Let's find out. First I'll give you a little quiz, then some background. Keep track of your answers (All true or false)
1. God gave us the Bible and now through careful study and application of the Bible, we have all we need for the Christian life.
2. It's very uncommon for the Holy Spirit to speak to Christians.
3. God desires to heal more people, but our lack of faith often keeps it from happening.
4. The gift of prophecy and tongues are no longer in use the same way they were in the new testament.
5. We should rely solely on our understanding of the Bible- Emotions should not be a major factor in our relationship with God.
6. God had a unique plan to work miracles in the New Testament that should not be expected for today.
7. When I first realize I'm sick, I pray to be healed.
8. When I hear a family member or friend is sick, my first response is to ask God to heal them.
9. During corporate worship, I expect God to speak to me.
10. Bible reading is the most important aspect of time with God.
11. Subjective, revelatory experiences threaten the validity and authority of the Bible.
12. It's more important to know the Bible than experience its truth.
Here's how a Bible deist would answer those questions:
1. T 2. T 3. F 4. T 5. T 6. T 7. F 8. F 9. F 10. T 11. T 12. T 13. T
If you got 13 out of 13- You're a Bible deist.
If you scored 0 out of 13- Congratulations, you're not.
Deist- n. The belief, based solely on reason, in a God who created the universe and then abandoned it, assuming no control over life, exerting no influence on natural phenomena, and giving no supernatural revelation.
Many (most?) of the founders of our country were deists. Their belief in a Creator God brought reverence for the "Almighty," but like a watch maker, God designed the cosmos and now leaves it to "tick" without his intervention.
I think churches (esp. fundamental or evangelical) are filled with "Bible deists." These are people who believe God gave us the Bible, and now there is little need for supernatural interaction/intervention of the Holy Spirit.
Intellectually, I renounced my Bible deism around 1998, but I'm still working toward a faith that believes in the power of the Spirit of God to work on my/our behalf.
Two books I commend to you: Surprised by the Power of the Spirit and Surprised by the Voice of God. Both books are by Jack Deere, a former professor at Dallas Theological Seminary. They are eye opening. I borrowed the "Bible deism" idea from his latter book. An acquaintance of mine was discipled by J.P. Moreland, one of Christianity's great thinkers/apologists. Moreland has gone through a similar "renunciation of Bible deism," and he had them read through these two books for their discipleship group. Moreland recently wrote a book that I'm anxious to read, The Kingdom Triangle, where he discusses our tendency to minimize the work of the Spirit in our lives.
3 comments:
This is probably one of the coolest posts you've ever written because this is so prevalent within Evangelical circles. We put God into a box because of other peoples' abuses or we're scared of what God might actually want to do or say to us. This is so freeing to people like myself who feel that there are not that many pastors in Evangelical circles who would take us seriously if we think God spoke to us about something. Thank you.
My friend, Mark…
It won’t surprise you that I take issue with the “test” for Bible deism. Man, this is some raging non sequitur and it kind of surprises me coming from you. You know that I am quite open to the charge and have often invited you to dialogue with me on these issues. You’ve already moved me. The Deere books didn’t do it for me – but you have had a profound impact on me. But this list of questions does NOT make the case. I thought it was only people “like me” that labeled people “like you” - and then conveniently (albeit unnecessarily) put people “like you” neatly in boxes, dismissing your valid points with name-calling and false accusations. It is actually fun to see that people “like me” don’t have a corner on that market. Seriously, check them out again:
1. God gave us the Bible and now through careful study and application of the Bible, we have all we need for the Christian life.
2. It's very uncommon for the Holy Spirit to speak to Christians.
3. God desires to heal more people, but our lack of faith often keeps it from happening.
4. The gift of prophecy and tongues are no longer in use the same way they were in the new testament.
5. We should rely solely on our understanding of the Bible- Emotions should not be a major factor in our relationship with God.
6. God had a unique plan to work miracles in the New Testament that should not be expected for today.
7. When I first realize I'm sick, I pray to be healed.
8. When I hear a family member or friend is sick, my first response is to ask God to heal them.
9. During corporate worship, I expect God to speak to me.
10. Bible reading is the most important aspect of time with God.
11. Subjective, revelatory experiences threaten the validity and authority of the Bible.
12. It's more important to know the Bible than experience its truth.
Oh, now if I answer “wrongly” (read “like you would answer them”), then this is what I believe…
The belief, based solely on reason, in a God who created the universe and then abandoned it, assuming no control over life, exerting no influence on natural phenomena, and giving no supernatural revelation.
Interesting.
I will gladly and eagerly engage you as to the role of the Holy Spirit (as well as how often I pray for healing, experience truth, etc.). But calling people “like me” “deists” doesn’t exactly invite me to the table.
But I do want to come to the table. How about we read Moreland together? Seriously. But no name-calling you Bible-hating, irrational sensationalist!
Jeff
Originally the test was not meant to be "T or F", rather "on a scale of 1 to 10 how much do you agree/disagree"... but I didn't have the energy for such a sophisticated grading scale :)
The questions leave room for ambiguity, no doubt.
The goal of this is to say, we are not beyond the rebuke of Jesus in John 5:39-ff, "You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life."
A lot of times when people say the "Scriptures are sufficient", they mean "God doesn't speak anymore, except through the Bible." or "there's no need for Acts kinds of miracles because we have the Bible."
I have a hard time with that, namely because Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would come and do some sweet work (and then there's the fact that Jesus is still alive.)
Of course His word is authoritative, and its sufficiency should not be minimized (but also not overstated, as I just said).
I'm often leary of people who say "God told me to..." That's sloppy and I encourage people not to talk like that (It's often taking God's name in vain.) As Grudem says, we need to add some subjective verbs, "appears" "seems" etc.
I know you well enough to know you long to see the power of God as much as the next guy. Consider the Zambia answer to prayer!
Yes, let's read the Moreland book together...
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