The Fruits of Pietism

Newsletter article for November 2004

© 2004 by Rev. Paul A. Wolff

Pietism is an anti-Christian ideology which completely turns upside down the role of piety in Christian life. Proper Christian piety is what we do to practice and live out our faith. Pietism makes piety primary and faith secondary (actually pietism tries to turn faith itself into a good work, contrary to Eph. 2:8-9). Pietism makes works its goal rather than faith. Those who understand Lutheran doctrine, or the Biblical teachings on faith and good works, will understand that pietism emphasizes the Law over the Gospel.

Although pietists claim to be fervent Christians, and claim to do everything in the name of Christ, pietism is truly anti-Christian because it steals away the true comfort Christians have in the all-sufficient work of Christ and replaces it with an emphasis on personal acts or feelings to provide a false sense of satisfaction. There may be some temporary sense of comfort in pietistic acts, but that only works as long as we can keep it going. The problem with basing our faith on feelings is the same problem with illicit drugs. A first time drug user will feel an incredible “high” with a relatively small amount of the drug, but each subsequent experience requires more of the drug to feel good, and the user will find himself or herself dismayed that the original good feelings cannot be reproduced. When true healing comes it feels a lot like suffering and pain and death rather than anything approaching peace and comfort. So it is that pietists become “addicted” to good works which aren’t really good works in the Biblical sense because pietists intend to serve their own feelings rather than serving their neighbor in a truly God–pleasing way.

Pietists do not see Holy Scripture as the sole source and authority of doctrine and the Christian life. Personal experiences or feelings are valued more. Pietists are more likely to believe the false teaching that God speaks to them personally apart from the Holy Scriptures. This all too easily plays into the hands of the devil, who is eager to substitute his lies for the truth of God’s word. Remember that the devil got Eve to doubt God’s word by saying, “Did God really say…?” Pietists may encourage Bible study, but since personal feelings are valued more than the truth – individual interpretations easily lead to false teachings, false belief, and heresy. Even Bible studies led by a trained pastor will be seen as an exercise in finding consensus rather than an exercise in learning the truth of God’s word.

Because pietism is based upon subjective feelings, pietists will rationalize sin as long as they feel they are doing something which is pleasing to God. It won’t matter to a pietist that a particular sin is condemned by God in Holy Scripture because as long as it feels right the feelings matter more to them than an objective command, even if it comes from God. So the pietist will be very bold in his or her sins.

In the Bible there is perhaps no greater example of a pietist rationalizing his sin than King David. There have been few people (if any) who have had so much trust in God to put their lives on the line as much as David, and fewer people who have received so much earthly blessings as a result of such faith. But when David committed adultery with Uriah’s wife and then when the cover-up failed had Uriah murdered, it must have seemed to David that despite the unbelievable wickedness of those sins they were the right things to do because they felt like the right things to do at the time. It made David feel good to spend intimate time with Bathsheba, and then it felt good to have her husband killed because at least that was better (in David’s eyes) than publicly admitting the betrayal and being stoned to death for committing this crime. However, even the faithful David’s feelings betrayed him. He forgot for a few brief, but tragic, moments that he was a sinner and that his feelings were corrupted by sin. He realized this later when he repented and he confessed in Psalm 51 that he was “sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”

There is no lasting comfort in pietism. If we trust in our feelings we will sooner or later be betrayed by them also. Our feelings are inherently selfish, and if we place ourselves above all things then there will be no room in our lives for God and His word. There is true comfort in God’s word. Even if we find ourselves suffering like for doing good, like the addict who has forsaken the feel-good drugs, we can be assured of God’s forgiveness and salvation.

God’s word is a sure thing because it shows us what Jesus has done for us, and not what we need to do. Jesus told the Pharisees, “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” (John 5:39-40) The Scriptures do deliver eternal life because they show us Jesus. “Whoever believes in [Jesus] will have eternal life.” (John 3:16) Christ’s life and death and resurrection is the source of all our comfort, and the motivation for all our good works, because He did this all for our sakes so that we can be comforted by our salvation no matter whether we feel good about ourselves or not.

The Real American Idol

Newsletter article for March 2003

© 2003 by Rev. Paul A. Wolff

A few years ago the Detroit Free Press newspaper changed the name of its Sunday editorial section from “Opinion” to “Choices”. The content of the section did not change, only the name. Logically and linguistically this makes no sense because editorials are completely different from choices. There are no real choices given in this newly named section, only editorials and opinions. The change in the name was made to reflect the growing desire for people to feel like they are in charge and can make a choice about what is going on in the world, even when there are no choices to be made.

Now, this may seem like a trivial little thing, and sometimes it does to me, too. I still think it is silly every time I open up the Sunday newspaper. Often the editorial section is the only part of the Sunday paper that I read, (besides the comics) and I find it a little unsettling how the heading in no way describes its content. So what is the big deal about choices?

I believe that Americans are so selfish that the Free Press editors feel they have to play silly word games to get people to give their attention to the editorial section. The word games are not the cause of the problem, merely a symptom of a much greater, and more serious, problem in society. It is a generalization to say that Americans are selfish to the point of idolatry, but I believe that even in this short essay that I can give enough evidence to say that this is generally true.

The real American idol is selfishness, and it shows itself in a number of ways. First, with regard to the “choices” mentioned above, Americans demand choices about everything. From the multitude of channels available on cable television to access and content of the Internet, we must have the sense that we are in control and are making the choice about what we do, or where we go, or how we spend our money or time. Americans even demand choices where no real choices exist. This desire for “choice” gives people the idea (or the illusion) that they are in control and can do whatever they want to do, so in a way we convince ourselves that we are little gods.

The most horrific example of this idolatrous self-interest is the American lust for the pleasures of sexual relations without the associated responsibilities of marriage and parenthood. At best this selfishness results in loneliness and lovelessness which comes from not being committed to one person in a lifelong marriage. At worst this self-worship causes parents to murder their own children in the name of “choice.” This “choice” is really a false choice. If “choice” enters into the situation anywhere it comes very early when the man and woman choose to engage in activity which results in the conception of a child. After the conception has taken place there is no real choice. That child is completely dependent on his or her mother for life for at least nine months, and any “choice” which results in the death of the child is a false choice because God has given the parents the responsibility to care for the child.

The history of legalized abortion in America is itself an example of the selfish idolatry that I am describing in this essay. According to our Constitution, only the Congress can pass laws, but abortion became legalized nationwide by an act of the Supreme Court which, in effect, simply decreed that mothers have the right to murder their children. Although the Constitution makes no mention of a “right” to abortion, the Supreme court invented one that can only be overturned by another ruling of the Supreme Court, or by a specific Constitutional amendment denying such a “right.” But the American idol will not permit either to happen because that would force Americans to be responsible for their actions.

If selfish “choice” is a god to many Americans then that would also explain the rising popularity and acceptance of such perversions as homosexuality. This is another false choice. There are precious few things more obvious to all self-aware people that God made men and women for each other, but we see that as the Bible tells us, sinful people will always choose to rebel against God’s good design despite any number of horrible consequences. This horrible sin is only made more attractive when so-called “Christian” denominations refuse to call homosexuality a sin as the Bible does, and thus they encourage people to rebel against God’s plan in this way. Selfish “choice” is an extremely short-sighted god in that as long as the person doesn’t see an immediate bad consequence he or she can easily convince themselves that there are no consequences.

You may ask why I am addressing this issue in the Church newsletter? The answer is that although as Christians we are citizens of God’s Kingdom first, and citizens of our nation second, we cannot help but be affected and influenced by what goes on around us. If all the world (or what may seem to our eyes to be the whole world) is saying that they are free and that it is a good thing to make yourself into your own god so that you can do any thing you want to do, then it is only natural that after a few dozen times of hearing this we get tired of fighting it, and after a few hundred times we may begin to believe it. It may start out with simple envy of people who don’t feel constrained by God’s laws, but that envy can grow into doubt and unbelief, and unbelief is just a short step to idolatry. As Christians we need to remain faithful to God’s Word above all things. Even when it seems wrong or unfair or restrictive, we need to trust that God still knows what is best. Only when we are faithful to God and learn what His will is from the Holy Bible then we can recognize the false choices that the world gives us and we can avoid falling into the trap of self-worship or some other idolatry.

This self worship idol is particularly attractive because our sinful nature secretly desires to be a god. That is how the first sin came about, and we are no different in that respect from Adam and Eve. Don’t be misled by false choices which go against God’s laws and His Word. The world may ridicule Christians for their obedience to God and His good laws. The world may say that we are unnecessarily enslaved by our “blind” obedience to God, but they don’t understand that because of the forgiveness and salvation that God has won for us in Christ Jesus we willingly obey whatever God says because we know that whatever “freedom” we may lose by ignoring those false “choices” we will gain vastly greater freedom and greater rewards in heaven.