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Spiritual, but Not Religious

Postmodern man is an independent sort. He does not want to be told what to do or be confronted with audacious claims of objective truth. He wants to choose his own truth and form his own religion, and be free to alter them as he goes, according to whatever suits him at the moment. He values spirituality, but hates religion.

David Wells[I]in America, 78 percent of people say they are spiritual. When solving life's dilemmas, 56 percent say they are more likely to rely on themselves than on an outside power like the God of the Bible. And 40 percent claim specifically to be spiritual but not religious. The same change has occurred in Britain. A study looking at the decade from 1990 to 2000 found that during this time weekly church attendance dropped from 28 percent to 8 percent but those who said they had spiritual experiences rose from 48 percent to 76 percent. There clearly has been a surge in spiritual appetite that is either hostile to religion or, at least, has lost confidence in institutionalized religion.
   Religion as we typically understand it is a publicly practiced matter. It is about attendance in a church, synagogue, or mosque; about public praying and teaching; about accepting the disciplines of the believing community; and about respecting the boundaries of its belief. This new spirituality is about the private search for meaning, a search for connection to something larger than the self. It is in fact a self-constructed spirituality.
   Why is that? The answer, quite simply, is that postmoderns trust direct experience but distrust what is mediated. What comes through others is subject to all the suspicions that are activated the moment they start to speak to us. What are their motives for speaking to me? What's in it for them? Are they using words to manipulate me? These are the thoughts that arise in the cloud of doubt and distrust when postmoderns engage religious matters. By contrast, spirituality that is inward, rising within the self, arising from the perceptions of our own selves, is not something coming to us secondhand from others. It is innocent, untouched, unscathed, unpolluted. It is real. We can trust ourselves but we cannot trust others! We are unsuspicious about ourselves but highly suspicious of others!
   In the United States, 80 percent believe that a person should arrive at his or her own beliefs independent of any external authority such as a church. Indeed, 60 percent say that since we all have God within us, churches are unnecessary. And in a generational slice that was made, 53 percent of boomers think it is more important to be alone and meditate than to worship with others.

—David F. Wells, The Courage to Be Protestant: Truth Lovers, Marketers, and Emergents in the Postmodern World (Eerdmans, 2008), 179–180.

How different this is from biblical, Christian faith! At the foundation of Christian faith is the knowledge that we cannot trust ourselves, that in us “dwelleth no good thing” (Romans 7:18). This is no self-discovered religion. We can only put our trust in a mediated relationship with a God who is outside and above us. God has revealed himself through the Scriptures, has given us a mediator in Christ, and ordained that we be shepherded within the fellowship of the Church. Until postmodern man sees his true nature and learns to distrust himself, he is without hope.

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3 Comments:

#1 || 09·01·17··09:14 || Betsy Markman

This is such a great summary of what has happened in our cultural "spirituality!" This willingness to trust in self goes all the way back to Eden, when the serpent whispered, "You shall be as God!"

The willingness to accept only a god of your own making is no different from making yourself god. The greatest appeal of idolatry is the fact that a man's gods can be self-made. What a man makes, he manipulates. He controls. He owns. And what is a god-owner, if not a greater god himself?

#2 || 09·01·17··10:53 || SpiritHappy

Hi, I understand the point you are making but as a Christian I see this move of Spirituality as a good thing.
The Bible says "God is SPIRIT and those who worship him must worship in SPIRIT and TRUTH.
People are leery of organized religion due to the abuses that religion has inflicted on others in the name of God. Religion has been used to justify women not voting for 150 years in America, slavery of people and too many other things to mention.
Jesus wanted us to search our heart and that is what Spiritual people are doing. This is great and those who are seeking will find the Christ in the end!. Many churches have no spirit in them, they are spiritually dead.

The Spiritual person is usually loving and caring for others and seeking God, they are on the right path to the Christ.
Our site [LINK REMOVED] is a christian site based on SPIRIT and love.

#3 || 09·01·17··19:15 || David

SpiritHappy, I see two problems with your comments.

1. I fail to see any relevance in your comments on the spiritual deadness of some churches. Many legitimate criticisms can be made of many churches and of many Christians. That in no way does away with the biblical role of the church in the spreading of the gospel and the life of the believer. The Bible makes no allowances for independent “Christianity.” Believers are not merely baptized into Christ, they are baptized into the body of Christ, i.e., the church. So complaints about the corruption of certain segments of organized religion have no bearing on the legitimacy or necessity of the church. Fellowship with a congregation of believers is absolutely not optional.

2. The Spiritual person is usually loving and caring for others and seeking God, they are on the right path to the Christ.

The spiritual person is not one who is “seeking God” and is “on the right path to the Christ.” The spiritual person is one who is already in Christ. Scripture has another term for the unbeliever: “natural.” The idea that unbelievers can make their way to Christ by searching their hearts is antbiblical. 1 Corinthians 2:14 says, “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”

So, then, how does the natural man become spiritual? Certainly not by looking into his heart. “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Consider also Romans 10:13ff:

13 for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.”
   14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? 15 How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!”
   16 However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, “LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
   18 But I say, surely they have never heard, have they? Indeed they have;
   “THEIR VOICE HAS GONE OUT INTO ALL THE EARTH,
   AND THEIR WORDS TO THE ENDS OF THE WORLD.”
19 But I say, surely Israel did not know, did they? First Moses says,
   “I WILL MAKE YOU JEALOUS BY THAT WHICH IS NOT A NATION,
   BY A NATION WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING WILL I ANGER YOU.”
20 And Isaiah is very bold and says,
   “I WAS FOUND BY THOSE WHO DID NOT SEEK ME,
   I BECAME MANIFEST TO THOSE WHO DID NOT ASK FOR ME.”
21 But as for Israel He says, “ALL THE DAY LONG I HAVE STRETCHED OUT MY HANDS TO A DISOBEDIENT AND OBSTINATE PEOPLE.”

And that’s enough said, I think. The natural man, seeking his own spirituality, will find nothing better than the religion of Osteen and Oprah. And that’s damning.

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