Spiritual “Camps” and Close Encounters of the Third Kind

This post is coming to our blog much later than anticipated, but I still feel that its content is of benefit to anyone willing to read. While my wife and I spent time in Roswell, New Mexico contemplating the possibility of life on other planets, we met one man who was convinced (though not sure really what of) that something occurred in that infamous town of conspiracy. His name was John Weidemann, a single father who had moved from Oklahoma to New Mexico in order to seek an income as a heart sonogram technician. He happened to be living at the trailer park we decided to camp in for the evening. As we were setting up at our site he came over to introduce himself and find out what brought us into town. We explained to him about our journey, how we were off on an adventure to reignite our marriage and to share Jesus. After a while of conversing, he shared with us how he was currently a follower of Jesus as well and that he was in a time of serious questioning that had led him to doubt some of the major doctrinal statements he had picked up through his 7th Day Adventist roots. In this area Kristen and I could relate with him. His spiritual forefathers had set up “camp”, as Bob Hughey would put it, around a few specific doctrines, that at one point in the past may have brought life but now only deadened that movement because of its unwillingness to balance these positive practices out with other truths. The Adventists had warmed their hands and feet around the flames of sabbath rest and a strict health practices to name a few. The Churches of Christ (our heritage if you didn't know by now) has been likewise encamped around the doctrines of baptismal regeneration, a capella singing and cessationism. By making this point I am not wishing to downplay the importance of some of these beliefs but attempting to show that John's experience of being a part of a dead institutional church setting, set up around specific, unique earmarks of faith was not much different than ours. In fact most denominations tend to wind up in the same mess. The Baptists get hung up on eternal security and end times prophecy. Pentecostals emphasis the gifts of the Spirit, especially tongues. Charismatics tend to focus on high-energy worship and ecstatic manifestations of the Spirit. Calvinists are caught up in predestination and grace. Anabaptists emphasize peacemaking and justice. As the Lord has been restoring truths to His church, many groups, which at one time were thriving movements, have been deadened by their inability to continue following Jesus into new truths, while still retaining old ones. Being a part of one of these “camps” can be very appealing because at one point in time the Holy Spirit perhaps was stoking each and every one of these fires. The deception point, however came for each of these groups when followers of Jesus quit fully following and obeying Him and got comfortable just adhering to a few man-made rules and doctrines because it was either a more comfortable route or merely because they did not know that the focus was to be on the Giver of truth, not the specific truths themselves. So getting back to John, we found ourselves able to easily relate. He must of encouraged us in simply following Jesus and doing unto others as we would have them do unto us more than we encouraged him, because we came away from that RV park extremely refreshed. John was their to serve us in to so many ways, making sure we had extension cords for our laptops and even inviting us out to breakfast the next morning. Though we were unable to agree on every point of belief (no one will ever be able to this side of eternity) we were able to treat each other with Christ-likeness and practice His love as we eagerly sought to learn more about following our Lord. We each saw the shortcomings of our specific brotherhoods, but instead of letting that put us in a sour mood we decided to use our discussion as a catalyst for a greater embrace of the universal body of Christ which is not defined by doctrinal statements but by following Jesus and loving one another after the manner of Christ.

Are you camped around certain doctrines, thinking they hold the keys of life, or are you following the life-giving Jesus? Are you searching, for law-based righteousness, or are you righteous simply because Jesus' Spirit lives in you? Has your folding porch chair and cozy wool socks become to comfortable as ashes and coals slowly fade away and the embers of your campfire die out for lack of air? Then I would suggest you rethink your comfortable position. For some this might mean sticking it out in your denominational setting and stoking the embers up into a full on Holy Spirit blaze that others who have been deadened by legalism might come alive in Christ. For others, it might be that you only find life by leaving behind the institutions of your youth to find a deeper and more authentic way of following Jesus through forming house groups or new monastic communities with like-minded friends. Either way there is no room for complacency when it comes to following Jesus. There is a narrow road and few who truly find it. It is okay to question your own assumptions of the faith system you have grown up in. John's questions freed him up to follow Christ more authentically and to set aside some man-made yokes. Mine and Kristen's have as well. Actually, questioning may be a sign of someone truly seeking to not be complacent but to actually make sense of what it means to truly love God and love people in the context you live in. All in all my point is don't become too comfortable camping out around your set of beliefs and get up and make a sincere effort to follow Jesus into all truth. It may bring you under scrutiny and persecution by your own brotherhood or even your immediate family, but remember following Jesus comes at a cost, a cost that is truly worth it.