THE UNSATISFIED HUNGER OF A PANTHEIST

A pantheist believes that everything is God and that we are also God- just one reality. Nevertheless, one pantheist wrote:

* You are not here accidentally -- you are here meaningfully. There is a purpose behind you. The whole intends to do something through you.

But if the "whole intends to do something through you," there are at least two intelligent and willful people involved. Therefore, I responded:

* If we are all one, there cannot be Another who loves us, plans for us, guides us, protects us, and enters into a relationship with us.

The pantheist wants it both ways. He wants to be God and wants Another to watch out for him. However, he cannot have both.

The pantheist is like a hungry man who wants to eat but has an aversion to food. Such are those who want the things of Christ but have no taste for Him.

I AM JEALOUS

As a farmer, I stood in admiration of mama hens. Anyone who threatened her chicks was in for a rude awakening. She would attack anything or anyone who posed a threat, even inadvertently, to her babies. Once I saw a hen soar suddenly into the air to take on a hawk who was plunging down to take one of her chicks. I was left profoundly moved.

I am just a typical male - not very giving, not very loving, but I am terribly jealous for the welfare of Christ's children, the Body of Christ. I ache when I see the disunity within this Body, and I am tormented when I am its cause.

Here's what I am getting at. I grieve to see the growing racial divisions in our society and perhaps also in our Church. I grieve to see race hucksters drawing my Black brethren into hatred, racism, and unforgiveness.

I was at the commemoration dinner at Union Theological Seminary to honor the admitted racist Professor James Cone, who had taught at Union for 46 years.

To justify his very obvious racist remarks, he claimed that "Black blood is crying out to me" [for revenge]. Cone didn't appeal to Scripture to justify his rage - he couldn't. But instead, he appealed to the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas:

·       VERSE 70-- Jesus said, "If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you."

In this, he found support for his racist agenda. Since bitterness was in him, it would save him if he brought it forth. And he did. He cried out for the Black church to rid themselves of White theologians like Calvin and Luther, and then adopt Black ones.

Meanwhile, the hundreds who had gathered to hear his racist diatribe included many Black pastors. They slow-pitched him a sea of encouraging "amens."

How could I sit still! Last year I experienced something similar. I went ballistic reading a favorable book review. A Messianic Jew who defended himself for no longer calling himself a Christian because of what "Christians" had done to the Jews.

I was angered that the author of the book would divide the Body of Christ over these past sins. The perpetrators were all gone, but still he retained his unforgiveness against them and also the present-day church.

I hastily wrote a protest and sent it around to all the Messianic Jewish ministers I knew. I burned some bridges in the process, but I needed to contest this unbiblical stance, this betrayal of the Gospel.

I felt the same way about James Cone. He had rejected Dr. King's dream to no longer judge by skin color but instead by character. Meanwhile, there was no end to the applause Cone was receiving.

Even worse, Cone was betraying Jesus' dream and prayer:

·       “That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me...I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” (John 17:21, 23; ESV)

Cone's dream was one of division and not oneness and love. During the question and answer session, I told him so and was booed down.

When I entered Germany for the first time - and I was not a Christian at the time - the blood of my Jewish brethren had been calling out to me. I thought seriously about settling the score.

However, now the blood of my Savior calls out to me, and my deepest desire is to honor Him who died for me. I now deeply cherish my German brethren.

I am jealous for you, my Black brethren, and will fight to expose the race-baiters who want to make you their own, children of hatred and bitterness. I will scream and cry out to our God. You might be offended by me. I will not always agree with you, but I pray you will still value me as your brother.

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

WHAT DOES CHRISTIAN MATURITY INVOLVE?

For one thing, it involves submission to the Words of God. Jesus had finished His prayer emphasizing the revelation of God:

·       “I made known to them your name [You Yourself], and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:26)

Experiencing the love of God (and our unity in Him) depends upon our knowledge of God. It is this love that is essential to our unity, and our unity is essential to our witness, as Jesus had just prayed:

·       “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” (John 17:20-23)

Love, unity, and oneness are not optional. They can only be achieved as we allow the Word of God to judge us – all of our inclinations, thoughts, and desires.

Having experienced tons of anti-Semitism, I hated Whites and actually thought they had a nauseating odor. (I had been raised in an area of just Whites and Jews.) Even after the Lord had revealed Himself to me, the idea of entering a church was traumatic, and when I started to attend, I was convinced that these Whites were all hypocrites.

However, I had to submit my thoughts and impulses to the Word of God – a long and painful process. However, I knew Scripture required this of me.

He has brought me a long way in 40 years. I recently wrote an essay I entitled “Why I Call Myself a “Christian” and not a “Messianic Jew,” where I argued that we must not divide the Body of Christ. It disturbed some of my Jewish brethren, but, for Christ’s sake, I thought it had to be said.

Pantheism: Its Appeal and Its Costs

Pantheism – the belief that everything is God, and God is everything - has become extremely popular in the West. The champion of environmental causes, Al Gore, has stated:

·       Our religious heritage is based on a single earth goddess who is assumed to be the foundation of all life…all men have a god within. Each man has a god within because creation is God.

Leonard Sweet, a leader in the Emergent Church, explains:

·       For people who understand the Gaia hypothesis, which posits that the earth behaves like a living system and, indeed, that living things regulate earth’s environments, it is not craziness to suggest, as some electrical engineers have argued, that scientists who like their equipment get better results than those who don’t. …--when food, plants, animals, and machines are seen as part of us, and we of them. (Quantum Spirituality, 238)

However, these statements raise several questions:

1. Is pantheism reasonable?
2. Does it provide humans what we need?
3. Does it help us understand the world?

Is Pantheism Reasonable?

What is pantheism saying about God? If God is everything, then he is the toxic waste dump, the cesspool, and even acts of terror. He is the rapist, the serial killer, and the torturer. He is the truth, but he is equally the lie. He might be everything, but he is also nothing in particular. God is not an unchanging or all-powerful Being. Instead, he partakes of the same qualities as the universe – changeable and purposeless.

What does pantheism say about us? We too are everything but nothing in particular. There is nothing right about us, but there is nothing wrong about us. There are no distinctions, since we are all God and everything is okay, since everything is God. There is nothing to learn, since we are already everything. And since we are all God, there is no relationship or even distinctions among persons. Everything is of equal value. Therefore our children are of equal value to insects and parasites, since everything is God. When I make a decision, it is as if God makes the decision. If I change, God too changes. If my decision opposes the decision of another, there is no contradiction, since both decisions are equally of God. Besides, there is no higher truth by which we can appeal to reconcile our differences, for everything and every truth or lie is equally of God. In fact, if everything is of God, there is no way to reconcile any differences.

If there is anything at all to learn, it is that we are all God. However, to believe this is to deny everything that we see and experience. Therefore, to embrace this “oneness” over everything that our senses tell us requires the most rigorous mental gymnastics.

Does it Provide Humans what we Need?

Besides plunging us into utmost confusion, pantheism undermines morality. If everything is equally of God, there is no right or wrong action or choice. Likewise, there can be no meaningful purpose to life, even survival. Even if we die, we still remain God.

Besides, there is nothing to learn, since all propositions are equally of God. Likewise, the idea of personal growth becomes incoherent. Even if we are evil or selfish, we are still as much God as if we acted in love.

It should now be obvious that there is no one to whom to pray and no one to hear us or to answer our prayers. Nor is there a God to trust.

Does Pantheism Help us to Understand the World?

If there is no possible distinction between the truth and the lie, then there can be no understanding. Therefore, we cannot ask:

1. Where did life come from?
2. Where did the laws of physics come from?
3. Where did any causation come from?
4. How should I live my life?
5. How should I treat others?
6. Why am I here?

In view of these problems, we might ask, “Why has pantheism become so popular in the West, especially among the educated? Has it improved the countries where it has reigned?” No! “Does it help us to better navigate life?” I don’t see how! Why then pantheism? Better to ask a pantheist!

That Horrid “Us vs. Them” Distinction and how Jesus Regarded it

Postmodern Christians slam Christianity for making “us vs. them” distinctions. Brian McLaren charges that:

·       Christians have been taught to see in "us vs. them" terms for centuries, and it will take time to reorient faithful people in a new direction -- "us with them," working for the common good (Huffington Post Religion Blog, 2/19/03).

In support of his indictment, McLaren cites two like-minded students:

·       “People don't want to have to side with the church and against their friends who are Buddhist or Muslim or Jewish or agnostic."

·       “We can't find a church that doesn't load a bunch of extra baggage on us. We tried, but they all had this long list of people we had to be against. It's just not worth it.”

Many Christians will give this a resounding “amen” adding, “I just don’t see any difference between Christians and non-Christians.

However, Jesus insisted on a sharp difference. He often made “us vs. them” and “children of this world (of the darkness) vs. His own (of the light) distinctions. To reject this distinction is therefore to reject much of Jesus’ teachings. For example, Jesus taught:

• "Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete." (Luke 6:46-49)

Jesus drew a sharp distinction between those who heard His Word and practiced it and those who merely heard. Both built houses that looked the same. However, one had a foundation and the other was built on nothing solid. Their house lacked the foundation faith and obedience to Jesus. Both houses stood firm until the storm destroyed the one lacking this foundation. The storm revealed not only their differing fate but also their very distinctive characters.

The house without the foundation was a sham, a mere deceptive façade. There was nothing supporting it. No one could see the difference between the two prior to the storm. On the surface, both had the same provisions and problems. Both had bedrooms, kitchens, and toilets. Both would need repairs and regular paintings.

The saved and unsaved both raise families. Both laugh and cry with their children, have friends, and suffer losses. In fact, Christ’s children tend to look worse for a number of reasons:

1. They generally had been numbered among the most pathetic and least respected (1 Cor. 1:26-29).
2. They undergo more hardships (1 Peter 4:17).
3. They tend to be more awkward, since they are learning a new language and have to integrate it with the old.

Yet, according to Jesus, the two groups – born again and not - are profoundly different:

• "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again… I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of… the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.” (John 3:3-6)

Christ’s entire teaching is predicated on this distinction. Does it work against the common good as McLaren claims? Instead, it is because of this distinction and the horrible fate of those who have denied Christ that we reach out in love to this dying world!