Faith . . . Blind Submission or Intelligent Ascent?
The Faith Journey
(This post takes about 3 1/2 minutes to read)
Pilgrim’s Progress was written three-hundred-forty-two years ago. It has been translated into two-hundred languages and has never been out of print. I’d say that qualifies as a spiritual classic! I’m a big fan of the book, but consider this:
J.I. Packer (author of Knowing God) read it annually for fifty years to bolster his faith. He considered it “a classic above all other classics of the Christian life.” Charles Spurgeon, the famous British “prince of preachers” (and author of the Morning by Morning devotional series) deemed Pilgrim’s Progress “his most important spiritual resource next to the Bible.” And Oswald Chambers (My Utmost For His Highest) saw it as a vital companion on the journey of life. He noted that “the Christian life is gloriously difficult, but the difficulty of it does not make us faint and cave in, it rouses us up to overcome. Thank God he does give us difficult things to do.”
Like overcoming the ravages and frustration of COVID-19?
Yes, but much more than that. In somewhat unpopular truth, “these times” will register as only one of many trials on the journey of life. That’s primarily the account of Pilgrim’s Progress. It begs at least two main questions, “What is the foundation and strength of our faith proposition on the journey to the Celestial City of Light that God has promised, Christ has secured, and the Holy Spirit guides us toward?” And second, “Will we be faithful despite harrowing trials, naysayers, and frightening detours on the journey of life?”
In my rearview mirror of life, I vaguely recall reading Bunyan’s classic, but I can’t tell you when. But what’s clear is that I probably read it under duress of a teacher’s or professor’s edict because all I recall is the allegorical names of some characters . . . names like Hopeful, Hypocrisy, Talkative and Ignorance. Allegorically, these names represent the ideals, opinions, and resistant perspectives of travelers that Christian (the central character) encounters on his journey. But now (after my current re-read some twenty-plus years later), I recognize that I run into these characters at every turn in life . . . but the deeper roots of my faith now grant me confidence to engage these people with reason, biblical truth, and acquired wisdom. I’m no longer Mr. Shallow, Misinformed, or Too Afraid.
Jan and Caroline on our ascent to Mount Arbel, overlooking the Lower Galilee Valley in Israel
Can we agree that faith in Christ is not blind submission, but intelligent ascent . . . and that our God-given intelligence and ability to reason establishes a pathway to belief? Can we also agree that we have responsibility “to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18) so that we can fight faith battles and help our neighbors navigate the difficult pathways of truth on the journey to the Celestial City of Light?
In The Message, Eugene Peterson paraphrases 1 John 4:1 like this. “My dear friends, don’t believe everything you hear. Carefully weigh and examine what people tell you. Not everyone who talks about God comes from God. There are a lot of lying preachers loose in the world.” Yes, we are biblically called to “test the spirits” . . . and to reject blind submission
The Qumran Caves in Israel’s West Bank, home of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Significant biblical history or myth?
Biblical revelation—the unveiling of God’s Word and Truth—presupposes reason and the testing in our minds of what we hear. God gave us rational minds to think and discern spiritual truth from fiction . . . and as importantly, free will to accept or reject a notion. That largely defines Christian’s journey in Pilgrim’s Progress, and it should also define ours. Christian is constantly confronted with truth and fable on his journey from his allegorical City of Destruction to the Celestial City of Truth. Like him, we must beware of faith-less detours.
One final point. Let’s confess that much of what God says in the Bible is counter-intuitive and difficult to internalize. But in the whole counsel of God (from Genesis through Revelation), there is astounding continuity penned over 2600 years. God’s Word presents itself as an interactive narrative that is so remarkably transparent that any man or woman can easily connect the dots. So, when God’s grace and pursuit of mankind intersects with our reason—in that providential sequence—belief and faith are the glorious endpoints.
And Ignorance is left on the side-road to Oblivion.
Be blessed in your faith journey,
Tom
“Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all: hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil” (I Thessalonians 5:19-22).
Note: The phrase “blind submission and intelligent ascent” is inspired by Thoughts From the Diary Of A Desperate Man, (May 13th). Walter A. Henrichsen, however, uses the word assent . . . which is another dimension of our faith journey through the wilderness.