Final Letter to Bruce Wilkinson Re: “You Were Born for This” – part 4 of 6
(Click here to download the first chapter of Bruce Wilkinson’s book, You Were Born for This.)
(Click on the following to read my earlier posts on the text: Title & Table of Contents, Table of Contents addendum, Testimonials, 3a, 3b, 4a, 4b, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12, 13, the final grade for the text, and my initial public challenge to Bruce Wilkinson.)
Dear Bruce,
Greetings to you on this fine Wednesday. As I promised you, this is my final letter to you regarding your book, You Were Born for This. Since it is rather lengthy, it suits my purposes to bust it up into portions like this. (Be patient; I’m almost finished!)
Yesterday, I wrote about the fact that you redefined the word “miracle” to mean what the Bible defines as good deeds. I then proceeded to show how terribly problematic such a redefinition really is, especially to those unbelievers reading your material.
(Premise: You Were Born for This teaches that we can be used by God to “deliver miracles” in the lives of others.)
Today, we address the third of five questions that deserve answers (and, to date, have received none):
3) You refer to places (attitudes, really) like “Everyday Miracle Territory,” “the Land of Good Deeds,” and “The Land of Signs and Wonders,” as though they are mentioned in the Scripture, when (in reality) they never appear. Why speak so authoritatively about things that simply don’t exist?
Probable Reason: This idea is necessary if the rest of the text is going to be considered valid and valuable.
Getting people on board with this idea (that they can be used to deliver God’s miracles each and every day) is quite a stretch when you think about it. It’s going to take some doing to convince people that their biblical understanding of good deeds is completely off the mark.
Problem #1: It’s not true!
As I pointed out here, here, here and here, these attitude-mindsets that you speak of are simply not biblical.
In Hollywood, directors and writers speak of the suspension of disbelief, that idea that we have to put some of our critical thinking aside for us to “buy in” to the popcorn thrill-ride we’re enjoying on the big screen. In this book, asking us to adopt the mindset of “Everyday Miracle Territory” is simply asking us to suspend more disbelief than we should.
To overcome this huge hurdle, you’ll have to supply chapter and verse showing us where the Bible teaches that we can expect to be involved in the delivery of “everyday miracles.”
What attitudes and mindsets are we believers to have according to the Bible? According to 1 Cor. 13, we are to be charitable, rejoicing, hopeful, and enduring. According to 2 Peter 1, we are to live with all diligence, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, kindness and charity. According to several other passages in the New Testament, we see much of the same. We are to live as Christ lived, fully reliant on the Holy Spirit to accomplish this.
Problem #2: While trying to challenge your readers to consider attitudes like “Everyday Miracle Territory,” you actually insult those of us who have been the proper biblical mindset regarding good deeds. On page 9, you write the following:
“Good Deeds land doesn’t dazzle like Signs and Wonders, but things are more manageable there. More predictable. What’s the one big disadvantage in Good Deeds land? God rarely shows up in a supernatural way. Why would He? No one is expecting the miraculous, and besides, everything is running just fine. Or so it seems.”
“More manageable” and “more predictable,” you say. This is the equivalent of saying, “You traditional thinkers actually place limitations on God’s supernatural working in our lives, and you don’t even know it.” You’re telling those of us who read and believe what the Bible has to say about good deeds and miracles that we are simply too narrow-minded in our thinking for God to do the incredible in and through our lives.
To that, I lovingly and respectfully say: PHOOEY.
In Matt. 17:20, Jesus clearly teaches that we can a part of his supernatural work: “…Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” (KJV)
Biblical scholars have pondered the depths of this passage ever since it was documented in Scripture. Clearly, Jesus is not speaking of us telling a mountain to physically move, so what does He mean?
From Matthew Henry: “Note, An active faith can remove mountains, not of itself, but in the virtue of a divine power engaged by a divine promise, both which faith fastens upon.” (Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible)
From John Gill: “…You shall not only be able to perform such a wonderful action as this, were it necessary, but any, and everything else, that will make for the glory of God, the enlargement of my kingdom and interest, the confirmation of truth, and the good of mankind.” (John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible)
What kinds of “wonderful actions” (as Gill puts it) should we pursue? The Great Commission, of course! Spreading the Gospel to all the world is our God’s mandate to believers. Good deeds ought to be commonplace in the life of the believer, to be sure, but the main goal ought to be that unbelievers would have the Good News of Jesus Christ shared with them, that they might come to a saving faith in Him.
More to come on Friday!
Chris
PS Happy Thanksgiving to all! The world simply gives thanks, but we believers in Christ give thanks to the One who made us, loves us, provided all things for us, saved us, and keeps us!
PPS For new readers, my earlier analyses of Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile (by Rob Bell and Don Golden) is available for free download. Simply click on my title, Clear as a Bell, and decide for yourself whether or not Bell’s teachings match those found in God’s Word.
