come to us through an altogether different faculty than what we already possess as humans, namely His Spirit. Now go and try to describe that to someone that doesn't believe in it. It makes us sound like a club of people that all agree to believe in Invisible Bob without any reason to believe in him. And that's just how it has to remain, because the knowledge of God's Spirit is something we can only obtain through experience. And so when it comes down to it, subjectivism reminds us that only one thing is necessary to remind ourselves of when battling subjectivist thought:

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes," (Rom. 1:16).

Patriotism and Christ

I've decided to pick my blog back up again as a way to help fuel my creativity at work. Sometimes it helps just to start writing about stuff. When my brain is so over-caffeinated that it has no choice but to think, it generally thinks about things I like, such as the meaning of stuff. And that's what this blog will now be about. The meaning of stuff, generally applicable to other Christians.

I like political talk shows, and I love Christian radio. But nothing is worse than not knowing which I'm listening to. For example, around the time before Bush's second election, I recall hearing a prominent Bible teacher tell me that it was a sin to not vote. He went on and on about the founders' beliefs, the blessedness of America in God's sight, and how we as a country have left our rightful position as the dispensers of grace to the world.

I'm not sure exactly how you get to that conclusion, but need I remind any Christian that the New Testament makes it unmistakably clear that all men are of one blood and that all governments are appointed by God? When I say that, don't start in on asking me whether the Nazi regime was appointed by God. God allowed the Assyrians to punish Israel for their unbelief, but he also punished the Assyrians for taking things too far, just as Hitler didn't exactly attain the most glorious ending. God is just either way.

But back to the point, none of the arguments for God's special hand on America (over other nations) hold water. Anecdotes, the lives of men who founded the country, and the morals of the country mean nothing. Are God's people in America really so shallow as to revert back to a national identity? Can we not say that God accomplished more for his Bride during the time of Emperor Nero than for the time under all presidents since George Washington combined? When early believers came to Christ, they risked their very lives with a disturbing zeal and gave up all they had to prove that they were different people. And in contrast, many well-meaning believers of the modern sort risk almost nothing by pseudo-humbly refraining from music and movies, all the while "spreading the Gospel" by inviting their friends to hear a church sermon (uh... really?). To be fair, some Christians come to faith and feel so moved that they take up an unnecessarily austere lifestyle similar to something like St. Francis. They send themselves abroad, costing 100x more to operate a Baptist church in another country than it would take to fund native missionaries. We need to understand that either the loving or loathing of our Americanism are equally unhealthy obsessions with what does not matter.

God is doing amazing things in Asia and Africa currently. But how is that possible? From listening to well-meaning Christian, political radio-show hosts you would think that socialism's coming into America was an imminent and dreadful attack on the Church and God's kingdom. Apparently the Constitution alone upholds the rights granted to all men through the Bible. But we forget that, while living in personal liberty is nice, God cannot be stopped by laws and his purpose is not excelled by freedom. God starts amazing revivals in socialist and democratic countries alike. He calls the elect from both the darkest regions of Muslim law and from the front pew of a country chapel.

None of the details matter to God. I encourage you to vote, if you feel that it is good. But please stop talking about reclaiming America for Christ. The world is already his. Stop trying to put the Bible back in public schools. If you value a person's liberty to choose their beliefs, then don't ask the government to mandate their exposure to your religion... even if your religion is true. Create relationships of influence instead of political action, ascend national and political-party barriers, and by all means, glorify God when he shows his mightiest grace in the darkest parts of the world.