Some Rules Are Meant To Be Broken (or) This Title Is Also A Title Drop

If you've examined the side bar of this blog, it should be no surprise I am a fan of Rev. Jonathan Fisk's work.  His book "Broken: 7 'Christian' Rules That Every Christian Ought To Break As Often As Possible" is a great resource.

I bring this up because, as I was talking with myself the other morning (as I often do), I realized that the modern infatuation with sciences as the answer to every question in life is just a pathetic rehash of revolutionary France's attempt to make reason into a goddess to replace Jesus.

Search your feelings (and the historic records).  You know this to be true.

Anyway, I realized that Fisk already wrote about this.  So, since I'm trying to write a "fight book" for Christians, centered around the concept of the Armor of God, I thought I'd start playing with it here.  (And, to be clear, when I say "fight book," I'm taking stylistic inspiration from Hans Talhoffer.  Check it out here.)

The "rules" (or, potentially, false religions) that Fisk notes are:

1. Mysticism - the notion that “you can find God in your heart.”
2. Moralism - the notion that “you can find God in your hands.”
3. Rationalism - the notion that “you can find God with your mind.”
4. Prosperity - the notion that “you can find God in money/stuff/the world.”
5. IfWeCanJust... (Church-ology) - the notion that “you can find God in spirituality.”
6. Freedom - the notion that “you can find God in God’s absence.”
7. Counterfeit Christianity - the notion that “you can find/be God.”

So, since I want to write a resource for the one who wears the armor of God (a "knight" perhaps), how about some identifying of these seven counterfeits while I play around with this in my head.

#1 "Mysticism"
Oh, that's easy.  Its everywhere, often summed up with the advice of "follow your heart."  This where people who say "I'm not religious, I'm just spiritual" are.

#2 "Moralism"
These are people who are "righteous" based on their actions.  Frm. Pres. Carter and his rational for building houses is based on this.  This is "faith by works" territory.

#3 "Rationalism"
Science!  I said "science!" again!  "Thinkers" who use reason and logic as their foundation for everything are rationalists.  It can very quickly end up as a depressing stance.

Please note, Rationalism has a soldier named Pragmatism, and Rationalism and Mysticism have a bastard son named Education. (I hope I remembered that correctly.  I don't have the book on hand right now.  Mom's borrowing it.  Not that any of you needed to know that.)

#4 "Prosperity"
Just repeat what Mr. Shiny Teeth says "This is my..."  Or just think like Gordon Gekko.  If you believe that how well off you are in life is directly connected to your faith, well, I got bad news for you.

#5 "IfWeCanJust..."
While I stated earlier that the "not religious/just spiritual" crowd hangs out in mysticism, this is there bread and butter.  Or cracker and mustard.  "Charismatic" churches are solidly here.  They live and die based on how "spiritual" they are.  Pirate Christian Radio deals with these guys.

#6 "Freedom"
Americans love this one.  You can call this antinomianism (no-law-ism) or atheism.  Either way, the person here is claiming that they are the arbiter of truth and there is no one in higher authority.

#7 "Counterfeit"
If you are using anything other than Scripture Alone to build your faith, then you have taken hold of the forbidden fruit, believed the lies of the Devil, and swallowed it hook, line, and sinker.

If you want more, check out Rev. Fisk's book.  You can get it here or here.  I'll get back to this once I have something more coherent regarding the metaphorical "Christian knighthood."