Biblical Ethics: the Walk and Talk of Wisdom

Biblical Ethics: The Walk and Talk of Wisdom Part 5: Learn to Discern Developing Spiritual Discernment

SEVEN PILLARS OF WISDOM:

1. Wisdom is Development.

It is a developed skill or knowledge learned over time. It is a learned skill set.

Proverbs 9:9 Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still; teach the righteous and they will add to their learning.

Luke 2:52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and me. 2. Wisdom is Discipline

Wisdom is Intentional Pursuit

Proverbs 2:1-5 My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding. Indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. 3. Wisdom is Discernment

Proverbs 1:2 for gaining wisdom and instruction; for understanding words of insight; Other translations: to perceive the words of understanding Root word from which we get “between” Ability to make wise choices and decisions

Solomon’s Prayer to God for discernment 1 Kings 3:9 9 So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. Wisdom from God is the ability to make proper choices

Paul’s Desire for the Philippians 1:9-11 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ— to the glory and praise of God.

1 4. Wisdom is Dignity

Proverbs 1:3 for receiving instruction in prudent behavior, doing what is right and just and fair; – To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, judgment, and equity Learning to behave with propriety and tact . Wise people reveal their wisdom through their dignified actions.

Titus 2:2 Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.

5. Wisdom is DISCRETION

Proverbs 1:4 For giving prudence to those who are simple, knowledge and discretion to the young— The quality of having or showing good judgment . The quality of being discreet. Be careful of what you say and do. Think before you speak.

Jesus’ instructions when sending out the 12 disciples Matthew 10:16 16 “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

6. Depth Of Understanding

Proverbs 1:5-6 Let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance—for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise. Listen to the wise counsel of others and learn from them. “Learning the ropes”

2 Timothy 2:1-2 1 You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.

7. Devotion To God

Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of Knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 9:10 10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,

FEAR OF THE LORD = reverential trust in God This FEAR includes commitment to His revealed will (Word).

2 Cussin’ Christians An example of Ethical living

The Question: Other than words associated with deity, most profanity involves associations with biological function in the areas of sexuality and waste elimination.

The God-related curses are right off the table, if one takes the third commandment seriously at all. Biblical Principal Test

But what is a Christian to do with the remaining "strong language"?

• Chains

1. Will this lead to slavery or freedom?

Everything is permissible for me but not everything is beneficial.

Everything is permissible for me but I will not be mastered by anything.1 Cor. 6:12

• Rock

2. Will this make me a stumbling block or a stepping stone?

Be careful, however, that the exercised of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. 1 Cor. 8:9

• Brick

3. Will this tear me down or build me up or spiritually?

Everything is permissible but not everything is beneficial.

Everything is permissible but not everything is constructive.

1 Cor. 10:23

• Mirror

4. Will this simply please me or glorify God?

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 1 Cor. 10:31

3 Verses to Consider

Ephesians 4:29 tells us, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.“

First Peter 3:10 declares, "For, whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech."

James 3:9-12 summarizes the issue: "With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water."

How would you respond to this? Except … it's cool these days to be a Christian who swears. It gives the curser an "I'm into Jesus, but I'm not legalistic" badge. IS CURSING OR SWEARING A SIN? by Jared Wellman

To determine whether cussing is a “sin,” we need to first discuss what sin is, and second define what cursing, swearing, or cussing is.

The Bible tells us that sin is the transgression of the law (1 John 3:4) and rebellion against God (Deuteronomy 9:7, Joshua 1:18). It is furthermore described as imaginations of the unrenewed heart (Genesis 6:5; 8:21), defiling (Proverbs 30:12; Isaiah 59:3), disgraceful (Proverbs 14:34), and unrighteous (1 John 5:17), among other things.

Cursing is our way of describing words that are, for the most part, culturally or socially unacceptable. It is a slippery slope, however, to define a curse word because words are always taking on new meanings. Some curse words in the English language are actually authorized words to describe authentic things but have taken on a new meaning as time has progressed. Because of this, it is nearly impossible to create a canonized list of words that are considered curses. Nevertheless, it can be concluded that there are words that are purely crude or demeaning and are therefore unequivocally curse words.

It needs to be understood that cursing can also include any verbal expression of a word that may not necessarily be considered a traditional curse word. This means that the understanding of cursing needs to be expanded to not only include culturally or socially unacceptable words, but

4 any word that is used to demean another individual or express extreme dissatisfaction with a particular situation, especially when that dissatisfaction is directed toward God.

Christians are often guilty of substituting more culturally acceptable words in place of unacceptable words to describe their dissatisfaction with a situation, or even in reference to an individual. These are called euphemisms and cannot be considered justified alternatives.

Scripture has much to say about how Christians ought to use their tongues. Jesus specifically taught that what comes out of a man’s mouth is evidence of what is in his heart. Luke 6:45 says, “The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.”

Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:29, “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” John MacArthur has written of this verse, “The word for ‘corrupt’ refers to that which is foul or rotten, such as spoiled fruit or putrid meat. Foul language of any sort should never pass a Christian’s lips, because it is totally out of character with his new life in Christ.” The final portion of the verse offers a worthy use of our tongue—“what is good for edification.”

James gives us three illustrations from nature to demonstrate the sinfulness of cursing: “With [our tongue] we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh,” (James 3:9-12).

Finally, 1 Peter 3:10 says, “For He who would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.”

Conclusion

We can conclude that from the biblical definition of sin, our overview of cursing, and Scripture’s many expressions on the use of our tongue that it is without question a sin to curse. As Christians, we are expected to rest on the promises of God, “cleansing ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God,” (2 Corinthians 7:1) Cursing is contrary to resting on God’s promises for it is a failure to follow the Lord’s greatest commandments—to love God and to love people (Matthew 22:37-40). When we curse an individual, we do not love people and when we curse God, we do not love Him. Thankfully, God forgives us of our sins through the redemption found only in Jesus Christ (John 3:16).

5 Biblical Discernment

What is Biblical Discernment?

What areas of our life do we need Biblical Discernment? What Is Biblical Discernment And Why Is It Important? By John MacArthur

In its simplest definition, discernment is nothing more than the ability to decide between truth and error, right and wrong. Discernment is the process of making careful distinctions in our thinking about truth.

In other words, the ability to think with discernment is synonymous with an ability to think Biblically.

• It is our own responsibility

First Thessalonians 5:21-22 teaches that it is the responsibility of every Christian to be discerning: "But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil."

The apostle John issues a similar warning when he says, "Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1).

According to the New Testament, discernment is not optional for the believer-it is required.

The key to living an uncompromising life lies in one's ability to exercise discernment in every area of his or her life.

For example, failure to distinguish between truth and error leaves the Christian subject to all manner of false teaching.

False teaching then leads to an unbiblical mindset, which results in unfruitful and disobedient living-a certain recipe for compromise.

Unfortunately, discernment is an area where most Christians stumble. They exhibit little ability to measure the things they are taught against the infallible standard of God's Word, and they unwittingly engage in all kinds of unbiblical decision-making and behavior.

6 In short, they are not armed to take a decidedly Biblical stand against the onslaught of unbiblical thinking and attitudes that face them throughout their day.

Discernment intersects the Christian life at every point. And God's Word provides us with the needed discernment about every issue of life.

According to Peter, God "has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence" (2 Peter 1:3).

You see, it is through the "true knowledge of Him," that we have been given everything we need to live a Christian life in this fallen world. And how else do we have true knowledge of God but through the pages of His Word, the Bible? In fact, Peter goes on to say that such knowledge comes through God's granting "to us His precious and magnificent promises" (2 Peter 1:4).

Discernment -- the ability to think Biblically about all areas of life -- is indispensable to an uncompromising life.

It is incumbent upon the Christian to seize upon the discernment that God has provided for in His precious truth!

Without it, Christians are at risk of being "tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine" (Ephesians 4:14).

Key verses on Biblical Discernment

1 John 4:1 - Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

Philippians 1:9-10 - And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and [in] all judgment;

Hebrews 5:14 - But strong meat belongs to them that are of full age, [even] those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Hebrews 4:12 - For the word of God [is] quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.– Hebrews 5:12-14"For everyone who partakes only of milk is

7 not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil." Hebrews 5:13-14

Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances. But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil. –1 Thessalonians 5:19-22

They received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. Therefore many of them believed, along with a number of prominent Greek women and men. Acts 17:11-12

Why is developing our ability to spiritually discern important?

First: We need discernment, because everyday our lives are full of choices

Second: We need discernment, because evil doesn't always present itself as evil.

Third: We need discernment, because it is synonymous with spiritual growth and maturity.

Fourth: We need discernment, because it the key to living a blameless or uncompromising life.

Six Principles To Develop Spiritual Discernment

Principle one: Never trust your heart alone. Principle two: Seek the counsel of godly, wise, experienced, spiritual, Bible saturated people. Principle three: Refuse to be naive or accept things on face value. Principle four: Avoid people, places, and things that even have the appearance of evil. Principle five: Make it your business to read, study, and know God's Word. Principle six: Ask God for discernment.

What are some current examples where Christians need Discernment?

• Beauty and the Beast Controversy

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8 The Shack Controversy

• In evaluating the book, it must be kept in mind that The Shack is a work of fiction. But it is also a sustained theological argument, and this simply cannot be denied. Any number of notable novels and works of literature have contained aberrant theology, and even heresy. The crucial question is whether the aberrant doctrines are features of the story or the message of the work. When it comes to The Shack, the really troubling fact is that so many readers are drawn to the theological message of the book, and fail to see how it conflicts with the Bible at so many crucial points.

• All this reveals a disastrous failure of evangelical discernment. It is hard not to conclude that theological discernment is now a lost art among American evangelicals — and this loss can only lead to theological catastrophe.

• The answer is not to ban The Shack or yank it out of the hands of readers. We need not fear books — we must be ready to answer them. We desperately need a theological recovery that can only come from practicing biblical discernment. This will require us to identify the doctrinal dangers of The Shack, to be sure. But our real task is to reacquaint evangelicals with the Bible’s teachings on these very questions and to foster a doctrinal rearmament of Christian believers.

• The Shack is a wake-up call for evangelical Christianity. The popularity of this book among evangelicals can only be explained by a lack of basic theological knowledge among us — a failure even to understand the Gospel of Christ. The tragedy that evangelicals have lost the art of biblical discernment must be traced to a disastrous loss of biblical knowledge. Discernment cannot survive without doctrine.

• The disturbing truth is that books like The Shack would never become bestsellers in the Christian world if Christians were on guard, thinking biblically, and were willing to follow the Scriptures! In these dangerous days, it is paramount that we actively develop "eyes of understanding" that constantly check everything by the Word of God - especially the stuff that claims to be of God. The Scripture implores us to prove or test all things (I Thessalonians 5:21-22) and this test can be accomplished only one way - by knowing the Bible and then utilizing what we know from it. Every believer needs to be alert to the reality that in these last days deception is going to come at a rate never fathomed before. Mark my words, as time passes Satan is preparing to use unheralded and brazen trickery that will look and sound very spiritual, even Christian. The only hope we have to avoid the traps successfully is by prayerful, dedicated and aggressive study of God's unchangeable Word. Otherwise, sooner or later we'll find ourselves amongst a growing

9 number of people from previously trustworthy evangelical circles that are heading straight for apostasy.

• What is universalism?

______

The REAL Problem

The bottom line concerning books, movies, television shows and other input like The Shack is that, if our emotions rule and we fail to use scriptural discernment, we can be taken captive by "evil imaginations.“

Knowing that the author actually portrayed himself as both Shack characters Missy (the violated-then-murdered six-year-old) and her father, Mack (the one searching for God in a painful world), one's heart surely breaks for what Paul Young has evidently endured in his lifetime. However, if readers fail to think biblically and allow only The Shack's emotional storyline to grip them, they chance becoming prey to the very thing that I believe has duped many Christians into accepting and even endorsing the book. Empathy towards the author or his characters, or becoming enamored by what many testify to as the positive real-world outcome of reading the book, cannot trump one's biblical analysis of the work. Young plays upon emotions constantly in the book and also as he lectures publically, believing that, because hearts are allegedly being touched, God must be giving approval to The Shack.

When speaking to me personally, he emphasized the concept that results are all that matters. I responded that, just because people testify that the book is somehow helping them, this does not necessarily mean it is actually ordained by God.

The Wisdom Challenge

Discernment

Discussion

Decision

10 Six Major Problems With 'The Shack'

This spring, the New York Times bestselling book The Shack by William P. Young will come to the big screen.

The emotionally charged story seems to offer a resolution to the problem of pain—those who are struggling with the question, "Where is God when the world is full of brokenness?" Though many readers have labeled Young's story a compelling work of Christian fiction, discerning believers must ask themselves: Are The Shack's underlying teachings biblically sound or a far reach from the teachings of God's Word?

Though you might be swayed into thinking the god of The Shack is the same as the God of the Bible, there are several problems that arise if we take a close look at The Shack. Here are six concerns that develop as Mack converses with Young's caricatures of the Trinity.

Love vs. Justice

Problem #1: According to Young, justice and love are at odds and cannot be reconciled. He reasons that God will never judge people for their sins because He is limited by His love. Neither will He enact eternal judgment upon those who reject Him or send anyone to torment in hell.

But why would Jesus Christ die a criminal's death on the cross if not to save us from something? What a wasteful and pointless act it would be if Christ did not take on our just punishment, the wrath of God, for our sin.

We cannot remove the wrath of God from Scripture. It is as surely a part of His character as His love and mercy are. But God's wrath is not a human anger that flares up because of wounded pride or envy. His wrath is not self-indulgent, but rather, as theologian J.I. Packer says in his book Knowing God, "a right and necessary reaction to objective moral evil. God is only angry where anger is called for. ... all God's indignation is righteous."

The Bible is very clear about why Jesus came to earth, humbly taking on the very nature of a servant (see John 3:16-18, Phil. 2:6-7). Jesus Himself warned about the coming judgment and hell, commissioning His followers to proclaim the gospel that the lost might be saved—that they might choose life (see Matt. 25:31-46, Rev. 21:6- 8). Ultimately, that is what every person must do: Either choose salvation through the atoning blood of Jesus or choose the wrath of the righteous God.

Would Mack really want a God who would not punish evil? Would he be OK with a God who would not exert justice for the evil done to his daughter? Would God be good and loving if He said to Mack, "We'll just let this slide"?

Of course not. He shows us His love by both punishing sin and providing us with an escape: "But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8). He is "the Lord God, merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty"" (Ex. 34:6b- 7a).

Universalism: A Perilous Pardon

Problem #2: Another theme in The Shack that doesn't square with the Word of God is the idea that God forgives all of humanity, regardless of whether or not they repent and believe in the redeeming work of Jesus. It is an idea rooted in universalism—the belief that all roads lead to God and that Jesus is walking with

11 all people in their different journeys to God, whether they call Him Jesus or Buddha or Allah. In fact, Young asserts that there is no need for faith or reconciliation with God, because all people will make it to heaven.

The Bible is very clear that only those who call on the name of Jesus will be saved: "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12. See also 1 Tim. 2:5, Rom. 10:9). Universalism is a dangerous and malicious lie. It leads people to think that it doesn't matter what you believe, sin is not really a problem, and there is really no need for a Savior. Universalism single-handedly destroyed Christianity in much of Europe, and universalism is working hard to destroy the faith of remnant believers in the American church today.

Jesus is not the same as Buddha or Krishna; He does not hide behind such false and impotent gods. He became flesh and dwelt among us that we might know Him. He wants us to know the one true God. He wants the glory that He deserves, for He alone is God: "I am the Lord; that is my name; and My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to graven images" (Is. 42:8).

Are you willing to risk your eternal future on feel-good fluff? Sin is real. It is rebellion against God, and it requires justice. God's justice and wrath were poured out on Jesus Christ to reconcile us to the holy God (see 1 Pet. 2:24-25). But we must have faith in Jesus, confessing His lordship and believing in His resurrection.

Jesus calls out to us, "Enter at the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who are going through it, because small is the gate and narrow is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it" (Matt. 7:13-14). Beware of the "broad road" theology of The Shack.

Who Is the Potter?

Problem #3: In The Shack, the god character tells Mack that "submission is not about authority or obedience" and that the Trinity is even submitted to Mack (p. 145). Young is suggesting that God submits to human wishes and choices.

The Bible in its entirety points us to the need to submit to God. Submitting is by definition yielding to the authority of another. God created man, and man cannot dictate terms to God. As Isaiah 29:16 says, "Surely you turn things upside down! Shall the potter be esteemed as the potter's clay? Shall what is made say to its maker, 'He did not make me'? Or shall the thing formed say to him who formed it, 'He has no understanding'?"

God does not answer to us; we answer to God. In this way we remain in His love: "If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments and remain in his love. I have spoken these things to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full" (John 15:10-11). Submission is about obedience, and that's because obedience is ultimately about love. Jesus Himself said, "Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching" (John 14:23). To minimize obedience is to minimize love for God.

The Living Word

Problem #4: Young alleges that the Bible limits God, implying that it was man who reduced God's voice to paper: "Nobody wanted God in a box, just in a book" (p. 66). Thus the Bible is portrayed as inadequate to know God.

If the Bible were simply a book written by man, then it would be about as useful as The Shack. However, the Bible was written over the course of about 1,800 years with many different authors, all inspired by the Holy Spirit. They all through various time periods and life experiences tell the same story, pointing us to the Messiah —Jesus, who is the very Word of God made flesh (John 1:1-4, 14).

12 It is through Scripture that God chose to reveal Himself to us. The Bible is a divine product. Jesus Himself trusted the Scriptures and used them to teach about Himself (see Luke 24:44-47). If the risen Lord values, trusts and feeds on the Bible (see Matt. 4:1-11), should we not also look to it as the saving gospel it is? Let us therefore heed Paul's words:

"But continue in the things that you have learned and have been assured of, knowing those from whom you have learned them, and that since childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise unto salvation through the faith that is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2 Tim. 3:14-17, MEV).

Encountering the Sovereign, Holy God

Problem #5: The God portrayed in The Shack seems casual and unconcerned with holiness, which is inconsistent with what we see in the Bible. Mack's troubling disrespect and disregard for the Trinity would be impossible if he had encountered the sovereign, holy God.

By presenting a god wholly different from the true God revealed in the Bible, Young mocks the importance and uniqueness of the Word of God. He makes the Bible equal to or less than whatever personal imagination anyone might have of God. Mack did not encounter the Holy God of heaven and earth in the shack, but a created god who is controlled and manipulated by man—like an idol that is put away in a closet and brought out when needed. The Shack exchanges "the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man" (Rom. 1:23).

Although it's a righteous desire to want to know God, Mack's fictional experience of encountering God is demonstrably inconsistent with what we see in Scripture. It's also a poor sequel to the true story we already have of God's interactions on earth through Jesus Christ. When Moses asks God to show him His glory, God warns, "You cannot see my face, for no one man can see Me and live" (Ex. 33:20)—such is the dangerous magnificence of the Father's glory. We must be careful of assigning any image to Him that diminishes His holiness.

In Scripture, when people face the Lord, they fall down in repentance and worship. Isaiah's response was: "Woe is me! ... For I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts" (Is. 6:5). When John is swept up to heaven in a revelation from God and sees the glorified Jesus, he falls at His feet "as though ... dead" (Rev. 1:17). When Job was confronted by the Lord as He laid out His majesty, Job replies, "I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes" (Job 42:5-6). God is awesome, and we simply cannot stand in His presence. Neither can we live without Him.

The Ultimate Question

Problem #6: In The Shack, Young tries to answer the important personal question of suffering—and he thinks the answer is to change who God is. But God has already answered this question perfectly according to His true and unchanging character. He answered it with the gospel. He answered it on the cross. He answered it through Jesus Christ our Lord.

As we carefully consider the ideas presented in The Shack, the greater question we must ask ourselves is: Am I willing to accept God's gift of eternal life as it is revealed in Scripture? Am I willing to accept God's salvation the way He provided it—even if I want something else that accommodates my wishes, desires and emotions? Am I willing to accept truth over what makes me comfortable, realizing that truth is what I need—for it alone leads to eternal life?

13 We must not allow ourselves to be swayed by emotionalism. We must instead be like the Bereans, "daily examining the Scriptures" rather than readily accepting what they heard as truth (Acts 17:22b). Because no story, no matter how compelling, can ever improve upon God's story of redemption in the Bible.

Beloved, the best place to meet God is not at the shack, but at the cross. For the gospel is the greatest story ever told, and better still, it is true.

Michael Youssef, Ph.D., is the founder and president of Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef, a worldwide ministry that leads the way for people living in spiritual darkness to discover the light of Christ through the creative use of media and on-the-ground ministry teams. Youssef was born in Egypt.

14 What Does The Shack Really Teach? “Lies We Believe About God” Tells Us

March 9, 2017 #the shack

The Shack has sold twenty million copies and along the way generated at least twenty million conversations. Many of these have been attempts to discern the fact behind the fiction, to interpret what Paul Young means to teach through his story. Some have read the novel as a fresh expression of Christian orthodoxy while others have read it as rank heresy. In the end, only Young knows what he really believes.

At least, that was the case until the release of his new non-fiction work Lies We Believe About God. In this book he tells what he believes about sin, religion, hell, substitution, submission, salvation, and a number of other issues that cut to the very heart of the Christian faith. He does this by addressing a series of twenty-eight “lies” people—evangelicals, that is—tend to believe about God. In Baxter Kruger’s foreword he insists that Young “is standing in the mainstream of historic Christian confession.” For the sake of time and space, I cannot

15 evaluate that claim against all twenty-eight chapters. Instead, I have chosen to focus on the few that are most central to the Christian faith.

Twenty-Eight Lies

In this section I provide a brief overview of the most important chapters in Lies We Believe About God. As much as possible, I allow Young to speak in his own words.

Chapter 2: “God is Good. I am not.” This chapter looks at the human condition. “Many of us believe that God sees us all as failures, wretches who are utterly depraved.” But the reality, he insists, is far different: “Yes, we have crippled eyes, but not a core of un-goodness. We are true and right, but often ignorant and stupid, acting out of the pain of our wrongheadedness, hurting ourselves, others, and even all creation. Blind, not depraved is our condition.” First falls the doctrine of human depravity.

Chapter 3: “God is in control.” Close behind it is God’s sovereignty. Christians often state that God has a plan for our lives, even through pain. “Do we actually believe we honor God by declaring God the author of all this mess in the name of Sovereignty and Omnipotent Control? Some religious people—and Christians are often among their ranks—believe in grim determinism, which is fatalism with personality. Whatever will be, will be. It happened. And since God is in charge, it must be part of God’s plan.” He insists that God is not sovereign, but that he “submits rather than controls and joins us in the resulting mess of relationship…” As we will see, this idea of God’s submission to humanity is one of the book’s most prominent themes.

Chapter 5: “God is a Christian.” In chapter five Young means to show that it is futile and even dangerous to concern ourselves with who is a Christian and who is not. “Believing (trusting) is an activity, not a category. The truth is that every human being is somewhere on the journey between belief and unbelief; even so, we perpetuate the categories of believer and unbeliever.” Rather than seeing people as being believers or unbelievers, we should understand that we are all on the same path, though in different locations along it.

Chapter 12: “God created my religion.” Young often speaks of the beauty of relationship and the danger of religion. Thus, “God did not start religion. Rather, religion is among a whole host of things that God did not originate but submits to because we human beings have brought them to the table. God is about relationship; and therefore, any understanding of church or any community of faith that is centered on structures, systems, divisions, and agendas has its origin in human beings and not in God.”

Chapter 13: “You need to get saved.” Here he turns to the matter of salvation. I will excerpt this at length so you can see his full-out embrace of universalism—that everybody has been or will be saved by God.

So what is the Good News? What is the Gospel?

The Good News is not that Jesus has opened up the possibility of salvation and you have been invited to receive Jesus into your life. The Gospel is that Jesus has already included you into His life, into His relationship with God the Father, and into His anointing in the Holy Spirit. 16 The Good News is that Jesus did this without your vote, and whether you believe it or not won’t make it any less or more true.

What or who saves me? Either God did in Jesus, or I save myself. If, in any way, I participate in the completed act of salvation accomplished in Jesus, then my part is what actually saves me. Saving faith is not our faith, but the faith of Jesus.

God does not wait for my choice and then “save me.” God has acted decisively and universally for all humankind. Now our daily choice is to either grow and participate in that reality or continue to live in the blindness of our own independence.

Are you suggesting that everyone is saved? That you believe in universal salvation?

That is exactly what I am saying!

Here’s the truth: every person who has ever been conceived was included in the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. When Jesus was lifted up, God “dragged” all human beings to Himself (John 12: 32). Jesus is the Savior of all humankind, especially believers (1 Timothy 4: 10). Further, every single human being is in Christ (John 1: 3), and Christ is in them, and Christ is in the Father (John 14: 20). When Christ—the Creator in whom the cosmos was created—died, we all died. When Christ rose, we rose (2 Corinthians 5).

Young leaves no doubt that he espouses universalism. To further his argument, he includes an appendix on the matter.

Chapter 15: “Hell is separation from God.” Having advocated universalism, he must now say something about the tricky matter of hell. “I may have convinced myself or been convinced by others that I deserve to be separated from God. Such lies will bring with them a shadow in which I experience a sense of separation, feelings that seem to validate the illusion that God is not connected and in relationship with me or that God has stopped loving me or has given up on me. Many of us on the planet live in this illusion now. … I propose the possibility that hell is not separation from Jesus but that it is the pain of resisting our salvation in Jesus while not being able to escape Him who is True Love.” Hell, too, falls by the wayside.

Chapter 17: “The cross was God’s idea.” Should we be surprised that he now moves against the notion that the cross was somehow part of God’s divine plan? He borrows Steve Chalke’s language of “divine child abuse” to describe any God who would plan such a thing.

Who originated the Cross?

If God did, then we worship a cosmic abuser, who in Divine Wisdom created a means to torture human beings in the most painful and abhorrent manner. Frankly, it is often this very cruel and monstrous god that the atheist refuses to acknowledge or grant credibility in any sense. And rightly so. Better no god at all, than this one.

The alternative is that the Cross originated with us human beings. This deviant device is the iconic manifestation of our blind commitment to darkness. It is our ultimate desecration of the goodness and loving intent of God to create, an intent that is focused on the human creation. It is the ultimate fist raised against God.

17 And how did God respond to this profound brokenness?

God submitted to it. God climbed willingly onto our torture device and met us at the deepest and darkest place of our diabolical imprisonment to our own lies, and by submitting once and for all, God destroyed its power. Jesus is God’s best, given willingly and in opposition to our worst, the Cross.

When did God submit? Not only in Jesus incarnate but before the creation of the world, according to Scriptures (Revelation 13: 8). God knew going into the activity of creation what the cost would be. That God’s own children, this highest order of creation, would one day make the final attempt to kill Life.

And how would we religious people interpret this sacrifice? We would declare that it was God who killed Jesus, slaughtering Him as a necessary appeasement for His bloodthirsty need for justice.

Chapter 19: “God requires child sacrifice.” And then he refutes the doctrine of propitiation: “One of the narratives about God is that because of sin, God required child sacrifice to appease a sense of righteous indignation and the fury of holiness—Jesus being the ultimate child sacrifice. Well, if God is like that, then doesn’t it make sense that we would follow in God’s footsteps? But we know intuitively that such a thought is wrong, desperately wrong.”

Chapter 21: “Death is more powerful than God.” Do we need to urge people to respond to God before they die? According to Young, not necessarily. “I don’t think God would ever say that once you die, your fate is sealed and there is nothing that God can do for you. … Personally, I do believe that the idea that we lose our ability to choose at the event of physical death is a significant lie and needs to be exposed; its implications are myriad and far-reaching. … I think evil exists because of our turning from face-to-face-to-face relationship with God, and because we chose to say no to God, to Life and Light and Truth and Good. God, with utmost respect and reverence, submits to our choice even while utterly opposing it. God, who is Love, not only allows our choice but joins us in our humanity in order to rescue us from our choices that are harmful and destructive. God has gone to incredible lengths to protect our ability to say no, even though that freedom has produced unspeakable pain and loss.”

Chapter 27: “Sin separates us from God.” As the book draws to a close, he looks at the nature of sin and its effect on our relationship with God. “There is a truth about who you are: God’s proclamation about a ‘very good creation’ is the truest about you. That very good creation is the form or origin of you, the truth of who you are in your being. Sin, then, is anything that negates or diminishes or misrepresents the truth of who you are, no matter how pretty or ugly that is. Behavior becomes either an authentic way of expressing the truth of your good creation or an effort to cover up (performance behavior) the shame of what you think of yourself (worthless). And what does the truth of your being look like? God. You are made in the image of God, and the truth of your being looks like God.”

Going Back to The Shack

Through twenty-eight brief chapters, Young systematically discusses and denies tenet after tenet of the historic Christian faith. He denies human depravity and divine sovereignty. He 18 proclaims there are none who are specially loved by God and that formal religion is opposed to God. He insists that all humanity has been or will be saved by the gospel, that hell does not exist, that God merely submitted to the cross, that any God who would punish his Son as a substitute is abhorrent, and that the very notion of appeasement is unworthy of God. He denies that sin separates us from God and that death represents the end of our opportunity to respond to his offer of divine grace.

As Jefferson famously excised from his Bible all those passages he considered unbearable, Young has gutted the Christian faith of anything he considers repugnant. What remains bears only a passing resemblance to the faith “once for all delivered to the saints.”

Now that Young has described what he believes, his fans would do well to return to The Shack, for he has settled many of the debates. Does The Shack teach universalism? Absolutely. Does it encourage people to turn to Jesus Christ in repentance and faith? Is it meant to compel people to come to deeper confidence in the Bible? Is it a book that will persuade people to join and serve a local church? No, no, and no. Years ago when I reviewed The Shack I said, “Despite the amount of poor theology, my greatest concern is probably this one: the book has a quietly subversive quality to it. Young seems set on undermining orthodox Christianity.” “Seems set?” Now we know he is set. He is set on revoking and replacing the very pillars of the Christian faith.

Observations

Before I conclude, let me offer a few further observations about Lies We Believe About God.

 While the excerpts above may represent Young’s most significant claims, they are far from the only concerning ones. There is barely a chapter in the book that does not do damage to one or more precious doctrines. Many times these depend on novel interpretations of Scripture passages or on creative word studies.  It is a well-established rule of polemics that before we engage another person’s ideas, we must ensure we have accurately understood and presented them. Young seems unconcerned with such protocol. To the contrary, he often lampoons or otherwise misrepresents what evangelicals believe. Time and time again he crafts a sloppy straw man, then beats it into the ground.  Young never addresses whether or not the Bible is our ultimate authority when it comes to what is true and what is false. Thus, he rarely proves his statements or defends his own beliefs with the Bible. Even while he dismantles the Christian faith, he often appeals to no authority outside himself.  The easiest book to write is the one that asks questions but stops short of proposing answers. This is especially true when the author associates humility with uncertainty and confidence with arrogance. And, sure enough, this is what Young does. “The book is not a presentation of certainty,” he says, as if this is an asset. “None of the examinations of ‘lies’ results in a final or absolute view on a subject. Rather, they are tastes of larger conversations.” Yet the careful reader will observe that Young’s uncertainty does not extend to the claims he believes to be false. When it comes to many core claims of the

19 Christian faith, his uncertainty vanishes and he confidently castigates the positions and those who hold them.

Conclusion

In Lies We Believe About God, we see Paul Young apart from the subjectivity of narrative. And as he proclaims what he denies and affirms, he outs himself as beyond the bounds of Christian orthodoxy. This book is a credo for false teaching, for full-out heresy. I do not say this lightly, I do not say it gleefully, but I do say it confidently. Christian booksellers should be utterly ashamed to sell this book or any other by its author. Christians should not subject themselves to his teaching or promote his works, for he despises sound doctrine that leads to salvation and advocates false doctrine that will only ever lead away from God.

Now that I have read Lies We Believe About God from cover-to-cover, one of its small statements seems to take on outsized significance. “To understand who God really is, you can begin by looking at yourself, since you are made in God’s image.” The man who wrote these words has exposed his own approach, for his God is obviously and unashamedly fabricated in the image of Paul Young.