I’m Home with a Spiritual Commentary.

Today on the plane I was reading the Screwtape Letters. I read the first 8 letters. Not the literally letters as in abc, but each chapter is a new letter from Screwtape to his nephew. For a brief summary of what the book is all about, I shall condense. This is a book by the incredible author C.S. Lewis. It is a gathering of fictional letters from an elder demon to his nephew, whom is also a demon. The nephew, whose name is Wormwood, is having trouble a soul that he is trying to control. The soul becomes a Christian and the book is written as if Wormwood is seeking advice. The reason I bring this up is because as I am reading this book on an airplane from North Carolina to Long Beach, Ca I suddenly realized a lot of what is happening to the spiritual condition of our modern western culture. This is what I gathered…

The book goes on to tell the strategy for claiming a soul for their “father below”. One thing stuck out to me more than anything else. It was interesting because it was one of the first things to be talked about. It was the idea that the battle for our minds isn’t won by arguments. For if it were up to argumentation the Lord would win every time. We serve a rational God and the only thing that keeps us from that understanding is our stupidity. This is true for both sides, Christian and non-Christian alike. We are too dumb to understand the thoughts of God, but we are able to follow argumentation. If it were up to argumentation the Lord would win every single time. But our culture is not of an argumentative nature anymore. It is about the battle for what is possible and not possible. Not by way of rationalization, but by sensationalism. Meaning the reality of one’s self is by what they feel to be true. If we continue to let ourselves become preoccupied with the false philosophies of this world we will never come to a true understanding of who God is.

This point was driven home by what I was watching on the plane ride home later this morning. I began watching the movie Dogma by the director Kevin Smith. If we were to base an opinion on where the world stands in conjunction to Christ and all things spiritual by this movie, it shows C.S. Lewis as a prophet. Dogma, for those who don’t know, is about two fallen angels who are seeking a way back to heaven. These angels didn’t fall during the same time as Lucifer (Satan) but after do to their defiance to do what God was telling them to do. One angel, whose name escapes me, is the angel of death. The other is a watching angel. The whole movie is wrapped around the fact that Catholic dogma has given them a way into heaven. God wants to stop them, because if they come back to heaven it would show God as being fallible. This is not true, but it is the movie. There is another character that they refer to as the Last Zion. She is a doubting Catholic who doesn’t understand what her faith is. There are a multitude of Characters who are giving her spiritual advice to the true meaning of scripture. None of these characters understand theology, but the over lining theme is that it is ok to believe whatever you want because the Bible is full of mistakes that are there by human error. All ways lead to God as long as you have faith. There isn’t a right and wrong answer. Of course by saying this, they just said that every religion that says Jesus is the only way is wrong. But whatever.

But what stuck out to me was the fact that the characters in the movie were acting out exactly what Screwtape was saying. They never used logical reasoning, basing opinions on history or personal experience. Instead they based everything on wild philosophies that mean nothing. The only thing that I kept coming back to was Col 2:6-12

6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.

9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. 11 In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature,[a] not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

This world is trying to conform our minds to think the way that pushes rational thought out the window. This movie is pure heathenism but it isn’t meant to be a teaching tool. It is a comedy. The whole thing is just ridiculous. It’s funny but it’s sad at the same time. They exposed false doctrine in the most embarrassing way. The reality is this. The western church, for the most part, has failed to educate their members in way that brings rational thought to the table. We have conformed to this emotional based theology that has brought our battle to a stand still. The reason we don’t notice the hand of God here, as much as some other parts of the world, is that we are doubt the awesomeness of God. This last statement isn’t true of every one. I don’t want to paint people with a single brush stroke, but it does speak to the fact that we rely on the feel good message that up lifts every Sunday as opposed to challenging people to be educated in their faith. J.P. Moorland says, in a round about way, in his book “Praise God with all Your Mind” that we are too emotionally based in our relationship with God. My challenge to you is to take a firm action seek God with your entire mind. Emotional seeking is going to happen, but it is in our minds that our actions are developed from. If we don’t serve God with every part of our selves, starting with our minds, we involuntarily make a mockery of who God is.