Thursday, May 07, 2009
Faith Lost
The CSM reviews a book written by a friend of a friend of mine.
There are two comments I want to make from this. First, I heard Lobdell on the radio a while back and lots of callers wanted to try and argue him back to faith. They wanted to present a theological reasoning behind the corruption and the ineffectiveness. I started screaming "Stop it!" at the radio. Argumentation will never reach this guy. Ultimately there is no argument for faith in Jesus, there is only meeting Him. We are not saved by our theology, but by Jesus Christ. Only the Holy Spirit can reach Bill Lobdell at this point.
Which is why the church should grieve corruption, and ineffectiveness, far more than it does. For such is where evidence of the Holy Spirit lies. I have seen far too many grow defensive in the face of corruption instead of respond with confession. Too often we have happy, clappy worship when we should be on our knees, crying tears of blood for those that are missing the point.
I come so close to agreeing with Lobdell that it is not even funny. I have yet to encounter Jesus in the church. I agree with Lobdell that statistically, I can never expect to. But I have been lucky. I have met Jesus in the lives of a few, oh so very few, that I have met in the church - which is the only reason I bother with the church at all.
I have also met Jesus because the still small voice of His Spirit spoke to me and drove me to church when all evidence and all desire sought to keep me away. I pray the the Holy Spirit will speak to Bill Lobdell in the way the he can hear it.
But more, I pray for the church and for Christians everywhere. I pray that rather than defend against Lobdell's story and arguments they will come to understand that this may very well be the book that Lobdell wanted to write all along, the one that "uncovers corruption in religion in order to spur reform and healing." He sure has found the heart of the problem.
A freshly born-again Christian, Lobdell was a husband, father, and journalist who saw evidence of answered prayer in his own life as well, a life that he felt had been transformed by faith. Covering the religion beat was the perfect job for Lobdell – until the day that his work began to destroy his faith.Losing My Religion: How I Lost My Faith Reporting on Religion in America – and Found Unexpected Peace is a compelling personal story of faith found, cherished, and then lost.I have not read the book yet, but I found the heart of the story, as described by CSM, all too familiar:
Instead, the eager reporter felt God had given him a special responsibility: to uncover corruption in religion in order to spur reform and healing. With equal fervor, he undertook in-depth reports on televangelists who were milking people of millions and using funds for themselves; one involved an exposé of the homosexual tryst and lavish living of the head of Trinity Broadcasting Network.I have a similar corruption story to tell, as does my wife, quite independently of me. I also have scads of stories I have collected from others. I consider it the one truly miraculous manifestation of the Holy Spirit in my life that I did not abandon faith decades ago. Too often corruption in the church is met with a shrug, and a "Well, we're still sinners." Lobdell pushes things a bit farther pointing out that in addition to being perpetually corrupt, the church appears to be ineffectual.
Yet the results were disheartening: Catholic parishioners repeatedly took the side of abusive priests and railed against the victims; and the televangelists raked in millions more the year after the stories appeared. “In fact, my stories were used as fund-raising tools – evidence that TBN was doing God’s work and the devil (that is, yours truly) was trying to stop it,” Lobdell writes.
It wasn’t reaction to his stories, per se, that most distressed him, he says, but the fact that Christians who were in a position to stand for principle and clean things up, regularly chose to turn a blind eye to dishonesty, corruption, and hypocrisy.
At first Lobdell felt that corruption in religious institutions had nothing to do with God. But then he began looking for evidence of how Christians lived, and whether it differed at all from nonbelievers.
“If the Gospels were true, shouldn’t I be able to find plenty of data that showed Christians acted differently – superior in morals and ethics – from the rest of society? I wanted to see that people were changed in fundamental ways by their belief in Christ.” The data from many studies, whether on divorce, racism, charity, materialism, etc., showed otherwise.
There are two comments I want to make from this. First, I heard Lobdell on the radio a while back and lots of callers wanted to try and argue him back to faith. They wanted to present a theological reasoning behind the corruption and the ineffectiveness. I started screaming "Stop it!" at the radio. Argumentation will never reach this guy. Ultimately there is no argument for faith in Jesus, there is only meeting Him. We are not saved by our theology, but by Jesus Christ. Only the Holy Spirit can reach Bill Lobdell at this point.
Which is why the church should grieve corruption, and ineffectiveness, far more than it does. For such is where evidence of the Holy Spirit lies. I have seen far too many grow defensive in the face of corruption instead of respond with confession. Too often we have happy, clappy worship when we should be on our knees, crying tears of blood for those that are missing the point.
I come so close to agreeing with Lobdell that it is not even funny. I have yet to encounter Jesus in the church. I agree with Lobdell that statistically, I can never expect to. But I have been lucky. I have met Jesus in the lives of a few, oh so very few, that I have met in the church - which is the only reason I bother with the church at all.
I have also met Jesus because the still small voice of His Spirit spoke to me and drove me to church when all evidence and all desire sought to keep me away. I pray the the Holy Spirit will speak to Bill Lobdell in the way the he can hear it.
But more, I pray for the church and for Christians everywhere. I pray that rather than defend against Lobdell's story and arguments they will come to understand that this may very well be the book that Lobdell wanted to write all along, the one that "uncovers corruption in religion in order to spur reform and healing." He sure has found the heart of the problem.
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