Views: 3<\/p>
[Note: \u00a0<\/b>This MS is available in <\/b>larger font on our Brief Articles 1 <\/b>page.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The winter season gives us vivid reminders of the need for heat. Without it we would freeze. The approaching darkness each evening reminds us of the need for light. Without light, the ability to see would be useless, and if prolonged, our eyes would eventually atrophy, rendering us blind. Normal human life requires both heat and light. What is true physically is no less true spiritually.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A few decades ago a cry began to go up from some within our ranks that we had been too \u201cnegative\u201d and \u201cdogmatic\u201d; we needed to project a more \u201cpositive\u201d image. (In 1964, a well-meaning deacon \u201csubtly\u201d remarked to me, a very young preacher at the time, \u201cYou can\u2019t catch flies with vinegar,\u201d to which I replied, \u201cI am not trying to catch flies\u201d). This pressure steadily mounted at about the same time that books on \u201cpositive thinking\u201d by Norman Vincent Peale and Dale Carnegie began to gain popularity in the general populace\u2014and among brethren.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 From what seemed a small beginning, a full-blown mentality of \u201cspiritual positivism\u201d among many brethren evolved. It has spawned instant \u201cexperts\u201d in almost every area of \u201cchurch work\u201d who have hit the trail with sermons, lectures, seminars, and workshops. Many of these offerings have been powerfully motivating and have gotten some folks to working in the kingdom who had not been doing so before. I am thankful for that. Many in the church needed to be \u201cwarmed up\u201d from their frozen state of mere pew-sitting.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 However, others who have been highly motivated by such programs have established and begun striving for very unrealistic goals (e.g., instantly converting everybody they see, \u201ccleaning up\u201d the congregation instantly, demanding sinless perfection of the elders, producing immediate dramatic numerical growth in the home congregation, et al.). When they were unable to achieve such goals, some became so discouraged they lost their faith, while some caused grievous problems in the congregation. Such misguided enthusiasm, unrestrained by adequate knowledge and comprehension of and appreciation for the Word of Truth, is but a reenactment of the Jews\u2019 \u201czeal for God, but not according to knowledge\u201d (Rom. 10:2), which Paul lamented and decried.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We surely need to be enthusiastic in our religion and we need preaching that moves us to act. As a people whom the Lord has purchased with His blood, we must ever be \u201czealous of good works\u201d (Tit. 2:14). Likewise, we are to be \u201calways abounding in the work of the Lord\u201d (1 Cor. 15:58). However, the \u201cpop psychology\u201d positivism that has been so eagerly ingested by so many brethren does not quite measure up, either logically or Scripturally. It has evolved into the clamor for and preaching of a non-offensive, different \u201cgospel,\u201d which is not the Gospel at all (Gal. 1:6\u20139). I can hardly picture the Lord shouting, \u201cBoy, do I feel great!\u201d every morning before breakfast to get Himself going. Neither does it seem likely that Paul\u2019s great enthusiasm for Christ was rooted in a constant babbling of the I am lovable and capable<\/em> mantra.<\/span><\/p>\n Maybe there was a time when we had more light than heat, but now I fear that many in the kingdom who may have been motivated to teach, know very little about their subject\u2014the Book. This number includes preachers coming out of Universities and some preacher training schools operated by brethren. Surely, it is past time to supply more light to go with the heat.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0[Note:<\/strong> I wrote this article for and it was published in The Lighthouse, <\/em>weekly bulletin of Northpoint\u00a0<\/span>Church of Christ, Denton, TX, December 21, 2014, of which I was editor.]<\/span><\/p>\n Attribution: From thescripturecache.com<\/em>; Dub McClish, owner and administrator.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Views: 3[Note: \u00a0This MS is available in larger font on our Brief Articles 1 page.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The winter season gives us vivid reminders of the need for heat. Without it we would freeze. The approaching darkness each evening reminds us of the need for light….<\/p>\n