Beyond Opinion

One of my heroes in the faith is a man named Ravi Zacharias. I recently purchased his new book entitled "Beyond Opinion - Living the Faith We Defend." For those not familiar with Zacharias, he is probably the most influential Christian Apologist since CS Lewis and is a true giant of the faith. Born in India, educated in the west, the scope of his ministry is truly experienced all over the world.

Over the past 5 years, I have listened to and read nearly everything he has published, and so much of his teaching has defined where I am today. In the opening preface of "Beyond Opinion", he writes these words:

There is no greater example in apologetics than the apostle Paul speaking at Mars Hill. The irony of the talk Paul gave is in the difference in reaction the Easterner has when reading Paul’s address to that of a Westerner. The Easterner is thrilled at how the apostle wove the message starting from where the listeners were to bring them to where he was in his thinking. The average Westerner is quick to point out that few of his hearers responded. Such an attitude says volumes about why the church in the West has been so intellectually weak. To those in the West, the bigger the number of respondents, the more replicated the technique. The bigger the statistic, the greater the success. Westerners are enamored by size, largesse, number of hands raised, and so on. When the sun has set on these reports, we seem rather dismayed when statistics show the quality of the life of the believer is no different from that of the unbeliever.

No doubt about it, the body of Christ in America needs a serious wake up call. We have been trained by "church" to feel our faith, but have we been trained to think? Sure, we all sit in front of pre-packaged messages every Sunday and hear our favorite pastor give us valuable insights on how we should think, act, love, give, etc... But how many times have you heard a pastor defend why Christianity is TRUE? How many times have you heard a preacher explain to you why he believes that the resurrection is a historical fact?

I like to think about it on three levels: Level 1 is the ground floor, the foundation. Its the level that defines a person's worldview. It's the thought behind the answer, "Why are you a Christian?" In my opinion, most Christians today would have a hard time answering that question at level 1. But in a scientifically minded, "prove it to me" culture, shouldn't we have a good explanation for why we believe what we believe? That's why I love the title of the book, "Beyond Opinion." Our faith in Jesus should go beyond that of opinion.

Level 2 would be considered the arts or entertainment, where the worldview of level 1 gets communicated. Take any popular TV show in which pre-marital sex and homosexuality are treated as the norm and you will see level 2 in action. In the same way, the American church has become a master at level 2 - stimulating the senses to achieve maximum emotional gratification. Now don't get me wrong; I love level 2. There is nothing that excites me more than raising my hands with fellow Christians as we sing at the top of our lungs. But here's the point; the emotional response of raising my hands should be born out of thought - out of level 1, and not from the lighting, multimedia, or intensity of the music. In my opinion, the western church has done a great disservice to our generation by over emphasizing the level 2 approach. In the process, we have abandoned the tool of critical thinking and left ourselves vulnerable to attacks from the enemy.

In the same way, the church has become a master of level 3, which I call the application side of life. Its the level that says, "Do this, think that, don't do this, watch out for that, etc." I would venture to say that 95% of Sunday sermons this week could fall under these categories. Again, don't get me wrong. There is nothing problematic about preaching on application. There are always new insights on how to walk closer with God which can be very helpful to all of us. My point is simply this:

We should not run away from levels 2 and 3. But we should also recognize that the world is also very good at levels 2 and 3. The world loves emotional outpouring during a concert. The world loves tips for a healthy life. What the world cannot stand is the uncompromising truth that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life. And unless we have trained and equipped ourselves, and our children to understand this truth, we may be just moments away from being swept off our feet to something that feels a little better than following Jesus.