Don't Stop Believing: Why Living Like Jesus Is Not Enough

By Michael E. Wittmer

Must you believe something to be saved? Does the kingdom of God include non-Christians? Is hell for real and forever? These are big questions. Hard questions. Questions that divide Christians along conservative and liberal lines. Conservatives love their beliefs and liberals believe in their love. Each pushes the other to opposite extremes. Fundamentalists imply that it doesn’t matter how we live as long as we believe in Jesus, while some Emergent Christians respond that it doesn’t matter what we believe as long as we live like him. Theologian Michael Wittmer calls both sides out of bounds and crafts a third way that retains the insights of each. He examines ten key questions that confront contemporary Christians and shows why both right belief and right practice are necessary for authentic Christianity. Here is an urgent reminder that best practices can only arise from true beliefs. Genuine Christians never stop serving because they never stop loving, and they never stop loving because they never stop believing.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zondervan
• Release date: Aug 30, 2009
• ISBN: 9780310590538

Michael E. Wittmer

Michael Wittmer is currently Professor of Systematic Theology at GRTS in Grand Rapids, MI. He is the author of Heaven Is a Place on Earth, Don’t Stop Believing, The Last Enemy, and Despite Doubt. He and his wife, Julie, live in Grand Rapids, Michigan with their three children: Avery, Landon, and Alayna.

Book preview

Mike Wittmer wisely navigates through the rough waters of Christian extremism, showing that robust theological confession (belief ) and Christlike practical compassion (behavior) are always meant to go hand in hand.

—Tullian Tchividjian

Pastor of New City Church, Coconut Creek, Florida,

and Author of Do I Know God?

On all sides Christians are being pressed to make false choices: doctrine or life, orthodoxy or orthopraxy, conviction or humility, faith or works. In Don’t Stop Believing, Mike Wittmer challenges this type of thinking and injects a whole lot of sanity into contemporary church life and discipleship. No one who has adopted one side or other of these false choices will be happy with this book, and we will all be challenged, but nobody will be bored. It treats some of the most serious problems and wonderful opportunities in the church today with great wisdom, simplicity, and refreshing clarity.

—Dr. Michael Horton

J. Gresham Machen Professor of Systematic Theology

and Apologetics

Westminster Seminary California

As a raving fan of living like Jesus, I am delighted that Michael Wittmer has so effectively reminded us that you can run to Jesus but you can’t hide from the important belief structure that undergirds the way Jesus lived. This is an important read for all of us—especially for those of us who want to impact our world with the power of Jesus’ presence through us.

—Dr. Joseph M. Stowell

President, Cornerstone University

ZONDERVAN

Don’t Stop Believing

Copyright © 2008 by Michael E. Wittmer

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Zondervan.

ePub Edition August 2009 ISBN: 978-0-310-59053-8

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Wittmer, Michael Eugene.

Don’t stop believing : why living like Jesus is not enough / Michael E. Wittmer.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978–0—310–28116–0 (softcover)

1. Evangelicalism. 2. Theology, Doctrinal. 3. Postmodern theology. I. Title.

BR1640.W59 2008

230’.04624—dc22                                                                                        2008021321

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All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers printed in this book are offered as a resource to you. These are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement on the part of Zondervan, nor do we vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Published in association with the literary agency of Credo Communications, LLC, Grand Rapids, MI 49525.

Interior design by Ben Fetterley

For Laverne and Mary Wittmer,

who love their children more than anyone could.

You gave us the discipline of hard work,

the delight of play, and the desire to follow Jesus.

CONTENTS

Title Page

Copyright Page

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Introduction: A Friendly Warning

1. A New Kind of Christian

2. Must You Believe Something to Be Saved?

3. Do Right Beliefs Get in the Way of Good Works?

4. Are People Generally Good or Basically Bad?

5. Which Is Worse: Homosexuals or the Bigots Who Persecute Them?

6. Is the Cross Divine Child Abuse?

7. Can You Belong before You Believe?

8. Does the Kingdom of God Include Non-Christians?

9. Is Hell for Real and Forever?

10. Is It Possible to Know Anything?

11. Is the Bible God’s True Word?

12. The Future Runs through the Past

Epilogue

Notes

Discussion Questions

Case Studies

About the Publisher

Share Your Thoughts

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

0.1 Contemporary Perspectives on Doctrine and Ethics

1.1 Challenges of Culture

2.1 The Pendulum of Belief and Ethics

2.2 Why We Must Believe Something to Be Saved

2.3 What Christians Believe

3.1 A Postmodern Objection to Doctrinal Statements

3.2 Right Belief Produces Right Practice

4.1 Are People Good or Bad?

4.2 Natural Goodness

4.3 Supernatural Goodness

5.1 Public and Private Morality

6.1 Who Is the Target of the Cross?

6.2 Two Paths to Two Destinies

6.3 Evangelical Perspectives on the Atonement

7.1 How Do People Join the Church?

7.2 Why Different People Do Church Differently

7.3 Combining Modern and Postmodern Views of Church

8.1 How and How Many Are Saved?

8.2 Where Is the Kingdom of God?

9.1 Which Life Matters?

10.1 The Modern Structure of Knowledge

10.2 How Do You Know?

10.3 The Christian Structure of Knowledge

11.1 The Battle for the Bible

12.1 How We Got Where We Are

12.2 A Third Way Forward

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Many friends diligently read and gave constructive feedback to significant portions of this book. I am indebted to the insights of Zach Bartels, Brian McLaughlin, Paul Engle, Ben Irwin, Jim Ruark, Jonathan Shelley, Sean Ryan, Kay Wood, Chris Brewer, John Duff, Gary Meadors, Dave Conrads, Tom Lowe, Byard Bennett, Matt Laidlaw, and Steve Dye. Thank you for sharpening my ideas and suggesting better ways to communicate them.

I am most thankful for my wife, who not only encouraged me throughout the writing process and read the entire manuscript, but continues to create a loving home in which following Jesus makes perfect sense to our three children. Thank you, Julie, for bringing so much joy to our journey.

INTRODUCTION:

A FRIENDLY WARNING

I am caught in the middle. On my right are some conservative Christians who demand lockstep allegiance to their narrow doctrinal statements. Even though I agree with many of their conclusions, they are not satisfied unless I hold all of their beliefs with tenacity and certainty. They interpret doubts, questions, or even appreciation for the other side as the first signs of a long slide toward liberalism.

On my left are some postmodern Christians who attempt to pry open the minds of conservatives by questioning many of their traditional assumptions. But the way they often go about it—offering new and unusual interpretations of key biblical texts, poking holes in conservative views while only vaguely hinting at their own positions, and brushing aside difficult questions as unworthy of their attention—discredits their arguments.

It’s not surprising that dialogue between these two camps tends to drive them further apart. Each suspects that the other may not be sufficiently Christian: conservatives fear that postmoderns don’t care enough about doctrine, and postmoderns think that conservatives don’t care enough about people. Conservatives say that we must believe in Jesus, while postmoderns say it matters most that we live like him. This book attempts to bring both sides together, eliminating the extreme views of each party and uniting them around a biblical center.

Before I address the issues that divide us, some readers may want to know what I mean by postmodern and conservative. For their benefit, here are the top ten signs that you might be either.

You Might Be a Conservative Christian If…

10. You have heard ten sermons on the text Preach the Word from men who didn’t.

9. You cheer for the Cleveland Cavaliers because they are led by King James.

8. Your church supports more than two hundred missionaries at less than twenty-five dollars per month.

7. You have ever scheduled a business meeting after the evening service on Super Bowl Sunday.

6. You sweat when you preach.

5. Other people sweat when you preach.

4. You think that Just as I Am has twenty-seven verses.

3. Your Memorial Day patriotic service fell on Pentecost Sunday—and no one knew.

2. You have the plan of salvation on your answering machine.

1. You think Aunt Maude and Uncle Clem are unequally yoked because she’s a Baptist and he’s a Nazarene.

You Might Be a Postmodern Christian If…

10. You have never read Left Behind, never said the prayer of Jabez, and never led the Forty Days of Purpose.

9. You think you saw a megachurch on VH1’s I Love the 80’s.

8. You wouldn’t be surprised to see Gandhi in heaven, but you would be floored to find Jerry Falwell.

7. In a debate with Jack Van Impe, you’d likely argue that the bear is America and the antichrist is Pat Robertson.

6. Your preacher just swore, and it seemed appropriate.

5. You honored your pastor with a box of fine cigars and beers on the house.

4. Your cool hair resembles a Midwestern version of Ryan Seacrest.

3. You use the word groove as a verb—and don’t sound like a dork.

2. You purchase church supplies from the Buddhist Bookstore.

1. Your favorite Carson is Johnny.¹

These lists may not have helped much, so to better explain where I am coming from and how I am using postmodern and conservative, I will define two sets of key terms: modernity and postmodernity—which address variations in culture, and liberalism and conservatism—which speak to differences in theology. This discussion will be a bit technical. If it does not interest you, please skip ahead to chapter 1.

CULTURAL DIFFERENCE: MODERN AND POSTMODERN

Modernity, synonymous with the Enlightenment or the Age of Reason, began in the seventeenth century with Francis Bacon and René Descartes and climaxed in the eighteenth century with Isaac Newton and John Locke. It emphasized the ability of each individual to dispassionately study nature to discover objective, universal, and absolute truth. Freed from centuries of religious superstition and certain that the scientific method would unlock the secrets of the universe, modern society promised unending progress on all fronts, especially in technology and ethics. Humanity would build its own utopia, creating a little heaven on earth.²

Postmodernity arrived in the twentieth century with the thought of philosophers Michael Foucault, Jacques Derrida, and Richard Rorty and the tragedy of colonialism, two world wars, and the Holocaust.³ Postmodernity retains modernity’s emphasis on human reason, but it is much humbler about what our minds can discover. Postmoderns recognize that while modernity made great strides in technology—shuttling astronauts to outer space, deciphering our genetic code, and creating the iPod—it utterly failed in ethics. The same technology that improved our mastery over the world enabled us to master others—colonizing and sometimes killing those who were not up to our standards.

Postmoderns react by turning the modern paradigm on its head. Modernity wrongly believed that objective knowledge would produce right actions; postmoderns now think that good behavior requires that we admit our inability to access universal, absolute knowledge. They have learned from the horrors of the twentieth century that those who think they possess the unvarnished truth will likely use it to hurt others.

Their solution is to resist violence with compassion, which they demonstrate by humbly tolerating other points of view. Rather than shout down different perspectives, they embrace diversity and permit everyone to have their say. The good life does not demand that everyone agree, but only that they get along. Ethics, or living well, is now more important than epistemology, or knowing right.⁴

THEOLOGICAL DIFFERENCE: LIBERAL AND CONSERVATIVE

Liberal and conservative are loaded, elusive terms that are often used to describe our politics (Are you a Democrat or Republican?), morals (Is your motto Try it you might like it or It’s a rule for a reason?) and religious views (Is your faith open to new interpretations, or do you embrace conformity to the past?). Here I am using these terms in a more limited way to explain how we understand and practice theology.

This distinction is important. Many theological conservatives, myself included, are frequently embarrassed by the Religious Right and do not think that God would necessarily vote Republican, demonize homosexuals, or try very hard to turn America into a Christian nation. We wish that God would stop talking to Pat Robertson and that Anne Coulter would just stop talking.

So I realize that the terms liberal and conservative come cluttered with much cultural baggage. Yet there are no better words to explain the theological battles of the last century or one’s theological orientation today. For all our longing for some third way, everyone puts the world and the Word together either by leaning toward the side of reason (liberalism) or revelation (conservatism).⁵

Theological liberalism began in the nineteenth century with Friedrich Schleiermacher, who argued that religious beliefs are merely an expression of our feeling of absolute dependence. He meant that our beliefs about God, rather than beginning with a transcendent revelation, are generated from below, arising from our own minds, cultural perspective, or religious experience.

This self-centered theological method led Schleiermacher and his successors to reinterpret many of the traditional beliefs of the Christian faith. Since modern culture could no longer believe in the supernatural, committed liberals denied the deity of Jesus, his virgin birth, numerous miracles, substitutionary death, bodily resurrection, and imminent return. Some even found it impossible to believe that God was a distinct being, separate from his creation.

Unable to reconcile traditional Christian beliefs with modern culture, liberals reduced the Christian faith to ethics. They did not believe that the Christian faith is literally true (e.g., Jesus’ tomb is not empty), but that it still teaches us the best way to live. Jesus may not be the divine Son who bore our sins, but his death on the cross does teach us how to love others. If we follow his example and sacrificially serve others, then we too will be children of God, points of light in a dark world.⁶

Theological conservatives opposed this liberal reductionism and sought to reclaim the traditional beliefs of the church. Led by Princton theologians—Charles Hodge in the nineteenth century, B. B. Warfield at the turn of the century, and J. Gresham Machen in the 1920s—conservatives defended what they called the fundamentals of the faith. They insisted that loving your neighbor was not enough, but that Christians must also believe in the truthfulness of Scripture, the virgin birth and deity of Christ, his substitutionary atonement, and his literal, physical resurrection and return. These fundamentalists would continue to believe the old, old story of the gospel, regardless of how untenable it seemed in a modern, naturalistic world. Unlike their liberal counterparts, they refused to accommodate the gospel to contemporary culture.⁷

MY FOCUS: POSTMODERN AND LIBERAL

Since modern/postmodern and liberal/conservative address different issues, it is possible to mix and match these categories (see fig. 0.1). A modern Christian may be either a theological liberal, such as Schleiermacher, or a conservative, such as Hodge and Warfield. Likewise, a postmodern Christian may be theologically conservative. I put myself in this category, for while I am conservative when it comes to traditional Christian beliefs, I am postmodern to the extent that I emphasize the importance of presuppositions (initial perspectives on the truth), the Bible as narrative, and the need for the church to be a missional community that humbly serves others with compassion.

So not all postmoderns are theological liberals. Not by a long shot. But there is something in postmodernity that tilts toward liberalism. Both postmodernity and liberalism tend to favor good behavior more than right belief—postmodernity because the modern quest for right belief led to violence and oppression, and liberalism because scientifically informed moderns could no longer believe what they read in Scripture. Postmoderns emphasize good behavior as an antidote to modern aggression; liberals emphasize good behavior because, after eliminating belief in the supernatural, it is all they have left.

This postmodern turn toward liberalism is penetrating the evangelical church. As I will explain in this book, an increasing number of postmodern Christians are practicing a liberal method: accommodating the gospel to contemporary culture and expressing greater concern for Christian ethics than its traditional doctrines.

These postmodern Christians call themselves younger evangelicals, postconservatives, and the emerging church. I will avoid using these terms in this book, for these big tent names include more than the focused group I have in mind. For example, Kevin Vanhoozer describes himself as postconservative, and Dan Kimball, Mark Driscoll, and John Burke belong to the emerging church, yet to my knowledge none of these lean in a liberal direction.

I would prefer to avoid names altogether, for my goal is not to define a certain segment of Christianity but merely to examine the specific questions that many postmodern Christians are asking. I am interested in their concerns, not in how to label the people who raise them. Still, since it seems prudent to call this group something, I will distinguish them from other postmodern Christians with the neutral term postmodern innovators. This name seems appropriate, for they say that they want to create a new kind of Christian who will transcend traditional church and theological boundaries. In short, I am using postmodern innovators to represent what I perceive to be the left wing of the emerging, postconservative, or younger evangelical church.⁸

Despite the similarities between postmodern innovators and liberalism, there is also an important difference. As hinted above, the reason why these postmoderns value ethics more than doctrine differs significantly from classical liberalism. Postmodern innovators counter modernity’s violence with compassionate inclusivism—and since nothing divides people quicker than disputes about doctrine, they desire to downplay the church’s traditional beliefs in the name of Christian love.⁹ This is a much better reason than that given by modern liberals, who, besides their agreement that Doctrine divides; love unites, primarily discard conventional doctrines because they deny the supernatural.

Most important, although postmodern innovators are trending liberal, most have not yet reached liberalism’s conclusions. They still believe in the Trinity, the deity of Christ, his resurrection and return, and many other Christian beliefs that liberals have historically denied.

Fig. 0.1. Contemporary Perspectives on Doctrine and Ethics

So I intend this book as a friendly warning. Many of the leaders whom I quote in this book are friends whom I love and respect. This is why I only cite by name what they have put in print, choosing to keep anonymous any controversial comments heard in less formal settings, such as lectures and sermons. I am thankful for their emphasis on authentic Christian living. Their vision for what the church can become is both exhilarating and challenging.

My only concern, and the point I will press in this book, is that their quest to correct the abuses of previous generations must not lead them to err on the opposite extreme. Perhaps our parents emphasized right belief more than good behavior, but that must not become an excuse to teach good behavior at the expense of right belief. If we continue down this road, it may not be long until our liberal method leads to liberal conclusions.

Authentic Christianity demands our head, heart, and hands. Our labor for Christ f lows from our love for him, which can arise only when we know and think rightly about him. Genuine Christians never stop serving, because they never stop loving, and they never stop loving, because they never stop believing.

CHAPTER 1

A NEW KIND OF CHRISTIAN

It comes down to this: What kind of faith are we passing on to our children?" My friend was explaining why his family had left their conventional church to start a house church, and I completely understood. We had been raised in traditional families who attended church three times per week and believed that those who attended less were barely saved and those who did not come at all probably were going to hell.

But something has changed since we were children. Going to church is still important, but it no longer seems enough. We do not want our children to equate the Christian life with sitting through sermons. We want our families to practice our Christianity, to feed the poor, bring justice to the oppressed, and share our lives with a community of fellow travelers who embrace us just as we are. We value the Christian life as much as the Christian faith.

But not more than. The history of the church is a series of pendulum swings, and right now the momentum seems headed toward Christian practice and away from Christian belief. This book is an argument for both.¹

A former teacher often reminded me that Christianity is a living faith, and all living things must grow. Like a child who reaches adolescence and then matures into an adult, so our understanding of God develops across time. As there is both continuity and change as a boy grows into a man, so our present proclamation of the gospel must be rooted in church tradition even as it surpasses what came before.

My teacher warned that if we stop growing—if we merely repeat what we have said in the past—then we will eventually lose the gospel. I did not understand what he meant, for I was young enough to have known only one kind of world. The faith that I had learned from my parents still seemed plenty relevant. Why must I change?

I must be getting older, for I am now experiencing the first widespread cultural change of my life. My students are asking new and interesting questions. Beliefs that used to be assumed are now open for discussion. Classroom conversations are passionate and important. Being a professor has never been more exciting.

But it is also a bit scary. While I enjoy our dialogues and admire my students’ enthusiasm, I am concerned about where their quest might lead. They rightly reject the narrow fundamentalism of their parents’ generation—in which beliefs about baptism, social drinking, and the premillennial, pretribulational return of Christ often seemed as important as the doctrines of the Trinity and the deity of Christ.

But sometimes their generous spirit seems to stretch too far. It is one thing to jettison a former generation’s additions to the Christian tradition; it is quite another to question foundational elements of that tradition. We must do the former to own and embody the gospel for our day. We must avoid the latter, or we will lose the very gospel we are attempting to apply.

THE MORE THINGS CHANGE, THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME

In my students’ defense, most are merely applying my mentor’s theological rule: to remain faithful to the gospel we must regularly update our understanding of it. We can’t merely repeat the old, old story in the same old way. To say the same thing we have always said is not being faithful to the gospel; it is to fossilize it.²

One way we update our understanding of the gospel is to incorporate important insights from culture. The more we learn about God’s world, the more accurately we can interpret God’s Word. Consider how the following cultural developments have enhanced our perspective on the Christian faith.

Science. Copernicus’s discovery that the earth revolves around the sun enables us to properly interpret Psalm 93:1: The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved. In Copernicus’s day, most Christians took this verse as proof that the earth is the stationary center of the universe. Even Martin Luther criticized Copernicus for allowing his newfangled view of the world to contradict Scripture.³ While a few such dinosaurs still exist, most Christians today rightly read Psalm 93:1 not as a scientific description of the earth’s immovability but as a poetic promise of God’s provision for his creation (full disclosure: my seventh-grade science fair project argued for geocentricity on the basis of Scripture and a few allegations from the fundamentalist fringe of science—an embarrassing bunch of quackery that somehow received a red ribbon!).

Politics. Many nineteenth-century Americans used Paul’s commands that slaves should obey their masters as biblical support for slavery.⁴ But now, in part due to our country’s emphasis on democracy and human rights, no one outside of an occasional white supremacist uses the Bible to condone slavery.

History. Until recently most theologians believed that God is impassible, meaning that he does not experience emotions (a sign of weakness