Lying Vanities
"They that observe lying vanities forsake the grace that could so easily be theirs"
(Jonah 2:8, paraphrased)
There seems to be a rise in those seeking alternative pathways to the Christian faith. Many raised in Christian backgrounds are "deconstructing" their faith and turning their back on the church to find their spirituality and meaning in new age practices, rationalism (science), philosophy, ancient spirituality (like veneration of orishas) or even plain atheism. They claim Christianity is the "white man's religion" and that "white Jesus" was created to promote slavery and other practices that held down the black race. And that African Christians are brainwashed, sheeples, and churches are cults deadening their member's minds and preventing them from questioning their leaders or hold the political leaders accountable. Religion to them is the "opium of the masses", and as far as they are concerned, Christians need to "wake up" (or get woke).
Everyone has a right to question their faith and confirm the stability of the truth they hold onto. But there are 2 questions I believe these folks are failing to honestly and truthfully answer:
1. what EXACTLY are you turning away from?
2. what EXACTLY are you turning to?
About question 1:
The "church hurt" - a phrase that describes the unpleasant experiences folks faced with members of their local assemblies that made them decide to abandon Christianity - driving these "deconstructing Christianity" movements is not being processed with the right level of intellectual honesty. It's all too easy to dwell on pain to such an extent it blinds healthy reasoning.
If your claim for leaving church is because you observed unchristian behaviour among the members of the church, you'd have done well to remember the Lord Jesus Himself forewarned us that this would be the experience. That "tares would grow among the wheat". That there would be "foolish virgins". And that there will be "evil servants that say in their heart, 'My Master tarries' and begin to beat their fellow servants and eat and drink with the drunken" (Matthew 24:48-49). Or the warnings of the apostles in their letters that there would be "false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies" (2 Peter 2:1-3). We were never promised a perfectly pleasant church experience with perfected saints. So why are we surprised? Why does the obvious rock us to our core, and cause us to lose our hold on the Rock? This is simpleton behaviour, which should have no place in us.
Christ charged His disciples venturing into hostile missionary terrains to be "wise as serpents and gentle as doves" (Matthew 10:16). The reference to serpents is their slipperiness and flexibility: their slippery body makes sure nothing (no hurt flung at them) sticks on them, and their flexible body means they are able to quickly readapt to unfavorable conditions and still find a pathway to access their goal (fellowshipping with God and man in our own example).
So once again to the "church hurt": did Christ not already prepare us beforehand, and should a right reaction to what He warned us of be a rejection of His Person?
About question 2:
This brings us to the source of the title - lying vanities. When a person says they are leaving the worship of Yahweh, the Most High God, and finding alternative approaches to meaning, purpose, enlightenment and peace, it begs to ask: where else could you look to?
The prophet Jeremiah takes up a lament in his 2nd chapter that expresses the sentiment on this matter:
"Has a nation ever changed gods when they aren't even gods? But my people have exchanged their glory for that which does not profit.
Heavens, be appalled at this, be shocked, be utterly devastated," declares the LORD.
Indeed, my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and they have dug cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that cannot hold water."
Who swaps a Bentley for a bicycle? Who trades up a clean flowing stream for a muddy swamp? Where does it make sense to hand in your gold and get spray-painted yellow aluminium in return?
Where else will you find a God that hands out mercies freely like candy every new morning? Mercies that bring pardon, protection, provision, preservation and promotion? Mercies that gives even the vilest of sinners pardon in the very hour they ask for it, that handed the pinned thief on the cross an access ticket to paradise because he asked for it in his dying moment? Where else can you find the kind of lovingkindness that is the very nature of Yahweh? Whose stock in trade is delivering those in trouble that cry out to Him?
What sort of enlightenment can you find outside of the very One that created light? The One whom wisdom delights in? Who is the source of the knowledge of witty inventions, understanding, counsel and strength? There's a lot of falsehood, extensive bodies of knowledge that get disproven daily with new scientific findings. But God is the original source of pure knowledge, and fearing Him is the beginning of knowledge (Proverbs 1:7). Why would we turn our back on that?
Who other than the Prince of Peace can deliver on the peace you - and all of us - seek? Peace through the storms of life, calm in the most volatile of situations, assurance in turmoil, hope for a better tomorrow? Who else has proactively sensed your burdens and anxieties and issued an invitation to you to drop them at His feet ("Come to me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" - Matthew 11:28, and "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything with prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God" - Philippians 4:6). Who is the God so concerned with you never having to worry or be fearful that He sprinkles His Holy Word with constant reminders to you to "Fear not"?
With whom else will you find the promise of "fullness of joy" in His presence? Who is the God that "daily loads us with benefits"? Whose Spirit yields love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, meekness, temperance and self-control in our lives? Where else can you find an all-in, signed-sealed-delivered package of salvation? That asks you to bring no blood, pay no money, climb no mountain, count no beads, apply no procedural rituals or rites or sacrifices, but only to "believe" to be saved (John 3:16)? A God that redeems, restores, reconciles, releases, regenerates, renews, reveals? This is literally the good stuff right here, it can't get any better than this!
When we reflect deeply on it, the whole enterprise of abandoning Yahweh is appalling on all fronts. It's the poorest trade-off anyone could ever make in their life . Any alternative is simply a weak copy-cat mimicking the form of meaning, purpose and peace but lacking the substance. That's why the prophet Jonah lumps them up as "lying vanities", and says:
"Those that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy"
On a closing note, a recount of the event of a mass departure of Jesus's followers during his earthly ministry. John 6:66 states "From that time, many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with Him". When this event happened, Jesus asked his Twelve "Will ye also go away"? And Simon Peter expresses a sentiment that must become our anchor and watchword for these times:
"Lord, to whom shall we go? You are the one that has the words of eternal life"
Falling out or away from the faith is nothing new, it's been happening since John 6:66. But we must remain unblinded by hurt and offenses and disappointments and remember that what we have ... is the true source. All the others are nothing but lying vanities.
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