Tag Archives: theology

What is False Humility – Really?

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“This is a song God gave me, because He didn’t really like it”
– Brian Healy of Dead Artist Syndrome,
Cornerstone Festival 2002

Much has been said over the years about the irritation that some have over musicians and artists claiming that God “gave” them a song or painting or poem or whatever. This is false humility, or so some would claim – because such a bad piece of art could never come from God.

I’ve been wondering – what the heck is false humility anyway? According to Wikipedia, “‘false humility’ consists of deprecating one’s own sanctity, gifts, talents, and accomplishments for the sake of receiving praise or adulation from others.” So, in other words, acting humble to get praise from God or people.

So what does the Bible say on this subject? When reading Luke 14:10 today, I had to do a double take on it: “But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests.”

Is it just me, or does the Bible appear to encourage us to take a humble place just so that we will be exalted? Well, yeah – it kind of does. I searched through the Bible, and found that the term ‘false humility’ only appears in two places – Colossians 2:18 and 2:23. The problem is that in those two verses, the word false is not technically there. Some translations put the word false in there because the context implies it – but that is a controversial decision for many. And to be honest, neither of these verses really give a good definition of what ‘false humility’ really is.

I think I like the Literal Version’s translation of Luke 14:10 a little better: “…so that when he who has invited you may come, he may say to you…” In other words, you humble yourself so that you might get exalted – but there are no promises. But you still humble yourself anyways.

If false humility is such a bad thing – wouldn’t there be more in the Bible about it? Obviously, the Bible encourages us to be humble, so you don’t want to be false at anything the Bible encourages us to do. But such an elaborate definition as one finds in Wikipedia just seems to go waaayyy beyond just being falsely humble.

I’ve never felt comfortable with labeling certain actions so absolutely as “false” humility. To
me – false means to not be true. In other words, false humility – to me – means that you are acting humble but you really aren’t. Of course, some people are really good actors… so there is no way to really tell who is “acting” humble. Only God would know. So why do we like to get so irritated at people that we think are “acting” humble? Especially when we have no way of really telling – even if we go by Wikipedia’s definition?

Maybe its our own lack of humility that is convicting us?

The Whole Gospel From All Angles

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A recent post at the Thinklings, as well as a session that my wife taught at a retreat this weekend (Holistic Health), got me thinking about the Gospel. The whole Gospel. Most spiritual people, even if they don’t follow Jesus specifically, tend to be able to tell you what they think the Gospel is.

The simple answer for most Christians is that the Gospel is the “Good News” of the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. Some have been arguing that the Gospel is really something else – specifically, it is offering social justice to the oppressed. A few are slowly beginning to realize that it is both and even more.

A few months ago, my wife and I attended a “community health evangelist” training at our old church back in Waco. The session started off by looking at Jesus’ mission statement. When Jesus began his public ministry, you see him in the temple reading a specific passage from Isaiah (chapter 61, verse 1, but I have included more here):

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners (or the blind),to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,

and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.

They will rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations.

Many people look at these verses from the spiritual angle. When He speaks of restoring sight for the blind, we think that God will give (in)sight to the spiritually blind. The interesting thing is, Jesus then went around physically healing the blind.

The intent of The Gospel was to minister to the whole person – physically, mentally, emotionally, socially, and spiritually. And we see this is so in the verse from Isaiah above (with a smattering of social justice thrown in for good measure). Take a look at this part of the scriptures from a non-spiritual angle:

  • “to preach good news to the poor”: what is better news for the poor than to know that their oppression is gone? That they can be free from debt maybe? There’s your social justice.
  • “He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted”: healing our emotional wounds and issues.
  • “to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners”: freedom from addictions (physical health), from oppressive relationships (social health), from destructive emotional conditions?
  • “to comfort all who mourn and provide for those who grieve in Zion… and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair”: emotional comfort in tragic situations.
  • “They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations”: rebuild devastated communities, or even social relationships.
  • “And you will be called priests of the LORD, you will be named ministers of our God”: even when looking at this scripture from a non-spiritual angle, there is still an obvious reference to addressing spiritual issues.

The interesting thing is that Jesus took this passage of scripture from both a spiritual and non-spiritual angle at the same time, and lived his life fulfilling both angles daily.

Christianity: Religion or Relationship?

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“Christianity is not about religion, it’s about relationship.” Probably one of the evangelical church’s most famous lines. Right up there with WWJD, FROG, etc, etc, (insert your favorite bumper sticker slogan here). Last week, I counted at least 5-10 times that I heard that statement come out of someone’s mouth at church (and the person that I know to say it the most was out of town).

The problem with that statement is that I don’t exactly find it in the Bible. In fact, some passages seem to contradict that. Take James 1:26-27, for example. It speaks of pure religion. Wait a second – religion can be pure? Pure, as in, holy?

My friend Chris (who hates blogs and will never read this) pointed out that Christianity is not about religion or relationship – it’s about Jesus. Very true point – totally accurate. So, the real argument is probably about whether we classify how we follow Jesus as a religion or a relationship.

I recently came across an article online called Is Christianity a Religion? It was written by a Catholic person (still can’t find their name) as they were examining the evangelical church’s fascination with “it’s all about relationship!” theology. The article is a really good perspective from a non-evangelical voice. I don’t agree with everything in the article, but some excellent points are raised:

‘Yes, God established a rather complex religion, complete with ceremonies, clergy, heirarchy and plenty of “do’s and dont’s”. But He never intended it as a substitute for a relationship with Him. Rather, the ancient Israelite religion was meant to be an expression of their covenant relationship with God. The Lord does not seem to see an innate conflict between “religion” and “relationship”.’

An interesting thought – even if it is hard for us in the evangelical church to read through that without the “Gospel of Works!” flag going off in our mind. Let’s not forget for a second that legalism is not just works but doing works to gain favor with God. If you do the works out of obedience and love – it’s not legalism. In fact, I would submit that you can never observe a person and determine from the outside whether or not they are being legalistic. Whether you are doing some works to gain favor with God, or because you love Him and want to be obedient to Him – you are probably going to do the same actions on the outside. You might grumble and be miserable in your heart if you are just trying to gain favor – but that is easy enough to hide from others.