This morning I was thumbing through a popular Christian magazine I used to subscribe to. I no longer am a subscriber, but they keep sending me issues saying, “Your subscription is expired!” hoping I will re-subscribe.
Anywho…I was looking at the Christian book advertisements in it, and had the impulse to see how many times the word “secret” was employed to pitch the books.
I lost count. But it was more than a couple.
Other words similar to “secret” were used, also. “Hidden treasures” of Jesus’ life on earth. “Breakthrough strategies” of King Solomon. “Cutting-edge” principles to restore your hope in Jesus during economic hard times.
In fact, one book promised to reveal at least twelve hidden secrets to success, happiness and fulfillment by studying the ancient Jewish culture. (Um, when they obeyed God, they prospered. Now you don’t need to buy the book.)
Probably what troubled me most were the books promising to reveal the secret principles of happiness, prosperity, fulfillment–by examining the life of Jesus.
Okay, don’t misunderstand. I believe God’s desire for us is a full, abundant life (in fact, that’s why Jesus said He came). I believe He desires our enjoyment and fulfillment, and delights when we do well. And I have no problem with lovers of God being wealthy–otherwise we’d have to fault guys like Abraham, Solomon, and Job. And I even believe the blessings on the Jewish people are a valid part of God’s covenant, and that Christ-followers are partakers in that blessing. But aren’t we completely missing the point here?
At what point did the Christian walk morph from following Christ to exploiting His example for our own purposes? When did His life become a trove of “hidden secrets” for us to excavate and use to get what we want to make our lives better? When did Christianity stop being a revolutionary lifestyle and turn into a self-help tool to facilitate the American dream?
When did this stop being about Jesus and start being about us?
This whole thing about secret knowledge is no stranger to the church. From the earliest days of the church, the church leaders were teaching and warning against prevalent heresies like Gnosticsm, which claimed that God could only be ascertained by “secret knowledge”. It seems we humans are always intrigued by these secrets–or at least, the idea of them.
Remember when that new-agey type book The Secret came out a few years ago, and how much discussion there was about it, even within the church? In it, the author claims to have discovered the keys to success and getting pretty much whatever you want through positive thinking. It was kind of revealing that church leaders actually came down on both sides of the issue. Some said the whole thing was a crock, while others in the more charismatic faith camps claimed that while the truth was corrupted in it, some of its principles were actually Biblical.
Not having read the book, I’m not here to weigh in on that controversy. What troubles me is the whole idea of secrets here. Secret knowledge that if you get hold of it, it will make you wealthy, healthy, happy, spiritual, sexy, thin, younger, stronger, whatever…with a total absence of acne thrown in for good measure. If there really are “secret truths” that get you all this kind of stuff…then once the book was published and it was no longer a “secret”, why didn’t everyone get rich, happy, sexy, and acne-free by doing what the book said?
Kind of like…why don’t you ever hear about telephone psychics winning the lottery? 🙂
What troubles me about this regarding the church is two-fold: first, that we have bought into the obsession with exclusive secrets, even with our own faith; and second, the very fact that our obsession with those alleged secrets is so incredibly self-indulgent and self-centered. Like I said, we’re not following Christ as much as we are using Him for our own purposes. It’s like we’ve forgotten which of us is God, and which of us isn’t.
What probably troubles me the most, though…is that not too very long ago, I was right in the middle of that mindset–looking for the secrets to my personal success in the name of furthering the kingdom of God–and not thinking anything of it.
Yes, God is unfathomable and infinite; and yes, according to Paul, there are things we can only ascertain with the help of the Holy Spirit. But that does not mean God is keeping secrets, reserved only for the most spiritual or dedicated among us. In fact, just the opposite…the whole thrust of Scripture is that God is revealing Himself.
So these days, when I start hearing someone claim they’ve uncovered some secret key from God to unlock my success box, and want to sell me their book to tell me about it…frankly, I walk quite quickly in the other direction.
Wayward Son
Musician. Composer. Recovering perfectionist. Minister-in-transition. Lover of puns. Hijacker of rock song references. Questioner of the status quo.
I'm not really a rebel. Just a sincere Christ-follower with a thirst for significance that gets me into trouble. My quest has taken me over the fence of institutional Christianity. Here are some of my random thoughts along the way. Read along, join in the conversation. Just be nice.
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spot on! – This is another great post that really cuts through all the “stuff” and got to the point… jesus. Thanks again for organizing your thoughts (which happen to be like my thoughts… but i’ve had trouble organizing them into intelligent sentences).
Jeff,
That’s good teaching. It’s really just sad. Because if the Body of Christ knew scripture the way that they should, these types of books would stop selling. As a result, those types of books would no longer be written. Although it’s understandable that non-christians could possibly still buy them.
But, unforetunately there are many scheming “preachers” out there today who will just about say or write anything to make a quick buck.
Blessings,
Gary
It is precisely for this reason that, when I see people perusing the “religion” section of the local book store (Borders, Barnes and Noble, whatever), I steer them clear of writers like Osteen and Joyce Mayer… yeah, I know… name dropping… because I KNOW that those books, while probably have some good to them, come down on the “Jesus Self Help” side of things… Meanwhile, Max Lucado talks about “Anvil Time”… being pounded into shape by rough times and such… THAT is more real to the world instead of wishful thinking.
Thanks for this post, Jeff!
Schramfam,
Thanks for coming by. Jesus IS the point, isn’t He? 🙂
Gary,
“…if the Body of Christ knew scripture the way that they should, these types of books would stop selling.”
I think there’s a lot of truth to that statement. I also think there’s an adjustment that needs to take place with the Scripture that we *do* know. I think this stuff is so popular because it appeals to deeply felt needs, but also appeals to our selfish nature. Scripture itself is too often approached as a self-help kind of thing, and we overlook the challenges it gives us to be conformed to the image of Christ. It isn’t that God is unconcerned about our needs…it’s that we are *too* concerned about them. 🙂 Knowhutimean?
Robert,
I understand what you’re talking about. While it’s hard to label some of these authors as *all* bad, it still can be a polluted mixture at best. With a lot of those books I used to read, what I discovered was probably one really good point with a lot of fluff on both sides. The fluff in front told you how awesome the point was going to be; and the fluff behind it told you how awesome the point was. 🙂 Lots of fluff we end up paying for, for something that could have been said in one paragraph, or better yet…a simple Scripture reference.
“At what point did the Christian walk morph from following Christ to exploiting His example for our own purposes?”
Maybe at the point when consumer culture became more influential on our paradigm than the example of Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The goal of making *my* life easier, more convenient, happier, more full (etc, etc, etc) has always been the engine driving consumer culture.
Nothing inherently wrong with consumption itself. Everybody consumes. It’s the *culture* of consumption I take issue with. It’s profoundly self-focused and breeds narcissism, discontent, entitlement and a whole bunch of other yucky stuff. God is not a product, but we have treated Him as such.
And then when our magic formulas don’t pan out, and we discover that we cannot control God… that He will drop the anvil if it in our best interest… Well, that’s a huge disappointment for us with our unmet expectations, and unfulfilled promises that were peddled to us. But it’s also a great victory in the long run. 🙂