Feeling not Thinking

The June 23 issue of Newsweek Magazine's "My Turn" column is an article by Jimmy Doyle entitled "Let Me Worship as I Am".   

Jimmy was Irish Catholic ... Jimmy is openly gay.  

The article describes his journey from the Catholic Church to Protestantism (more specifically the Episcopal "Church").   I have no point to make about him being gay.  That is between God and him.  My point is simply this:

He is horribly confused about how to think about God and the church.

3 points in the article demonstrate his complete lack of understanding of theology and doctrine within Christianity.

1.  The Church is a God ordained  institution with specific purposes, jurisdiction and organization.  Yet Jimmy says, regarding his church journey ..."I could stay home and not have to be a part of any one's "club"...  Club? This is a biblical error that many Christians make.  But the church is not like the Rotary Club or the Garden Club.  To confuse this basic Biblical truth demonstrates a lack of understanding of basic ecclesiology (the doctrine of the church).

2.  If you believe in the God of the Bible, then you believe that He is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent.  Nothing surprises the God of historic Christianity.  Yet Mr. Doyle declares that "Faith is, in and of itself, full of strangeness and "coincidence"..."  Coincidence?  The Bible, in the Old and New Testaments, is one whole and unified story.  God clearly has a plan.  God says he has a plan. God demonstrates that he has a plan.  Coincidence works for the "god" of your club, not the God of the Bible and not the God of His Church.

3.  When Mr. Doyle decided to leave the Roman Catholic Church, he says that he "turned to the Episcopal Church" because he "saw a Christianity that was alive and had "evolved"..."  Evolved?  The broad and sweeping way he uses evolved is not talking about style of worship.  He is talking about changing and continually moving the foundational truths of the faith.  His view is in complete contradiction with what the Bible says about God... with what the Bible says about truth. Biblical truth does NOT evolve.  I understand why he is accepted and comfortable in the Episcopal Church. It IS a club.  If you think it is a church, it is an apostate church.  It has evolved, it is evolving and it will continue to evolve because it has no anchor.  It has no firm foundation.  It is untethered from the Bible as THE  only source of unchangeable truth. (Note:  I know that there are a few specific Bible centered Episcopal congregations that have not left to join the Anglican Mission in America.  To those congregations, I apologize for using such a broad brush.)

Feeling not Thinking

The mistake Mr. Doyle and some actual Christians make is that they subordinate Biblical truth to their personal feelings.  When you substitute feeling for thinking you can write an article about your faith with words like:  club, coincidence, and evolve.  But no matter the ritual, no matter the building, no matter the clothing, no matter the words they use, and no matter the great history of what it used to be, that is all it is today.... A CLUB.... not a church.  That is what he has joined.  And it is untethered.