Before commenting on the last two counterfeit gospels, let’s look at the entire list to summarize:
- Formalism
I participate in the regular meetings and ministries of the church, so I feel like my life is under control. I’m always in church, but it really has little impact on my heart or on how I live. I may become judgmental and impatient with those who do not have the same commitment as I do. - Legalism
I live by the rules—rules I create for myself and rules I create for others. I feel good if I can keep my own rules, and I become arrogant and full of contempt when others don’t meet the standards I set for them. There is no joy in my life because there is no grace to be celebrated. - Mysticism
I am engaged in the incessant pursuit of an emotional experience with God. I live for the moments when I feel close to him, and I often struggle with discouragement when I don’t feel that way. I may change churches often, too, looking for one that will give me what I’m looking for. - Activism
I recognize the missional nature of Christianity and am passionately involved in fixing this broken world. But at the end of the day, my life is more of a defense of what’s right than a joyful pursuit of Christ. - Biblicism
I know my Bible inside and out, but I do not let it master me. I have reduced the gospel to a mastery of biblical content and theology, so I am intolerant and critical of those with lesser knowledge. - Therapism
I talk a lot about the hurting people in our congregation, and how Christ is the only answer for their hurt. Yet even without realizing it, I have made Christ more Therapist than Savior. I view hurt as a greater problem than sin—and I subtly shift my greatest need from my moral failure to my unmet needs. - Social-ism
The deep fellowship and friendships I find at church have become their own idol. The body of Christ has replaced Christ himself, and the gospel is reduced to a network of fulfilling Christian relationships.
We now only have therapism and social-ism to deal with. Like the other two divisions I made in this exposition, these two counterfeits really do go hand in hand. Let’s take a look:
The Counterfeit Gospel of Therapism
Original Description:
I talk a lot about the hurting people in our congregation, and how Christ is the only answer for their hurt. Yet even without realizing it, I have made Christ more Therapist than Savior. I view hurt as a greater problem than sin—and I subtly shift my greatest need from my moral failure to my unmet needs.
In many ways, Way of the Master and other biblical evangelism tools have been formulated as a reaction to this “ism.” In this counterfeit, the emphasis on a person’s spiritual needs are transferred away from repentence, moral deficiency, sin and justice and towards various “life enhancement” needs: peace, happiness, wellness, health, fulfillment and so on. Again, the “Four Spiritual Laws” evangelism method is a perfect example of this - where people are encouraged to have a “relationship with God” because:
- “God has a wonderful plan for your life”
- We need to “experience abundant life.”
- Experience “God’s love and plan for our life.”
- He can “Make me the kind of person You want me to be”
This is therapism 101 - “Oh God, I’m just so sad and unfulfilled - I need another goofy, platitude-ridden, experience-based set of feel-good motivational speaking lectures to make me feel happy again.” No, you need a saviour because you will go to Hell, in spite of the fact that God loves you, because you refuse to repent from your sin and trust in Jesus Christ to forgive you.
This is not accomplished by willful deception, but by genuinely caring Christians who have let the cares of the world gradually replace the power of God to save from sin. The have moved from obedience to the bible to vain sacrifice. Christianity becomes less about God’s sovereignty and supremacy, and more about the believer and what he can manipulate from a wealthy parent. God is not someone we submit to, but a genie who grants our wishes, both physical and spiritual.
The Counterfeit Gospel of Social-ism
Original Description:
The deep fellowship and friendships I find at church have become their own idol. The body of Christ has replaced Christ himself, and the gospel is reduced to a network of fulfilling Christian relationships.
Many good things can become idols, getting between God and man - the bible, the name of God and even the body of Christ. The bible commands us to have genuine fellowship with the body - to “love one another.” However, we are also warned not to put family and friends above Christ. In fact, our Christian faith will likely cause our relationships to suffer (Matthew 10:21).
Christians get weary of the world, and in the exact opposite reaction as activism (changing the world by Christian means), social-ists seek to completely remove the world and focus on their “church family.” They build church schools, colleges, singles groups, marriage groups, youth groups, elderly groups, day-care, co-ops, businesses and so on until their entire life is one giant clique. They attempt to create heaven on earth by complicated networks of Christian communities, on which they rely more than the bible, more than the Holy Spirit - more than even God himself.
Because the gospel becomes relationship-based, keeping people happy becomes essential. Sin, hell, repentence and judgment do not make people willing to join these little Christian clubs - so therapism is usually adopted. In a church, this might mean that more concern is placed on “people comforts” such as the air conditioning, decorations, technology and programs rather than the teaching, fellowship and discipline.
Groups like campus life have this down to an artform - making fellowship about holding tanks with pizza, rather than genuine Christian fellowship. Real fellowship always supports the individual believer - it always comes back to the idea of the group empowering the individual, rather than the individual conforming to the group (Romans 12:4-13).
Conclusion
I hope this short series has been informative. But even in considering these seven places where Christians go astray - it is evident that there are many more “isms” that can be a trap. Feel free to continue the discussion in the comments - are there other “isms” that were missed, or were these ones discussed incompletely?
The point of this is to evaluate one’s self to ensure that key elements of Christianity are not being left out, or over-emphasized to the detriment of other equally important aspects. Christianity is an all-encompassing, balanced faith that is relatively simple in its practice. Complicating it through counterfeits like those mentioned is only going to lead the church astray, making it ineffective and impotent to accomplish that for which it was created.
Real fellowship always supports the individual believer - it always comes back to the idea of the group empowering the individual, rather than the individual conforming to the group (Romans 12:4-13).
Can you expand on this, and explain how this idea works with the analogy of being parts of a body (1Cor 12:12). I guess I don’t see why you’ve set up the dichotomy that you have. Real fellowship in my mind does always support the individual believer, but it’s not about empowering them as individuals, nor conforming them to the group, but instead strengthening the church so that she can go about her mission more effectively.
I think you have the essence of my answer in your response, which causes me to believe that this is merely a terminology issue.
The church’s mission is carried out in it’s members. The only unifying element in the body is the head - Christ. The head has dispersed the gifts to the individual members to carry out the purposes of the head. The members do not form a separate group or division within the body in an attempt to fulfill the role of the head. The church is most effective when the members are each specialized in their gifts and are using them in the most direct application from the head.
Fellowship in the body is to exhort and encourage individual believers so that the church’s collective mission (as defined by the head) can be the most effective.
Thanks for these articles, Colin. I looked through the seven counterfeit gospels and tried to see which ones I’m prone to. Formalism and Legalism have never held an attraction for me. I’m deeply suspicious of emotions, so Mysticism is out. Therapism also seems emotion-based. (And I’ll confess something here: there’s nothing that bothers me quite so much as Christians whose lives are a series of continual crises which seem to do nothing but satisfy an emotional need for dependence. These are people who can’t seem to cope unless God is rescuing them every day from another worldly crisis. Sometimes I think they manufacture and nurture crises in order to feel close to God. Uh, rant over.)
Social-ism isn’t my problem because, uh, I hate people. Not really, but I’m not a terribly social person. The church isn’t my social club. I don’t want a social club.
I’m prone to Biblicism because it fits my intellectual personality. It’s easy to look down on people who don’t have the same knowledge that I do, as if knowledge makes a person more spiritual and holy. I don’t know why I think that. Maybe I’m expecting that on Judgement Day Jesus will ask me to list and discuss the five points of Calvinism.
So to combat my tendency toward an intellectual faith, I’m drawn into Activism. I hold minarchist libertarian views of politics, so I don’t want to fix society through the law and government programs. (Colin, I think your summary focused too much on one aspect of Activism and maybe it missed the big picture.) But I do think the church should get involved in helping the community, and Christians should start charities and organizations to influence this world for the better. I try to judge my own spiritual development by how many service ministries I’m involved in.
Jew said, “I’m prone to Biblicism because it fits my intellectual personality”
Whew, I was really glad to read that. The way the first two paragraphs were going along, I thought you were about to confess that you were perfect.
I did play all seven letters in Scrabble yesterday. That’s perfect, right?
As for an additional -ism, what about Traditonalism or Culturalism. I think there are plenty of people who are “Christians” because they’ve always nominally accepted Christianity, just like their parents before them. They wouldn’t think of turning to any other religion, but they don’t think too hard about their own, either. Christianity is just a part of life like motherhood and apple pie and the Fourth of July
As for my own personal weakness, I immediately think of social-ism, but not exactly in the way you elaborate it. I don’t see myself as part of a big clique, exactly (although with my particular job, it might be said that I work as part of a big Christian clique), but I do put a lot of importance on “network of fulfilling Christian relationships.” I don’t want to go to church just for good preaching or good singing or correct theology. I admit it–I want some friends there.
This morning I was thinking about this article, and something occurred to me. Most of the “isms” are representative of spiritual imbalance. Some of their qualities are right and good within the proper context, but they when they outgrow that context they become a problem.
Well, I was particularly thinking about mysticism. Many experiences are biblical, but people get into trouble when the pursuit of the experience becomes the supreme objective. But with respect to emotion, I began to think about joy. Is joy an emotion? Perhaps, but it is not fickle and should be a consistent part of the Christian experience. So we shouldn’t chase after joy, we should just always have it. It is the natural result of having faith in God, and is a fruit of the recreated human spirit (Galatians 5:22).
“Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.”
(Romans 15:13)
Do you feel weak? Get full of joy because the joy of the Lord is your strength (Nehemiah 8:10). You cannot live in the presence of God and not have joy because in his presence is fullness of joy (Psalm 16:11). I am convinced that many have not experienced this joy. It is supernatural and incomparable with mere natural emotion. In fact, a Christian can and should have this joy during the most trying of circumstances. What would make Paul and Silas sing praises to God after being beaten and thrown into prison? Supernatural joy that led to their abounding in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost when God shook that place with an earthquake and busted them out of jail.
Anyway I was just meditating on the joy of the Lord this morning and thought I would share that. I’ll leave you with this final scripture.
“For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.”
(Romans 14:17)
Thanks Chris. I fully agree with your point. It is a great encouragement.