Borrowed Light

How Should You Respond When a Fellow Believer Is Excited About Untruth?

April 2, 2014Mike Leake 1 Comment

The two cute kids sit on mommy and daddy’s record player and look out the window. The little girl smiles in wonder and raises her little finger up to the heavens. “Oh, look ‘Zay-ah it’s the sun! Isn’t it bootiful?” She then pecks him on the cheek and smiles.

She’s so excited to see this beautiful sunset. Her brother…not so much. In fact, he lovingly but confidently proceeds to burst her little bubble. “Uhmmm…that’s not the sun,” he says in his big brother voice, “that’s a reflection of the light into the window”.

She argues. He argues. Then he “turns off the sun” and proves his point. She’s disappointed.

—-

It’s April 18th and the pastor walks into the church building. He is greeted by enthusiastic church members. They are bubbling over with excitement. You see last night they watched a movie that provide the existence of heaven. And they are stoked about what this movie will do for the kingdom and what it did for their own faith.

The pastor is now in an awkward spot. He now knows that the excitement is because this lovely couple spent their Saturday evening date by watching the Heaven Is For Real movie. He has read Tim Challies’ review and nodded his head in agreement with our 3 reasons not to be a big fan of all these “I went to heaven” movies.

So what should he do? What is a person to do whenever fellow believers get really excited about something but the thing they are excited about is filled with untruth? Do you whack them upside the head with your Bible? Do you just laugh like a nervous school boy and pretend you loved the movie too?

I’m convinced that none of the above options is the path to go. Instead the best response is to be like the little boy in the beginning of the story—though perhaps with a bit more tact.

Whack-a-Dolt Isn’t an Option

I suppose one option would be for this pastor to smack some sense into this happy couple. “You went and saw WHAT movie? And you liked it!?!?” After flogging them with his angry tirade and litany of Bible verses he could then start the church discipline process.

I’m being a tad facetious but I’ve seen believers respond to error in a similar fashion. In fact I’ve likely done such a thing myself. Scripture does tell us that we ought to rebuke those that are in error. If somebody is holding a grenade then I’d be terribly unloving to giggle as they blow themselves up. Wrong views of God are deadly and should dealt with swiftly.

But it seems to me that the places that speak of rebuking one another always puts in qualifiers to do so with love, gentleness, and respect. Besides, there is much wisdom in the words of Richard Sibbes that we would do well not to kill a fly with a mallet. You could do a great deal of harm by squashing their enthusiasm and excitement.

Nervous School Boy Isn’t an Option

Part of me wants to give this one a little more credence than the whack-a-dolt option. After all Jesus did advise his disciples in a somewhat similar situation with these words: “For the one who is not against us is for us.” I’m sure that the creators of Heaven Is For Real want people to believe in the reality of heaven and come to faith in Jesus.

But I’m also not convinced that good intentions equals a free pass. Heaven Is For Real and other “I’ve been to heaven” type of books are damaging to biblical faith. “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” If this movie causes you to say, “Now I know it’s real”, then I don’t know if you have biblical faith. In fact you’ve essentially just said, “I can’t trust the Bible that heaven is real, but now that this little boy has been to heaven I just know that it’s true”.

Just as the little boy in the illustration couldn’t sit by and let the lie of a fake sun continue, so also faithful believers cannot allow excitement over untruth to go unmentioned.

The Truth in Love Option

The best option is to speak the truth in love. Now saying such a thing might not be that helpful unless it is explained. The guy that whacks a person over the noggin with Holy Writ uses this verse to justify his actions. And the same chap that “lovingly” speaks half truths does the same. So what does speaking the truth in love actually look like in practice. Here is how I see it.

Make sure that this really is a sufficient enough error to confront. If you’re just upset that they cast Kirk Douglas instead of Kirk Cameron for the lead role, then you probably shouldn’t mention it. Likewise there are disputable matters that we can cover in love. If it is something that needs to be challenged proceed with grace…
Affirm the positives. The reason why this person is excited is probably really good. Likely they believe this movie will cause people to have faith in Christ. That is a very good thing to get excited about. Likewise they are probably excited that people will affirm biblical truth—that heaven is for real. That is a good thing. Affirm those. Not just in passing either—really affirm them.
Gently point out the errors. Ask though provoking questions. Take them to the Scriptures and consider whether or not the things in that movie stand up to God’s Word.
Point them to Christ. It can be challenging to our faith whenever something that we got so excited about is exposed as not theologically helpful. Celebrate Jesus and his finished work with them. Celebrate the fact that heaven is for real and it is secured for all of those that have faith in Christ. Ground your unity with one another in the finished work of Christ and put the focus of their excitement in the proper place.

I believe you can apply these anytime that someone is excited about untruth.

Today in Blogworld 04.02.14

April 2, 2014Mike Leake

Books At a Glance

This looks like an interesting service. If anyone tries this out let me know what you think.

Are You Aiding and Abetting Apathy?

This is good. Really good.

The Love Life of John Knox

History nerds, like myself, will love to read about how John Knox, well over fifty, ended up marrying a woman that was only nineteen.

How To Read Fiction and Become a More Interesting Preacher

I’ve been trying to read more fiction—but most of my leisure reading goes to baseball, biographies, and history. Does that make me a boring preacher?

My daughter is sure to love this:

31 Days of Purity: What Now?

April 1, 2014Mike Leake

Yesterday, we completed our 31 Days of Purity. For the past month, men from all around the world have been encouraged through devotions and prayers to pursue purity. We believe it has been a great time of encouragement and help to these men. Though our posts will stop on April 1st we pray that our pursuit of purity does not.

So what now?

There have been several men in our Facebook group that have asked to continue the challenge. Some are even requesting that we continue writing devotionals and daily prayers. I’ve heard their requests and considered them. I considered my own time and also whether such a thing would be beneficial. As for me, I’d be willing to put the time and effort into continuing these posts if it meant that Christ would be the only boast in the heart of these men (and I would wager that Tim would say the same).

But as I’ve prayed through this I do not believe writing more posts and prayers would be the most beneficial to these men. It has always been our aim to see these 31 day challenges begin online and then spread through local churches. Our battle for purity is fundamentally a battle that is to be fought on a local church level, where you can look a fellow brother in the eyes.

I am encouraged by the number of men that want to keep this thing going. In fact, I agree with them. But I don’t believe the place to keep it going is necessarily on Facebook or through blog posts. Brothers, keep it going in your local church. Here is how:

Download the free eBook.
Find someone in the local church and go through the challenge with them or gather a group of men in your church and go through the challenge with them.
Keep your eyes on Christ and keep fighting.

You may also find it helpful to subscribe to Borrowed Light (in the upper right hand corner) or follow me on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date on any of the latest challenges. There are a few ideas floating around in my head for other 31 day challenges.

Lastly, though we will not continue feeding into the Facebook group we are NOT shutting the group down. There are usually second and third waves of folks joining these groups. And there is value in continuing to have a place where men can discuss some issues together and share helpful articles (though these will be heavily moderated). But we won’t continue feeding into the group the same way that we have for these 31 days. For that, once again, we encourage local church participation.

Our ultimate hope is that the Facebook group eventually dies out but this 31 Day challenge spreads like wildfire throughout local churches. Either way, may God be glorified as redeemed men and women pursue holiness.

Thank you for joining us these 31 days.