This evening, I sat with eight children and helped them make their way through Genesis 7-8. In particular, we covered the timeline of the start of the flood until the end of it. We took time to make sure the children understood the play-by-play, how long everything took, what the different stages were. Yet I found myself putting the most energy into helping these children to understand just how boring, depressing, and upsetting that way of life would be:
All day, every day, caring for animals. Feeding them, removing their waste, helping them to get along. They probably had very little daylight. There was no electricity or running water. No HVAC, no screens, no video games, no recorded music. I think it is safe to assume there was no significant reading material. All they had was each other, their animals, and the rhythms of daily survival after the biggest holocaust the world has ever seen.
It is hard for a child to fathom such an existence. Even older adults struggle to remember a time before modern entertainment and distractions. In the West, it is exceptionally rare to meet anyone whose life has not been significantly impacted by the various artificial stimulations of the modern world. Indeed, most cannot function without them. Of course, the ironic thing about this piece is that I am writing it on a laptop computer for those who only have access to it because they, too, have a computer or smartphone.
Despite the irony, is it not important to learn to circumspectly examine our lives to at least appreciate how different they are from ancient peoples’? It was not only in the flood that humans have lived without modern amenities; it has been the majority of history. Historically speaking, electricity was only invented a few minutes ago. Before that was centuries, thousands of years without artificial light, Netflix, Facebook, cameras, earphones, or the dozens of other devices that get us through our days. There was no modern media to regale us with the latest ‘new thing’ propaganda until a few centuries ago. There was no global cosmopolitan monoculture to shame backward provincials into seeking fame and fortune. For the vast majority of humans across history, daily living was dark, harsh, silent, and, well, boring. Thomas Hobbes was known for characterizing the natural human state before the modern western nation-state as:
“No arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”
- Leviathan
It is no wonder that we have invented all sorts of distractions: real life is a raw deal. Add to all of these diversions and amenities the reality of widespread pharmaceutical use (legal and illegal), and one might rightly wonder if we should even see ourselves as related to our forebears. Indeed, a great many of the ‘woke’ do seem to see themselves as a new sort of species, appalled at the moral norms of previous eras and cultures.
I believe most people from the past would also look upon us in scorn. While they would certainly desire our ease of life, they would also hate our softness and fragility. Hard circumstances form resilient people. The dysfunction that has become so normal in our society today simply was not sustainable in previous eras. People would die if they did not produce something of value, if they did not make family relations work, if they did not take care of their bodies. It is only our modern synthetic way of life that subsidizes unemployment and self-destruction.
This is, of course, reflected in religious life. Whereas ancient cultures were genuinely concerned about salvation from sin and submission to the Sovereign God, moderns are generally more concerned with self-justification and helping God to get with the times and know us. Rather than being freed from sin, moderns are more interested in sin management (not my term nor my concept). Contemporary western believers generally acknowledge a moralistic therapeutic deity rather than a Righteous God King.
“Worship” services are often marked less by acts of submission and confessions of faith than by devotional and emotive acts of narcissism. Those present are more spectators than they are participants. Obedience is not expected so much as affection and adulation. Christ is not expected to take up space in one’s head so much as one’s heart, and often what one ‘means’ by Christ does not have to correspond much to what is written about him in ancient scriptures. Pastors deliver cute schmaltzy sermon series after pandering to the children like they are morons in front of everyone. Churches create promotional materials the resemble commercials one might see on tv. Youth groups or other affinity groups participate in the latest TikTok fads to show that they can be cool and holy at the same time. Churches have rock bands and fog machines, colored lights and surround sound.
One of my primary concerns with the rise of entertainment church is that supposed believers are trained to be unable to find God in the quiet, dark, boring places of life. They have been trained by Pavlov’s dog to only salivate at the sound of the entertainment bell. They do not know how to pray and worship without background music. They do not know how to fast or practice self-denial and abstinence. Many churches have effectively forcefully atrophied the spiritual muscles of their people, ironically doing so in the name of Jesus.
Is there any hope? Or are moderns so helplessly addicted to entertainment and amenities that they have been effectively cut off from the saints of previous ages? You should tell by now that I think these things are a serious threat to faith. We are neither awake enough nor strong enough to approach the Lord on his terms. We are rather watering down the call to follow Christ, conforming it to more amenable standards. This might be fine for some other god, but our Lord does not negotiate, nor does he take half-measures. His call is to follow him, suffer, and die. Very few are able or willing to do so. We have no right to expect our lives to be hidden in Christ while so dependent on all these other sources of comfort for us to trust in.
Yet I do think there is hope. We should not hope that God will lower his standards in order to fit us in. That is a false hope that will have us crying ‘Lord, Lord’ as he responds, “I never knew you.” Rather, we hope that our resolved obedience will be met with God’s faithfulness and power.
Eternal joy lies not in bodily pleasures here, but in godly disciplines. This is one of the primary reasons why I am a Methodist. The first generations of Methodists were known for being disciplined in their daily lives, practicing self denial and the mortification of the flesh. Their obedience to Christ’s way of life came not from a servile fear, but from a righteous love. They did not serve the god of the Prosperity Gospel, whose promise of abundant life is to be found in material blessings, but rather served the Lord of Heaven and Earth who is pouring out blessings through his Holy Spirit even now.
Hope for us is to be found in daily disciplines, self denial, and obedience to biblical commandments (John 14:15). We have a peace that surpasses all understanding that is available to us when we turn to the Lord and put our whole trust in him. Our names are written in the Book of Life when we die to self and are born again in Christ Jesus, evidenced by our bearing fruits of piety all day, every day. We are sanctified as the Holy Spirit claims more and more real estate in our lives, no longer allowing room for sin.
The chasm between where we are and where Christ calls us is great. It need not be. God is powerful to save even now. His Holy Spirit is more powerful than our sin. Seek the Lord while he may be yet found!
So many pastors look at their people and know in their hearts that so many will leave if they erect the high standards of Christ. Many of them are not even interested in pursuing such a path because they themselves are compromised by love of creature comforts (depending on the day, I struggle with this mightily). Yet a pastor who does not call the sheep to holiness and obedience does not love them. He is fattening the bulls of Bashan for the day of slaughter.
So many believers today sit in pews, convincing themselves that this is the fulness of what Christ has for them because this is what all the other Christians they know do. Yet I sense that this facade is rotting away. So many are falling away from this uncompelling model of consumer church, choosing instead to own up to the fact that they have no faith. Yet others are staying, but they are dissatisfied. They feel deep down the chasm between where they are and where Christ and his apostles lived. And while the flesh calls out for satisfaction, the Spirit is witnessing to their spirits that they are called to be children of God.
Local churches must again be engines of true biblical discipleship. They must be countercultural, and even hostile to the culture in those ways that always historically has been. They must have clergy who actually work to practice what the bible preaches, accompanied by laity who actually obey and submit. And while they model these things, they must also highlight, publicly and audibly, a warning to those who have sold short the message of Christ Jesus. We must build up true disciples while tearing down false churches and leaders.
I know so many do not want to do this. I cannot and should not attempt to persuade you. I think I can only tell you to read your bible like it is really God’s divine word in your life. Only then will you see what is at stake and what is required. Only then will you discover that deep hunger and thirst for righteousness that the Lord gives. Only then will you know what standards the local church must meet in order to please the Lord, and how it is that you can joyfully participate in one despite its flaws.
Until such a reclamation takes place, churches will continue to be shadows of their original glory. Believers will continue to go through these emotive motions without the power and transformative presence of the Spirit. They will claim freedom in Christ while still being enslaved to the flesh. That isn’t the biblical faith of the ages.
In case I haven’t been clear until now, my two answers to what can and should be done are 1) daily Christian biblical disciplines, and 2) vocal, public renunciation of western Prosperity Gospel and its leaders. These things are already happening. If we are to see another movement to “spread scriptural holiness across the land,” I believe we need to see many more intentionally reclaiming this way of life. I do not think this Methodist reclamation or reconstruction project will amount to much if leaders do not simultaneously reclaim holiness and renounce softness.
The world will mock us as taking ourselves too seriously, as being legalists, as promoting works righteousness.
We should not fear these things. As Jesus said,
“And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
- Matthew 10:28
We would do well to focus our attentions more on the next world and less on this one that is passing away with every passing moment. Our hope is in the Lord God who made heaven and earth, and he has told us, o man, how we are to live and die. History is, in many ways, the story of people trying to find the good life by our own efforts rather than submission to God. We have run that experiment enough to know how it always goes. It is time to submit and seek holiness. God is faithful and will never forsake us. Put your trust in him, and you will never be put to shame.
Thank you. I needed that.
Distraction has become our "sin". It is more fun to go golfing than attend church. We are so addicted to our cell phones that our children are ignored or receive little attention. Our commitment to following Jesus happens only when it is convenient or if we have time. We stand convicted by our own Lord, "You are neither hot nor cold so I will spit you out."