True Christianity vs Subjective Religiosity

by Mike Ratliff

1 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. Colossians 3:1-4 (NASB) 

There is a form of religion in the world today that calls itself by many names and in each of those forms it is seen as a type of Christianity, but is, in fact, nothing more than a man-made facsimile of true Christianity. Its foundation is not the same. True Christianity is built upon the foundations of Christ, Him Crucified, God’s Eternal Word, The Holy Trinity, and the Sovereignty of God. On the other hand, the man-made, subjective form of it (no matter what it is called) has an entirely different foundation. Its foundation is accommodation, fairness, equality, the nobility of man, the rights of man, the free will of man, Critical Race Theory, Social Justice, and experientialism. Even though both true Christianity and the subjectivism reference many of the same things, the focus will be entirely different with the former being primarily on the glory of God through the exposition of His truth from His Word with the latter being on the accommodation of man with the inclusion of people’s experiences as the primary focus and means of knowing God and His truth.

Currently this is a great deal of controversy in the visible church about a statement made by Dr. John MacArthur about Beth Moore. His statement was very short, but he was answering a leading question in which he had to answer it that way. He was asked what he would say to Beth Moore if he encountered her in ministry and he simply said, “Go Home.” I have heard so many stupid comments about this from every angle and I am not going into all that now except to say that all those who are defending Beth Moore do so from the subjective not the objective while Dr. MacArthur’s statement was based entirely in the objective interpretation of scripture.

I grew up a Southern Baptist. I served as a Bible teacher and Deacon for many years in SBC churches in Oklahoma and Kansas. When God was really growing my faith and using me in ministry I found that it had little to nothing to do with anything subjective. The proof of His working in me was never anything experiential. It was always objective. What do I mean? Subjective Christianity is based in experientialism with no concrete connection to Biblical Truth. Objective Christianity is based in what God’s Word teaches as true or false and we line up our lives to live accordingly. I pray you see the difference. When God used me in ways I could not explain it was as I submitted myself by faith to His truth and obeyed Him, trusting in His grace for His will to be done. It was amazing what He did through me in that. On the other hand, there have been many times when I have blown it and gone the subjective route where I tried to both control and interpret everything subjectively according to sight rather than by faith. I looked for feelings thinking that was my direction from God.

21^st Century Evangelicalism across the board is actually quite thin when it comes to being substantive enough to meet the spiritual needs of most people in our time. This is why so many are including things into their walks such as Yoga or mysticism of one form or another. This is tragic. The fault here is with the Church leadership who have so compromised their message and church environment to be subjective that they have lost the ability to be objective and for them to even show their flocks that is actually the right way to go. Therefore, we have so many religious leaders off the rails, all over the place theologically accusing some of us for being mean-spirited, et cetera for pointing out these things to those who are ministers of subjective religiosity rather than True Christianity.

On the other hand, the Christians who have either escaped or avoided the subjective trap live and walk according to a faith that is anything but thin. It is based in a living faith that is fed by communing with the Triune God on a daily basis. It is not based on a contextualized subjective religiosity, but is based on walking by faith, not by sight. These people believe God and walk accordingly. They are not perfect. They still sin. They still find themselves having to repent and walk in repentance, but they look forward to the day when they will be with their Lord forever. This life is not the end of all things, but the life to come is the focus (see the passage I placed at the top of this post).

5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. 6 For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, 7 and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Colossians 3:5-8 (NASB) 

Here we see our responsibility in this walk. We are to walk before our Lord in this narrow path in such a way that we put to death what is earthly in us that leads to idolatry. Why? These are the very things that were the cause of God’s wrath being poured out on our Saviour on the Cross and will be the cause of the wrath to come. Yes, it is coming. We must not love this lost and dying world. We are to put these things away and not live this way.

9 Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, 10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him— 11 a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.
12 So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. 14 Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. 15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. Colossians 3:9-17 (NASB) 

Is this natural? No it is not. We are being called to walk in obedience in a way that is not natural. It requires us to trust our Lord to both enable us to do this and to change us as He does it. He will also work in those around us who observe this and do a good work in them as well. This is being Christlike in the midst of a sinful world. We cannot do this on our own. It requires a spirit-filled, objective faith. We are to put on love and God will give us peace and joy and build our faith so we can do it. We may even be persecuted in the midst of doing this, but we will sing psalms and praise the Lord even in the midst of that. We will thank the Lord and praise Him in the midst of it all.

Now, the subjective religionist may try to emulate this, but their “feelings” can only keep this up for a little while and they will eventually give in to their emotions and fail. However, the Objective Christian walking by faith can do all things through Christ who strengthens them no matter the pressure from the world or the enemy. He or she can be content in a world that demands that they be fleshly. Does this make sense my brethren?

Right now I see attacks on the visible Church from every side. I see Reformed and non-Reformed church leaders falling into subjectivity on every side. It is quite tragic. This is a battle we must fight each day all day my brethren. To give in to subjectivity is to walk by sight instead of by faith and we cannot do that and remain obedient to our Lord. The emotional stuff out there that pretends to be spiritual is simply a counterfeit of the real deal. Real objective Christianity is not like that. It will not have its foundation in emotion, nor the values of the world, nor in any man-made add-on but in God’s truth alone.

Soli Deo Gloria!