It has been strange to watch the evolution of the local church in the last 40 years. What alarms me is the adherence of church bodies to modern philosophies and trends. Particularly I am seeing the sympathetic response of charismatic churches to modern views of how to arrive at truth. The modern view is that it is impossible to reason one’s way to the meaning of life (without God). Taking the all-powerful creator out of the equation at the outset, they cannot come to terms with the purpose of our existence. Therefore philosophers have said that meaning can only be found in experience. One experiences truth, one has an epiphany, and that is the only way we can find meaning and purpose. Many churches have followed suit by looking to experience and emotion as their guides, rather than fundamental truth as found in the Bible.  My son was in a service in Calgary in which the people were told ‘not to pray’ but rather to shut their minds down and experience. In a more indirect manner you will see a lot of attempt to induce emotion during a worship service, using repetitive choruses and very loud music a la rock concert style.

On the other side of the coin Westerners have a tendency to think life through, in a logical and scientific way. That’s the way we are programmed, it’s not our fault really, it’s our conditioning. But this is error, we are actually supposed to be led by the Spirit, not by our understanding. You can see that there is going to be a lot of conflict here. On the one hand we are incited to be moved by our emotions, and on the other hand we are supposed to reason our way through life. Which way is right? Neither.

There is an answer though to all this misdirection. Stick around, you’ll find out! In my quest to find out what faith is all about, I have found some pretty solid truths, and people need to know them.