Pathological Christian

I’m a connections guy. I look for them and how they can help me understand God better. I am mindful that the apostle Paul alluded to the culture around him when addressing his audiences (ex. Acts 17:28; Titus 1:12). I therefore try to keep my finger on the pulse of my own culture and ran across Nick Catoggio’s critique of the idea of “do your own research.” Catoggio’s application is specifically political, but I think we can widen the lesson; “doing our own research” can, and often does, lead to disaster. Believe me, you don’t want me to wire your house or perform your root canal based on my own research. You really don’t even want my advice.

I’m making connections – Stanly Hauerwas (co-author William H. Willimon), in the now classic Resident Aliens, writes at the outset that his job as a professor of theology is not to get students to think for themselves, but rather to get them to think like him. In our particular culture, them’s fightin’ words. Almost no doctrine of Americanism is more sacred than the idea of thinking for ourselves. Why Hauerwas’ words resonated with me thirty some odd years back when I first heard them was because they were so counter-cultural on the one hand and yet rang so true on the other. It was another connection – I mean, really, isn’t he talking about discipleship?

Absolutely. To get to brass tacks, as Christians, we need to find pathologically good patterns of thought and action. Thinking for ourselves is what got us into trouble in the Garden of Eden. Saul thought for himself too. Didn’t end well (I Sam. 13:5-14). How about that recurring theme in Judges, “Everyone did as they saw fit” (Judges 17:6; 21:25)? Not good. And honestly, for all the commendation Solomon gets for asking for wisdom, I think he would have done better to ask for a heart that always sought after God.

Oh. That would be Solomon’s father, David. He didn’t always get it right did he? But he tried. In Psalm 86:11 David prays, “Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.” David is looking for a pathology that can only be learned! He’s certainly not trying to think for himself; he’s trying to think like God!

To do this, David meditated on God’s “law.” All of that incredibly long Psalm 119 is a song recognizing the essentiality of God’s word in the life of His people. If we want to learn, we need to be trained by the word. Let’s be clear – the goal is to know God’s thoughts, not ours. Of course, we will make connections that are applicable to our lives in different ways at different times. That’s part of the “living and active” part of scripture (Heb. 4:12) as God-breathed/Spirit-filled (II Tim. 3:16; I Cor. 2:13). But when we bring to scripture our desire for a quick hit of spirituality, when we look for something that is “good copy,” or search for something that “speaks to me,” scripture will not transform us; we will rather twist it to our own thinking (II Pet. 3:16; I Tim. 4:3).

But we also need examples to show us the way. We need to learn to walk with the wise so we will grow wise (Prov. 13:20). As we walk in these footsteps, finding these paths, we in turn become pathological…. “Yeah, but I’m supposed to follow Jesus.” Yes. Consider Paul’s words here – “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” The Corinthian problem? (Okay, there were several, but let’s stick to just one.) They were so off track they forgot who their “heroes” were following (I Cor. 1:11-13)! We never make that mistake, do we?

Okay, this begs the question: who is going to show us the way? Who are our disciple makers going to be? Scary realization if we are serious – on our walk we ourselves will at times (even simultaneously), be both disciple maker and disciple! Nathan chose (or was chosen) to be a disciple maker for David. David had sinned and needed someone to bring him back to God, someone who was pathologically right when David wasn’t. Peter was a father to Mark (I Pet. 5:13) while Mark was writing a gospel account. Timothy and Titus had Paul even as they worked on folks in Ephesus and on Crete. Apollos, an amazing teacher and apologist in his own right, had Aquilla and Priscilla (Acts 18:24-28). Don’t look now, somebody is probably looking at you. Let’s make sure we are on the right path….